Story of action taker Rachana Sunar
IDEA Nepal
IDEA Nepal is a nonprofit NGO, established in 2018. It is based in Surkhet in Nepal and run by young, enthusiastic, dynamic, dedicated youth for transformational societal change. It enhances the leadership of young girls and boys, and encourages them to fight against injustice and inequality in society.
Rachana Sunar the founder of IDEA NEPAL, is an enthusiastic, dedicated social activist defending human rights in Nepal. When Sunar was 15, she was forced into marriage, but she tricked her family and stopped her own child marriage. Since then she has actively led the campaign “Girls are Girls not Brides” to stop child marriage. She started her journey for social justice in 2013, and she has stopped more than 80 child marriages. Around 10,000 students have been trained by her to stop child marriage.
IDEA Nepal is a transformed body from the core of the Sambad center (Dialogue center), a designed program for empowering adolescents, funded by the Stromme Foundation in 2013. Rachana Sunar was the facilitator of Sambad center in 2013. Together with young girls, Sunar was able to stop child marriages by spreading awareness against child marriage and its consequences. Sambad was a yearlong program that made a great impression. There was daily conversations about social issues with young girls in the community which aimed to teach them spread awareness and tackle these issues.
Later the Sambad center continued to grow stronger. It championed fighting against child marriage, violence against women and girls, sexual harassment and abuse, caste discrimination, chaupadi and vulnerability. It taught girls and women their rights and human rights, as well as the importance of education. It encouraged young mothers to learn income generating activities and to run small businesses so they could earn money and equal respect in the family.
The Sambad center gained knowledge in coordinating with local government and stake holders, for teamwork and partnership, and eventually developed in to an NGO. IDEA Nepal stands for Investment for the Development, Empowerment and Awareness. It has a mission for ensuring human rights to end injustice, and build equality for everyone.
IDEA Nepal’s goals
- Awareness to end child marriage, violence against women, injustice and inequality
- Investment for quality education to ensure human rights
- Empowering the lives of girls and women by creating income opportunity
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