CURRENT ACTIVITIES Social Mobilization through mass awareness on various issues With an aim of creating mass awareness among the general people Aawaaj conducts social mobilization through mass awareness program. The main targets of this activity are the Government authorities, NGOs, medical professionals, teachers, lawyers, journalists and police. Along with them awareness programs are conducted separately with Men (Husband's of community facilitators, husband's of victims of domestic or sexual violence, boys, fathers and Local leaders), women (Volunteers, Leaders of women group and facilitators), children (both school going and out of school children and girls and boys). All the participants of the mass awareness are also given Legal awareness. Aawaaj has been launching White Ribbon Campaign to stop violence against women in all every target communities.
• Social Integration and Bring Positive Changes Aawaaj has an experienced counselor who provides counseling to the sufferers of violence hence helping to build their self-confidence; self esteem, self -respect, self reliance and bring positive feelings in their own life and help them live in the society with dignity.
Explore their experiences and insights at being sufferers of violence and document them. Identify future life potential for the sufferers and involve them in finding solutions to problems. Facilitate and mobilize them for taking action to improve their lives and participate in activism, awareness raising, care and support. Taking legal action to culprits through linkages with Police and local committees. Provide legal aid as per the affected person's interest and take judicial measures against intolerable forms of violence against girls and women. Develop effective partnership with the police to ensure that their procedure in legal process do not further victimize the sufferers. • Temporary Support Center . Aawaaj has a temporary support center for the sufferers of sexual and domestic violence. This is a temporary relief center which allows the women and children affected by severe degree of violation, who don't have money to travel frequently for legal process from their home and home is quite far, and who do not want to return their home immediately due to fear of getting abused lodging and food for 2 -3 weeks. Once the legal process proceeds and understanding between the two parties is made along with community mediation then the person affected will return to their own place. • Establish Community Support Mechanism Aawaaj works towards building a community support mechanism and build network of children, girls and women who are sufferers of sexual and domestic violence and make them feel that they are not alone in society and developing group strength. • Counseling, Care and Support Individual and family level Community for social actions and acceptance (in the affected person's permission) • Lobbying and Advocacy Linkage with police, lawyers and district administration office for legal actions Follow up and pressurize for prompt action Raise issues through media, forums, networks, and other formal and informal groups. Working with district women pressure group and national women pressure group • Campaigns Working with district women pressure group and national women pressure group to increase women's participation in all sectors and give pressure to take action as early as possible. White Ribbon Campaign during community awareness to stop violence against women “WE CAN” campaign against violence of women • Economic support Aawaaj provides financial support for income generating activities to the people affected by sexual abuse and violence and also for vulnerable families to be sexual abuse and violence. • Educational support More than 600 children are currently enrolled under the educational support programme of Aawaaj. Most of these children are vulnerable girls and few boys belonging to poor economic background . Support is provided the children in fees, stationeries and uniforms. • Research and Study Aawaaj has done various researches and studies and has also been a part of various researches done by other organizations. These studies have been done in issues like child sexual abuse, situation of internally displaced children in school, drug abuse among the adolescent youths etc. • Gainful Employment Opportunities Aawaaj is providing vocational training to 260 adolescent girls and young women who are vulnerable to trafficking and who faced violence. The girls and women are taking trainings in various areas like driving, cooking, beautician, press printing, Nepali paper making, photography, Bakery, Radio / Watch repairing, Nepali Duna / Tapari making, Potato chips / Pickle making. All these trainings are organized in coordination with private sectors; district chambers of commerce, trade schools, private institutions at local level. Eighty percent of trainees are employed by different sectors at local level. • Radio Interaction Program Media is the effective way to create mass awareness about any issue. Regional transmission of Surkhet covers such remote districts that are far from communication, education, trade, health and administration. Considering these facts, Aawaaj has been conducting a Radio Interaction Program targeted in Mid-Western Region focusing on “WE CAN” campaign against violence of women. The radio program is a weekly program conducted every Friday at 8:15 to 8:30 PM. Most of the program activities implement during this period are radio program, orientation and pre consultation meeting, interaction with women, men, students, street drama, training, counseling, medical and economic support, organize mass rally, debate, competitions, feast and festival. The most common methods used for participatory learning approach e.g. Plenary discussion, orientation, sharing of experience, case study, demonstration of poster, pamphlets and models, role play etc. are use for interaction, orientation and pre-consultation meeting. • Child Friendly Spaces Aawaaj is running Child Friendly Spaces for the protection and care of vulnerable children. The CFS is a structured in safe place where children and youth meet their peers to play, learn competencies and skills to deal with the risks they face, be involved in some educational activities and relax in a safe place. It gives the children the sense of safety, structure and continuity that provides support. It gives them a sense of belongingness after having been displaced. It builds cohesion and a sense of community. It is for: Learning Formal and Non-Formal information: which is more holistic and less academic for example: • Literacy and numerical • Life Skills • Health Education • Hygiene Education • Psycho Education – learning that each child is having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. The CFS encourages interactive learning through groups; pairs; teams; and involving children and young people in activities and projects which they can jointly do. It is a Place to play, psychosocial support and expression and voice children's feelings. • Fostering Care and Reintegration: Aawaaj explored various issues and analysis of Healing Practices related cultural and appreciate the various types of caring at community that can take so many ways and can address itself on so many aspects of the child and their community. Aawaaj aim at restoring peace with the community and social environment and restoring the full identify of the child, to feel at one with his / her community and its basic beliefs and values. Aawaaj facilitate the child to be completely at peace with them, to collect together their fears and overcome them, to be assured that their desires and wishes will be dealt with, and that their anxieties and aspirations will be catered for by the one they love. Every child needs to belong and be loved in a stable, secure, nurturing family where parents are unconditionally committed to the life and welfare of their son or daughter. In Midwestern region Nepal many children have lost their both parents and single parent due to conflict more than 12 yrs in country. For the better preparation to foster mother and in case the huge number of children be released from Maoist cantonment area, those children will be keep with foster mother and have to get family environment and ready for reintegration rather keep in rehabilitation centre. Aawaaj members are also involved in "Return and Reintegration of Children Affected by Armed Conflict" Before reintegration, Aawaaj has identified fostering mothers and trained on Fostering Care and support by Irada Gautam for 5 days to be prepared and discussed matters with single women who are affected from conflict. The fostering training focused on different issues like the Meaning and importance of fostering Needs, Issues while giving care and support, Analysis of practices within communities ,Discuss issues around children associated with Armed forces and Armed Group, Highlight and strengthen good practices within communities that could protect children associated with Armed forces and Armed Group and normalize children as before , Discuss the attitude, belief and practices that could possibly put children at person at risk, empathy, Non discrimination, participation, best interest of children , Communicating with children and their families are; Love, Respect, touching, listening and being present for them consistently, focus on the good and happy things in their lives may help Considering these situations those children associated with Armed forces and Armed Group has been reintegrated in their own community. Aawaaj has been facilitated this process of identifying their own relatives and finding issues of children to reintegrate and support children for education or livelihood. For the reintegration Aawaaj has facilitated social mobilization and do Interaction on the issues of the children involved and affected in the armed conflict and those women affected by the conflict with various stakeholders. • Volunteerism Aawaaj offers opportunity for interested individuals for direct experience in all facets of social service. | 
