Shanti Foundation

Volunteer Opportunities: Yes

History

Shanti Foundation is a nonprofit community-based organization, established and operated in leadership of human trafficking survivors and women living with HIV since 2016 transforming their grief and shame into courage and power so that other women and girls like them don't have to go through the circumstances they had to.

During the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake, the founder president of the Shanti Foundation Ms. Sanja Maya Tamang brought relief supplies to different remote areas of Nepal. As she spent time in these villages, she learned about the human trafficking survivors and women living with HIV in these areas were often alienated by their community. She was able to empathize with these women and their loss of hope, as she too was a human trafficking survivor and women living with HIV. Upon her arrival at Kathmandu (capital city of Nepal) she advocated for these women but all the responses only disappointed her.

This was the time when she felt that she had to convert her sorrow into her strength. She formed a team of survivors. The founders of the Shanti Foundation were all survivors, they didn't had education nor professional expertise but they had lived experience of such a horror and a hope. A hope of a world free of stigma and discriminations where they can live with freedom.

Mission Statement

1. Advocate for peace
2. Respect and value human dignity and human rights
3. Support the empowerment of trafficking survivors, HIV/AIDS infected/affected, vulnerable and high-risk people to self-determination
4. Work toward a society free of violence, discrimination, and social exclusion
5. The promotion of social justice, gender equality, and inclusion of all people
6. Provide support and services to people living in hard-to-reach communities and districts
7. Develop safe, secure, and resilient communities and districts

Vision Statement

Each person in the world has equal human rights from birth. Shanti Foundation’s vision is a world free of stigma and discrimination where all HIV and AIDS infected/affected women, youth, and children will lead a life of quality and productivity with equality and freedom in society.