Children are fed, cared, treated and they became healthier and educated.....Youth are skilled and are shaping their own worlds in positive ways...
Fighting Hunger, Bringing Hope: Opening Door for children in the street
Life is not easy for street children in Nepal. They have usually taken to the streets because of a violent family or extreme poverty. Poverty, abuse and lack of care drive vulnerable children to the streets. Desperate hunger of this people continues, and real starvation looms. In order to survive they are forced into sex work and others criminal activities. The number is increasing at the rate of 1000 children taking to the streets every year.
A growing body of evidence suggests that 76 percent of street children are using drugs in Nepal. HIV prevalence is 7.6 percent which is 25 fold higher than the general population. Drug use, violence and incidence of sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of children put them at higher risk. Children health is often overlooked and few services, educational materials and health messages are developed specially for this population.
SHARAN’s Open Door Project is helping the neediest children in the street of three district of Kathmandu valley. The purpose of the project is to fight hunger and increase access to services for street children who are at risk. Since beginning of the project SHARAN is regularly providing a warm meal, nutrition, information, education and counseling services including AIDS, harm reduction and care and support services for children.
Children are knowledgeable and accessing various services, reported improved physical and mental health, less involvement with crime, a reduction in sharing of injecting equipment, increased safer sex practices and health seeking behavior improved. The project has helped to establish new partnership between the health, education, vocational training and employment sectors, building greater capacity for child focused interventions in the district.
24/7 Care Home
Needy, unfortunate, abandoned people including children are receiving holistic, multidisciplinary 24/7short term care facilities in homely environment fostering social reintegration.
Protecting Child & supporting Child Education
This programme aims to improve the access to quality education for children and promotes girls' education. Special emphasis is placed on the increasing access to education for girls and disadvantaged children, provision of low cost learning materials and scholarship support.
We have identified child protection as a major cross-cutting theme and it aims to promote systems and practices that contribute to children being better protected.
Adolescent & Youth Development Initiative
We are dedicated to improve learning opportunities for adolescents & youth, enabling them to become healthy and productive members of families, communities, and society. We aim to increase access to the quality and accessibility of youth & adolescent friendly programs by supporting youth groups, expanding advocacy efforts, and developing a life skills through workshops & seminars.
As a result, low income children are receiving regular educational support. Life-skills-based education is fully integrated in regular program of SHARAN, faith based groups & in schools. Capacity of NGO/CBOs & young peer leaders strengthened. Young people acquired knowledge and skills to prevent drug use and HIV and used relevant services such as HIV testing & counseling, harm reduction, services related to STI, reproductive health and antiretroviral therapy.
Keep A Child Alive Initiative
Thousands of children in Nepal are afflicted by exploitation, abuse, HIV and AIDS and violence each year. It is estimated that there are 28,417 children affected by AIDS in Nepal. Who are HIV positive; have lost one or both parents or primary caregivers due to AIDS.
Issues related to children affected by AIDS in Nepal are they are invisible, hidden, prevalent stigma and discrimination, significant needs for protection, education, nutrition and health care. They are double victimatized in terms of gender inequality and social exclusion. Most of them are from low income families with higher health expenditures.
We are providing basic treatment support to children who are afflicted by HIV and AIDS through We Care Fund and helping them stay alive and supporting the cause via Keep A Child Alive Campaign
