Restoration and education for 36 trafficked girls

This project has supported survivors of trafficking and sexual exploitation. We have provided lifesaving assistance and educational opportunities to 32 girls living in a halfway home run by Shakti Samuha in in the past year; we have helped them achieve lasting change in their lives. The project also led to 4 cases against human trafficking filed in court. We would like to thank all the donors and partners for helping us support these girls and for standing up against the injustice of trafficking and sexual exploitation in Nepal.

ACTIVITIES & RESULTS

 Legal                          

• 4 cases of human trafficking were filed in court through the help of this project.       

Rehabilitation           

• 32 girls benefited from shelter support.
• All beneficiaries who received shelter support, received psychosocial counselling and health support.

Of these girls:

o   13 girls participated in vocational training.

o   11 girls received formal education support.

o   31 girls engaged in non-formal education.

• Often girls also want to engage in recreational activities. Through this project, all girls are provided with training to make paper-flowers, greeting cards and reusing or recycling things in our daily lives for arts and crafts. These are creative tools the girls can also use when reintegrating into society.  

Reintegration                       

• 7 human trafficking survivors have been repatriated from India to Nepal.
• 2 parent’s interaction programs have been finished in Sindhupalchok and Nuwakot districts with the parents of the reintegrated human trafficking survivors.  
• 12 girls have been reintegrated with their family and 2 beneficiaries have been referred to other organisations for long-term shelter support and education support.

SUCCESSES & CHALLENGES

Almost all the girls who received services from the halfway home in 2016 were attending school and receiving vocational training. The main challenge is that it is not easy to reintegrate the girls with their family because of their poor economic status and high risk of being re-trafficked after they are reunified with the family. Acknowledging this fact, this project emphasises provision of educational and vocational training to those girls so that girls can earn money and live an independent life in the future. This is also why the interaction programmes with parents of trafficking survivors are very important. In these meetings parents’ problems are discussed openly to understand the issues of trafficking, how to prevent this problem in the future and who to go to for support.