Shakti Samuha

Shakti Samuha is a home run by Nepali women who have once been slaves themselves. In 1996, they were rescued from Nepal – only to help other trafficking victims by providing shelter, legal aid, vocational training and counseling. They have set up Adolescent Girls Groups in the poorest villages of Nepal to raise awareness about the danger of trafficking and make a stand against the traffickers.

Shakti Samuha knows that only a small amount of girls are ever rescued from slavery. So their emphasis is on prevention. They target the same locations as the traffickers: for example, the slums of Kathmandu and the carpet factories surrounding the capital, and now expanding into more remote rural districts. Ten Adolescent Girls Groups, including approximately 200 members, organize awareness-raising events in their own slums and squatter communities. Shakti Samuha also reaches out to schools through training social studies teachers on trafficking and human rights.

Shakti Samuha, which means "an empowered group", is different from other groups that help trafficking survivors. Its goal is to give a stronger voice to women who have been exploited and are now in danger of being rejected by their own communities.

Facts from Shakti Samuha:

• They counsel the women about their experiences and provide legal support to those who may be able to prosecute the trafficker. (25 women were helped in this way during 2004).
  
• They organize trafficking survivors and other women in Kathmandu who are living with HIV/AIDS.
  
• When they are ready, the women work with Shakti Samuha to obtain vocational training such as electrical work, beauty salons or office work.
  
• Shakti Samuha has also helped some of its members by providing loans to start small businesses such as goat-rearing, a stationery shop and a grocery shop.
  
• Shakti Samuha now has its own shelter home for up to 24 survivors of trafficking or other sexual violence.