 Protection from violence  2022-2023

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The context

Often victims of violence and discrimination, many young Nepalese girls flee their villages and move to the city in search of a better life. Alone and vulnerable, they are easily recruited as waitresses, singers, dancers or masseuses.

It is estimated that between 40,000 and 50,000 of them are eventually pressured into providing sexual favors.

Prostitution became a crime in Nepal in 2008, with the adoption of a law controlling human trafficking. Fear of a criminal record, but also of police corruption by organized crime, these young women do not dare to file a complaint or ask for help.

Already stigmatized by their profession, many of these isolated young women have been living in great precariousness since the appearance of Covid-19.

So-called "adult entertainment" establishments in Nepal have been closed for months, leaving many women without an income. Others lost their jobs, pushing back dreams of retraining.
The pandemic was a very difficult time for women who had managed to leave prostitution behind by starting their own businesses. The economic crisis put an end to the activities of many of them, threatening to force them back into their former businesses.

The project

Planète Enfants & Développement has supported its local partner Chhori in the development of a multi-service social center designed to guide, inform and support prostituted women. Since October 1, 2023, the social center has been managed directly by Chhori with funding from a foundation.

Pariwartan multi-service social center
The center opened its doors in June 2022 in Thamel, a night-time district of Kathmandu where prostitution is rife. All the women in the district can go there to receive a listening ear, psycho-social support, health and legal advice, and guidance from social workers.

Neighborhood outreach visits
Experienced social workers visit women in their neighborhoods several times a week to inform them of the center's existence, offer initial advice and identify their needs in a constantly evolving sector.

Home visits and individual psychosocial follow-up
The women who need it most are accompanied on an individual basis by social workers who listen to them, advise them and direct them to the appropriate services to resolve their difficulties (employment, income, health, violence, parenting, etc.).
Since many women in prostitution suffer from anxiety, fear and even paranoia, those who feel the need receive the support of a psychologist.

Awareness and empowerment sessions
The social center offers women collective information sessions (on topics such as sexual and domestic violence...) and organizes workshops in small groups to encourage them to express themselves: art therapy workshops, sexual and reproductive health awareness-raising, legal awareness-raising (access to justice, human trafficking, rights as citizens...).

A career guidance program
27 women were selected to take part in training courses spread over two seven-day modules, designed to help them reflect on their skills and experiences, in order to guide them towards a professional reorientation. Beneficiaries were supported in accessing vocational training and/or credit services to set up a micro-enterprise and leave the prostitution sector. By 2023, 17 women had either returned to school, changed jobs or started an additional income-generating activity after participating in one of the various activities offered at the social center.