Maiti Nepal was established in 1993 by a concerned group of Nepalese, to combat the trafficking
of girls and women, to rescue and rehabilitate victims, and to fight for the welfare of women and
children in Nepal. Maiti Nepal aims to help girls and women who have nowhere else to turn: girl
children from the streets, abandoned children, and destitute women. Maiti Nepal runs a rehab-
ilitation Centre/shelter in Kathmandu, currently home to 300 women and children. The goal of the
Centre is not always to send the girl back home to her guardians, who may be the very people who
actually abandoned her or did not interfere when their daughter was trafficked. Instead, if it is
appropriate, Maiti Nepal provides the girls with a safe place to live and get an education. The girls
attend a nearby school and return each night to a nurturing environment, where the emphasis is
on improving their health and education.

Older girls, who are either victims of trafficking or domestic violence, or living with HIV/AIDS - for
whom school is not a viable option - participate in Maiti Nepal’s Income Generating and Non-Formal Education
Programmes. Students enrolled in the training classes learn how to make children’s clothes, toys, handicrafts,
and fabric painting. Those who intend to earn money are provided with a loan to establish their own business.
Thus far, the micro-loan fund has helped finance more than fifty small street shops, known as Nanglo Pasal.

Maiti Nepal has also established a pre-primary school named Teresa
Academy for children residing at its Kathmandu Centre, as well as the
children of carpet workers, abandoned and orphaned children.

Public awareness and advocacy is also an important part of Maiti Nepal’s
mission. This includes public information campaigns, orientation pro-
grams in schools, lobbying politicians, ensuring increased media
coverage of the issue, and exposing the perpetrators publicly.

In Sattighata, Jhapa District, Maiti Nepal runs a Hospice for trafficking
victims who are dying of AIDS and Tuberculosis, where they can have a

Transit Homes are operated in the border areas to prevent girls from being trafficked. Here, Maiti Nepal volunteers,
who have returned from the Indian brothels themselves, watch for the girls and pimps crossing the border.
Since these volunteers know a lot about the tricky methods that the pimps use, they can identify pimps and
prevent other girls’ lives from being destroyed. The Transit Homes provide shelter for short stays, ensure safe
passage home when this is appropriate, and work with the police to apprehend traffickers. Maiti Nepal presently
runs four Transit Homes.

Maiti Nepal also operates three Prevention Camps for girls at high risk of being trafficked. These girls often have
a sister or another relative who has already been sold to a brothel. At the Prevention Camps, girls receive vocational
education for six months, micro-loans to start their own businesses, and the information needed to protect
themselves from being trafficked.

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