“My house was buried to rubbles, all my cattle lay still in ground, and everything we ever had was all gone within minutes. I felt this was the end. Months passed and we were living in desperateness. And Danfe came to me as a Hope.” Sunita Mangrante, Kavrepalanchowk District
After the massive earthquake hit Nepal in 2015, SAATH began a livelihood project called ‘Danfe’. SAATH was actively involved during the immediate relief. With a vision to make a substantial impact in the ongoing work, Danfe came into existence. With the success of pilot project with 5 beneficiaries in July 2015, Danfe began to provide tailoring training. Further in 2016 Danfe was able to reach 30 more girls from marginalized community who were directly affected by earthquake and more vulnerable to girls trafficking. Danfe is a platform for such young girls (16 to 25 years) to acquire a skill, build capacity, gain leadership role and emerge as young independent women in their community. Counseling session, education class, theatre class, awareness campaigns are additional components besides tailoring. So far, 30 beneficiaries completed their training and are back in their community with a sewing machine working from home, working in tailor shop and few have also started their own enterprise. With the support of Development and Peace Caritas Canada, Danfe is undertaking second batch of training for 19 more beneficiaries from Sindhupalchowk. The postproduction team makes product to showcase at Danfe Outlet for the sustainability of the project.
Danfe is a platform for these young girls/women to make them realize what they are capable of; it makes them believe that they are important; it makes them understand the need to gain economic independence and it makes them a woman of substance.
