Gender-based violence is a serious threat to women and girls in Nepal, where incidents often go unreported. Islamic Relief stepped up efforts to tackle this by launching a new project with our partner, the Rural Development Centre (RDC), which supports women and girls subjected to genderbased violence in Ratuhat district. The initiative strengthened government protection structures, developing referral pathways between institutions working on protection to ensure a coordinated response to incidents of violence.

We trained local journalists on ethical reporting around gender-based violence, and in the community, ran awareness-raising campaigns and self-defence classes for adolescent girls. The 15 bathing cubicles we supplied gave women and girls a secure place to bathe, and 19 survivors of gender-based violence received assistance with necessities such as medical treatment, food, and clothing. In addition, the project also offered counselling and vocational training to survivors and at-risk individuals.

The impact was significant: 94 child marriages were prevented and 86 girls who had dropped out of school re-enrolled as a result. The annual income of those who participated in the project’s livelihood activities increased by 28 per cent. We hoped the awareness-raising campaigns would boost reporting of gender-based violence cases by 20 per cent, but they achieved more than twice that, with a recorded 47 per cent increase.