2024 – Dream Nepal – Support for children whose mothers are incarcerated

Aarati, one of the young girls, has graduated as a nurse. Source: Dream Nepal

Preeti, Kalpana, and Sagita, current beneficiaries of Youth Nepal Project

Social Issue

In Nepal, poverty and sociocultural factors force many children to live in prison with their mothers. Although the UN and UNICEF recommend they should not remain there after the age of three, many, up to twelve years old, continue to live in prison without having committed any crime. There, they lack proper nutrition, medical care, and education, which affects their development and increases the risk of turning to crime in the future.

Our Response

Since 2016, the Dream Nepal Association has been rescuing children from prisons in Nepal, offering them foster homes with their mothers’ permission. They provide education, medical, and psychological support, while maintaining contact with their mothers.

The Youth Nepal Project, started in 2019, supports young people who have outgrown the MalaHome foster system by funding their housing, food, education, healthcare, and helping them find employment.

In 2022, the Netri Foundation funded Mala Homes, which currently has 3 houses for 54 children. This current donation will help fund Youth Nepal for one year.

Expected Social Impact

The Youth Nepal Project is now in its fifth year with promising results. Three of the four young women who joined in 2019 are about to graduate and will leave the supervised home with a degree, savings, and the confidence to achieve independence. The fourth young woman will complete her training as a lab technician in a year. Additionally, three new young women from Mala Homes will join the supervised home to begin their studies and a new phase of their lives.