FFN 2008 Projects
1. Prayas
2. Maiti Nepal
3. Alpha High School Hostel
4. Navajyoti Lower Secondary School
5. Shanti Rani School
6. Bipul Shikshya Niketan Secondary School
7. Shree Bal Bhushan Lower Secondary School
8. Shree Ajad Lower Secondary
1. Prayas
This is a non- governmental organisation set up in May 2006 to improve the welfare of street children and victims of drugs. It is involved in a variety of activities from providing day care and counseling for street children, to a long-term shelter for recovered street children, as well as school awareness campaigns about the dangers of drug-abuse.
With currently 7 children now regularly attending school, the Prayas programme has successfully developed a model on a small scale of helping the street children of Kathmandu re-enter society.
The project
This will cost over 7000 pounds and solely fund the establishment of a drop-in-centre and “Mero Ghar” halfway home near Thamel, Kathmandu. The objective of this programme is to help the street children of this and surrounding areas to pick their lives up again. They will receive support in the form of health care, awareness, skills training, formal education and non formal education, protection from violence and psychological counseling.
The day-care programme will provide food (breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea) and clothing for 20 street children. The half-way home will provide these services, as well as an evening meal and accommodation for 10 children. In addition to a weekly visit by a doctor on a voluntary basis, this project will also fund a part-time nurse who will visit the home every day providing basic medical assistance. The project will also fund a full-time “didi”, a house-mother, who will cook for the children and help clean the home. In addition to these services, there will also be two Prayas Big Brother staff members who will live in the home (however they will be working on a voluntary basis). Outside the basic welfare provisions for the children, funds have also been set aside for the children’s recreational activities.
Please, note that these children are never forced to enter or stay. The idea behind this programme is to encourage them voluntarily to take the necessary steps to leaving the street permanently and to re-entering society. This programme involves three steps; that of the drop-in-centre being step one, the half- way home being step two, and the shelter home being step three. Although there is no fixed time period, normally after one month of visiting the drop-in-centre three times a week, a child becomes eligible to join the half-way home. After a further two months of regular attendance, the child is then eligible to take the next step- the shelter home. Although the project only funds the first two steps, each step is instrumental to the successful reform of a street child.
NOTE: Future For Nepal worked successfully with Prayas last year funding a drop-in-centre in Gaushala. Of the 7 Prayas children currently in school, 5 entered the Prayas programme through the drop-in-centre. With this 2008 project being on a much larger scale, we hope the results will be even better.
2. Maiti Nepal
This is a non- governmental organisation working from a local community level to an international level. Its aim is to help girls and women who have nowhere else to turn; it targets for help children who have been abandoned and forced to live on the groups in society with vocational training within rehabilitation centers/ shelters.
It has centres in all the targeted areas where girl trafficking occurs- it has shelters in Kathmandu, Nuwakot. Sunauli, Jhapa and Nawalparasi. Its Kathmandu crisis centre, for example, cares for a wide range of women and children. Those children aged between 3 and 19 months are looked after in the orphanage section of the centre. Older children either attend school or receive non formal education. The women learn vocational skills, such as sewing and fabric painting. Both the women and the children also receive counseling, as well as physical check ups.
Apart from the rehabilitation centres, Maiti Nepal also runs prevention homes, transit homes and a hospice in Gorkarna.
The project
This will cost over 5000 pounds and will fund a series of awareness campaigns. These campaigns will target local schools in attempt to raise children’s awareness on girl trafficking; to encourage these students to spread their knowledge into the wider public domain; to develop a strong network of students to work against the problem; and to form pressure groups to tackle the problem.
These campaigns will use a variety of tools from brochure distribution and posters to talks on street trafficking by lawyers and police, as well as talks by rescued victims of trafficking.
NOTE: Future For Nepal worked successfully with Maiti Nepal last year funding two awareness campaigns. Although this project is similar to that of last year’s, the campaigns will be more frequent and on a bigger, wider-reaching scale.
3. Alpha High School Hostel
Established in 1986, there are currently 47 children residing in the Alpha hostel, 31 boys and 16 girls. Of these, 64% are sponsored children.
The Project
This will cost over 3500 pounds and fund the upgrading of the FFN kids’ sleeping, eating, washing and recreational facilities, as well as the purchase of a generator to offset the effects of load-shedding (this is where electricity is cut for 4 hours at a time on a daily basis).
4. Navajyoti Lower Secondary School
This school is situated 13km south-east of Lalitpur. It currently has 165 students and 9 teachers. With most of the students living below the poverty line, the main objective of this school is to increase the literacy rate of the students and develop all round students by organizing a variety of extra curriculum activities.
The project
This project will cost over 500 pounds and fund the provision of laboratory instruments for the lower secondary level, furniture for the lab, glass and grill fitting in the lab, and additional educational materials.
5. Shanti Rani School
This school is situated in Godavri village, about 14km from Kathmandu, and is run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny. The school was opened on the 18th April 2005 as a means of providing the local under-privileged children with a good education. At the moment, it has 123 children studying from Nursery to Class 1.
The project
This will cost over 500 pounds and fund the purchase of two computers. The aim is to enable the children to become computer literal at a basic level.
6. Bipul Shikshya Niketan Secondary School
It was established in 1999 with the aim of providing a good education to the local impoverished children. It currently has 29 teachers and 500 students. It works closely with one of our partner NGOs, The Women’s Foundation.
The project
This will cost 500 pounds and fund the upgrading of the computer lab.
7. Shree Bal Bhushan Lower Secondary School
This was established in December 1961. Currently is has 197 children studying from Nursery to Class 8, of which 128 are girls and 69 are boys. It has 12 teachers, of which 9 are paid by the government and 3 by external sources.
The project
This project will cost over 500 pounds and fund the completion of 4 classrooms that are currently unusable due to lack of funds.
8. Shree Ajad Lower Secondary School
It is situated in Jhaukhel, Bhaktapur and was established in 1961. It currently has 231 students, of which 129 are girls and 102 are boys, and 11 teachers.
The project
This will cost over 500 pounds and fund supplementary books for class 1 to class 8, ten white boards for the class rooms and additional furniture for the school.
