Shakti Samuha , an anti-trafficking organization in Nepal, supports survivors of human trafficking through various services including providing shelter through one of its six shelter homes. Due to societal stigma, many survivors are shunned by their families and the shelter home is one of the few places where the survivors gain a stronger footing before reintegrating into society.  However, the global crisis has had a detrimental effect on the Shakti Samuha. It does not have sufficient funds to support one of the shelter homes located in Sindhupalchok, a district north of Kathmandu. 

This campaign is to raise funds to support Shakti Samuha to operate the shelter home for around six months. Currently, there are 11 girls and women residing in the shelter home. 9 of the 11 are below the age of 18. None of them can go to their home. In addition, there are 5 staff members and helpers in the shelter home.

 

The estimated cost of running and maintaining the shelter home for the 11 residents is about $1300 a month. Breaking this down further: $950 for food and basic necessities and $350 for medical expenses including psychosocial counseling costs and legal expenses for some of the survivors who have on-going cases in the district court against traffickers.

 

The donations from this page will directly go to Shakti Samuha. No amount is too small and every donation will count. Even if you cannot donate at this moment, please share this information with your family, friends, and community.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have suggestions on additional ways that you feel may help or if you have any questions regarding the campaign.


Below, I have shared some details about the shelter home and the NGO.


About the NGO (Shakti Samuha):

Shakti Samuha is the world's first anti-trafficking organization that was established and operated by trafficking survivors. Its aim is to empower trafficking survivors so that they can lead a dignified life. Since 1996, they have provided shelter and support to upwards of 1027 trafficking survivors. More have benefited through its local interventions and advocacy programs.

The NGO has been recognized globally with awards such as the 2013 Ramon Magsaysay Award (informally considered the Nobel Prize of Asia) and the U.S. Department of State TIP Hero Award in 2018.

The NGO has a staff of around 100 people and around 60% of its annual budget comes from donations. The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in cuts in the donor funds. So far the NGO has been relocating funds and staff members have taken cuts in salary to sustain services.


About the shelter home:

This particular center has been operated by Shakti Samuha since 2012. It was opened by the Nepal government and given to anti-trafficking NGO to provide services under its National Minimum Standards (NMS).

Since 2012, 177 (150 female, 20 male) have been provided shelter in this shelter home. This includes 2 foreigners who were rescued by the NGO (1 Spanish citizen and 1 Indian citizen). This shelter home can support 20 survivors.

As mentioned above, there are 11 residents right now. Typically, residents stay in the shelter home for 6 months after which they are either repatriated to their families or referred to another NGO.  Since repatriation is a challenging task, requiring families to get together and the legal process to sort out, many residents stay longer than 6 months.

Following the NMS rules, there are 5 staff members in the shelter home. This includes a Warden, a cook, a security guard, a counselor, and a health advisor.


My relationship with the NGO:

I am a Ph.D. student studying in the US. I am from Nepal. I am interested in creating ways in which technology could help bring greater social good. For the past three years, I have been studying Shakti Samuha and have been working with a group of survivors living in Shakti Samuha's shelter home in Kathmandu. 

I initially studied a couple of other NGOs to understand the range of services they provide to trafficking survivors. I have worked only with Shakti Samuha after the initial study. The reason why I narrowed on Shakti Samuha was that the NGO had a more flexible, humane approach to the services that survivors need, which may have been due to the fact that the founders and some of the staff members are trafficking survivors. They care.  And in this complex setting where our society's deeply entrenched patriarchal values, stigma, caste system, and economic class determines the long term life outcome of vulnerable young people, care, as I have seen Shakti Samuha provide, requires all the support that we can provide.