First Category Prize 2007

For projects by UN, international and regional organizations.

Prior to the initiation of its project "Cross Border Program on Capacity Building for Prevention of Trafficking & Rehabilitation of Potential and rescued Victims", Planete Enfants had been involved in trafficking prevention through community based activities in trafficking prone hilly district of Nepal, and had a tremendous success. However, Planete Enfants formulated a more innovative approach to address the dynamism of trafficking through this project of which global objectives were, prevention of women and children trafficking and reintegration of trafficking affected Nepalese children, young girls and women.

Whereas, it was true that intensive community based activities helped control trafficking in the project areas, trafficking vulnerability was ever increasing. It was getting more and more difficult to identify any particular area or ethnicity as trafficking vulnerable or trafficking affected. The purposes behind trafficking had also expanded, and trends & pretexts of human transportation were ever increasing. Planete Enfants responded to this dynamism of trafficking trend in Nepal by initiating this multi-disciplinary intervention at the cross-border belt of Nepal. In this manner, trafficking vulnerability was addressed at a funnel-point. Complemented by the awareness and community based initiatives of the government and non-government sector, the project has been well thought, extremely pertinent and timely.

The project also emphasizes on capacitating of local actors and consolidating networks of local level actors. This emphasis is rightly placed to carry on with further development in anti-trafficking intervention. The project has been able to lay significant ground-work for sustained cross-border intervention. Saathi, one of the projects local partners still continues the cross border intervention in similar nature even after project completion and optimizes infrastructure inputs like the transit shelters acquired by the project in Kanchanpur .

While the whole concept of comprehensive cross-border intervention strategy was an innovative approach in itself, selections of activities have also been appropriate. The activities selected range from awareness at cross border communities to recovery and reintegration of the repatriated.

Besides its specific objectives, which have been formulated appropriately with careful need assessment of the beneficiaries as well as the target group comprising local partner NGOs and anti-trafficking actors at local level, the project seems to respect and follow the concepts of Right-based intervention! and has made efforts to make pragmatic applications of Human Rights principals.

Nepal and India share an open border, stretching more than 1.600 kms. Indian and Nepali nationals can cross over the border at any point without any papers or restriction. This political arrangement had been one of the key factors of rampant trafficking from Nepal to India and via India to numerous gulf an south Asian countries. The project emphasized on awareness to cross-border migrant without curtailing the rights of migration or cross border movement of people, the project staff were trained on providing ‘correct’ information to people moving across indo-Nepal border. Focus was exclusively laid on promotion of informed migration. This characteristic of practical application of theories of Rights is commendable.

Another interesting aspect of appropriate use of technology is seen in Database Activity, which uses Information Technology (IT) in the interest of understanding trafficking and trafficking prevention. It is the first time ever in Nepal that such a comprehensive database on trafficking situation was attempted, and with intelligent use of IT, the database was functional and keeps space for further integrate database entering partners with the aim of consolidating anti-trafficking efforts.