Coronavirus: Rebuild Lives in India and Nepal

Meghna is an 18-year-old girl from the Wadar community, a group that faces social exclusion and prejudice in India. She lives in a village in Pune district, Maharashtra, where she helps her family with household chores and farming. 

One day, on her way to the market she was assaulted by a man. 

Meghna and her family reported the crime to the police with the help of Nirman, our partner organisation. The accused was later arrested and is currently in prison, though social exclusion and prejudice against Meghna continued. 

Nirman supported Meghna and her family with accessing economic and psycho-social support, alongside Meghna’s sister, who was at risk of dropping out of school after the incidentand received a scholarship to continue her education. Meghna and her family also attended therapy, to cope with the trauma and stigma they had faced. 

Meghna is one of the many girls and women who face violence and discrimination in South Asia, especially from marginalised communities. Karuna works alongside local partners such as Nirman toprovide education, livelihood, health, and legal support. We also work to challenge the social norms and structures that perpetuate inequality and injustice. 

We are grateful to all our supporters who make this work possible. Your generosity and compassion make a difference in the lives of people like Meghna. Thank you! 

Two years on from the end of the Pandemic, Karuna continues to work with its in-country partners to support people from some of the most vulnerable communities as they struggle to rebuild their lives.

During the year 2022/23, Karuna worked directly with 129,000 people from vulnerable communities in India and Nepal with indirect impacts reaching an estimated 650,000. Our work in the aftermath of the pandemic has focused on three main priorities.

• To support the most vulnerable children, especially adolescent girls to stay in school and complete their education.

• To protect women from marginalised communities from the increased threat of domestic and caste-based violence.

• To help some of the most economically disadvantaged people, especially migrant workers, to gain greater economic security through access to Government Welfare schemes.

Education. Learning Champions Girls’ Education Project (Nepal)

During the lockdown, all schools in Nepal were closed and children in rural areas missed out on their education leading to an increased risk of children, especially girls, dropping out for work or early marriage.

This project aims to support 8,500 adolescent girls between the ages of 12 and 16 to stay in school resisting family and economic pressures to drop out.

The project is in its first year of implementation and the past year has seen some significant progress towards the achievement of planned outcomes.

• 30 women groups have been formed comprising 555 women from Dalit and marginalized families.

• Seven Dignity Centres and 6 Learning Hubs have been established supporting out-of-school girls to re-enroll in schools.

• 450 teachers received 10 days (about 1 and a half weeks) of teacher training on educational materials development and teaching learning strategies.

• Ten entrepreneurship capacity development training courses involving 387 mothers of school age children have been delivered.

Livelihoods. Migrant Labourers’ Resilience Project (India)

Migrant Labourers in India were among the people worst affected by the pandemic with millions forced to leave their places of work and return home on foot.

Over the past year the project has engaged directly with 43,000 migrant labourers, benefiting a total of 120,000 family members. 24,000 migrant labourers have been supported to receive payments under government welfare entitlement schemes and 20,000 have received training on safe migration, making them aware of relevant rights and legal protection and better able to avoid becoming exploited by traffickers. 1,184 calls were received on the Migrant Workers’ Helpline, 240 cases were registered, and 113 workers and their families have been physically rescued from dangerous or exploitative situations.

Womens’ Empowerment. Voice of Women Project India

The pandemic saw a sharp increase in number of cases of domestic and other gender-based violence with police and courts all too often unable to respond to the needs of women from the most marginalised communities.

Over the year 2022/23 the project supported a total of 2,698 vulnerable women.

• The team collected information from 958 cases and out of these cases fact-finding was done in 641 cases.

• In 246 cases the team received consent and supported the survivors of violence. The survivors were provided various types of emergency support.

• In 126 cases the survivors received mental health and counseling support.

• In 27 cases, the survivors received compensation, totaling Rs.39,60,000 (£40,000). 96 cases went on trial. In 2 cases, the accused were convicted.

• 38 Community Based Organisations (CBOS) and 32 SHGs were formed in this reporting period.

• 258 paralegal volunteers were identified in various communities across the 12 project area districts.

Thank you for your continued support in helping us to maintaining this essential work for these communities as the continue to recover from the devistating effects of the Pandemic.