Nepal
Shelter Ashraya Nepal
Shelter Ashraya Nepal is a voluntary, non-government, non-profit organisation established in 2014, which envisions a society where children and youth are safe, protected, and have access to all the basic rights. Shelter uses sports to support children and youth, and offer rehabilitation, reintegration and empowerment. The children and youth wish to show the world that sports is not just a game but also a voice, a picture that reflects independence, equality, and the strength to change the stereotype and patriarchal society.
The United Nations sees sport as an important and powerful tool with the potential to progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Shelter Ashraya Nepal supports the SDGs and uses sport to bring the children together in a safe space so that they can be seen and their voices can be heard.Through sports, it aims to provide a platform for children and youth at risk to be heard, to challenge negative stereotypes and to promote their rights. Shelter Nepal uses the power of sport to protect, respect, and support children and youth at risk around Nepal.
Shelter Ashraya Nepal also runs a Prison Football, Rehabilitation Through Football programme in collaboration with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA).
Programmes include:
Empowerment through sports
Driving Social Change- End Menstrual Taboo, End Monthly Exile
Red Card to Child Labor
Right to legal Identity
Compulsory School: Right to Education
Protection from Violence
Nutrition: The First Five Years
Country statistics
149 out of 189 in Human Development Index Rankings (UNDP, 2019)
$1,230 average annual salary per person (World Bank, 2021)
25% of people live under the poverty line (World Food Programme, 2019)
Nepal is a mountainous country in Southern Asia that is home to the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest. 30.6 million people live in the small country that is located between global superpowers China and India (CIA World Factbook, 2022).
3.7 million people, some 10% of the total population, were displaced in Nepal between 2008 and 2021 due to natural disasters (Internal Displacement, 2021).
In 2015, a 7.6 earthquake struck the country in the Gorkha region, some 76km northwest of capital Kathmandu. The disaster killed more than 9,000 people and damaged or destroyed over 850,000 homes. According to Oxfam, this disproportionately affected women, children, elderly people, people living with disabilities and those from lower ‘castes*’ (Oxfam).
The earthquake also decimated the economy, wiping out 25% of GDP. It is estimated climate change will lead to more natural disasters in the country (World Food Programme).
*The caste system is a historic class system found in South Asia. Roughly 260 million people in South Asia are “Dalits,” or members of lower castes, and are therefore treated as ‘untouchable’ by other casts that are deemed to be socially superior.
The Untouchability and Discrimination Act (1963) and the Constitution of Nepal both provide legal protections for Dalits. Yet, discrimination against marginalised communities in Nepal—particularly Dalit people—remains prevalent (Borgen, 2020).
STORIES from the region
