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A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.

The Impact of Service "Speaking with locals and living in a country is the best way to learn about the real lives of citizens, not just the stories in the mainstream media. I will be more critical of what I read as a result of this experience. I also feel even more grateful for my education, and I feel a stronger responsibility to assist others who do not have resources or access to opportunities in their communities." Maria Skouras (New York University) volunteered in 2011 as a Peace Fellow for eHomemakers in Malaysia. For more 2011 feedback click here.

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Partner Campaigns > Jagaran Media Cen... > Get Involved

Get Involved

This campaign will seek to mobilize activists in the districts of Nepal, at the national level in Kathmandu, and internationally in the struggle to end caste discrimination in Nepal. It provides many ways for people to get involved



How you can help!

Host an Event: The AP team can help you to organize an event at your university, business, or community center

Adopt: Identify a couple who have resisted caste discrimination in Nepal
 
Lobby: Write a letter of support to an activist in Nepal, a local official who is behaving responsibly, or a Dalit reporter. Click here for a sample letter. It will be translated in Nepal and delivered to the intended recipient. Your letter will provide critically important evidence that the struggle against caste in Nepal is not going unnoticed.
 
Raise Funds: Some, though not all, of these campaigns will rely on donations. Visit our Give section.  


In Nepal

JMC will follow up with several different activities aimed at protecting inter-caste marriage. These will be developed, and covered by JMC in future bulletins, and on the JMC website:

• Work with local Dalit advocacy groups to set specific goals for protecting inter-caste marriage
• Contact Dalit members in the Constituent Assembly and ask them to publicize the threat to inter-caste marriage and follow up with local officials in their constituencies. JMC and other advocacy groups are also demanding that caste be declared a crime against humanity in the new Constitution
• Bring a test case in the Nepali courts to create a legal precedent for punishing those responsible for discrimination and protect inter-caste marriages
• Identify mixed married couples who face intimidation, and publicize their cases
• Promote and support good practice by praising progressive local officials and successful experiments such as untouchability-free zones, where mixed marriages are easier.

Internationally

From Washington, The Advocacy Project will:

• Share the JMC information with Nepal and Dalit diaspora groups, with listservs, with human rights groups, with governments, in schools
• Organize events at universities, with Dalit, with experts, with visiting JMC officials.
• Encourage American and European activists to send letters of support to inter-caste couples in Nepal, as well as to local police chiefs and administrators who are supporting married couples. These letters have been requested by JMC, which will translate them and make sure they are delivered

These activities will be developed in the first months of 2009 and covered in these pages.  


 

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