Purna Shova Chitrakar is the founder of the Ban Landmines Campaign in Nepal, established in 1995 to raise awareness of the impact of landmines in Nepal and work with the government to ban the production, transfer, use, and stockpiling of landmines. Through the organization, Chitrakar runs sessions for those who have been disabled by landmines, and for victims who have lost loved ones. These sessions empower victims and provide training at a grassroots level. She also serves on the governance board of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines-Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC) and has been as researcher and contributor for the Landmine Monitor since 1999.

In 2004, she founded the National Campaign for Peace Building. Previously, she founded the Women Welfare Society in 1998 and the Women Development Society (WODES) in 1991. Chitrakar was a member of Central Children Welfare Committee, and serves as an advisor of the National Human Rights Alliance. In recent years, she has also been active in national, regional and international efforts on the Arms Trade Treaty, small arms, and lethal autonomous weapons (killer robots).

In 2009, she received the National Women Peace Honor, and in 2011 the UNDP N-Peace Award. She has also been honored by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction as a Mine Action Champion, by Pun Samaj as a social leader from the community, and by the Human Rights Alliance as a Senior Women Human Rights Activist.

Chitrakar has earned a Master’s Degree in Sociology, and B.A. and B.Ed. in Economics.