Dr. Adhikari is a founding chairperson of Women Resource Centre (WOREC) and the National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders (NAWHRD), and a founding coordinator of the Alliance Against Trafficking in Women and Children (AATWIN). Dr. Adhikari has served in a number of high profile appointments, including National Rapporteur against trafficking in women and children for the Nepalese National Human Rights Commission and as adviser of the gender-based violence unit within the Office of the Prime Minister of Nepal and Council of Ministers in 2010. Most recently, she was appointed as a member of the high level committee investigating the key cases of violence against women in 2013.