The time is approaching!  Over the past several months I have been eagerly waiting for September 8th to embark on my journey, the reason for initiating this blog.

In Nepal, they estimate nearly 15,000 women and children are trafficked annually to benefit varying needs of others.  The reasons vary from situation to situation, but in my research I have found it largely comes down to three main reasons – ignorance, desperation and the understated value of women.

Not all news is bad.  There are numerous global as well as local agencies working to educate and eliminate the commonality of this issue in Nepal.  One of those organizations is Friends of the Women’s Protection Center (WPC) located in Seattle.  WPC has developed partnerships with local organizations such as Hetauda House to  tackle trafficking using different approaches such as  education/awareness, alternative offering through vocational training and skill development, and emotional support and rehabilitation.

To support, I have three initiatives – refresh administrative IT, implement a file sharing tool to increase communications between US and Nepal, and most important revitalize their awareness program. Currently their awareness methodology is driven through community events and movies nights.  Although attendance tends to be high, WPC wants to take on a more proactive approach by delivering the message straight to high risk women and children.  The first part of this adaption will be to partner with primary schools throughout the Makwanpur District and eventually all of Nepal. My role will be to travel to these schools, advocate our mission, develop relationships with the principals, perform an impact analysis by collecting census like data, and ultimately develop a plan for program delivery throughout 2016.  In addition to the research aspect, I will be developing the program and hosting a number of pilot sessions.

With this blog, I hope to share a variety of my experiences and learnings as I learn more about this issue and the Nepalese culture.

More to come…

~ Jennifer