How STOP Girl Trafficking works
When we first started, knocking on doors in rural Nepali villages, it was hard to get girls enrolled in school—families protested that we should educate their sons instead. But as mothers saw their daughters go to school, they began voicing hopes of better lives for them. Whole villages started asking to be included. Teachers reported that trafficking fell, as girls told classmates not to fall for false promises. Girls were graduating and becoming role models for what is possible.
How do we do it? With our amazing local partner RHEST, careful planning, grassroots involvement, and a whole lot of backpack deliveries.
- Find girls who are at risk of being trafficked. Girls whose families are desperately poor, often from lower castes, girls with unstable or abusive families, from rural communities that don’t value women and with a history of slavery or indentured servitude.
- Get everyone involved. We build relationships with the girls, their families, alums, teachers, and principals. Should a girl’s home situation change, she has a lifeline and a network of people motivated to keep her safe.
- See them through school. Once a girl is in STOP Girl Trafficking, we pay for school fees and give her everything she needs to see her through—including the crucial last two years of senior high school (known as +2) which are more expensive.
- Stay connected. We visit each school four times a year, delivering uniforms and backpacks full of books and pencils, conducting home visits, tracking each girl’s progress, and counseling families about the dangers of trafficking. Between visits, local NGO partners, teachers and alumnae keep tabs on the girls.
- Offer extra tutoring. Extra support teachers and afterschool classes on Fridays give girls more one-on-one time with instructors: the help she may need to stay in school and safe.
