Where We Work: Asia and Oceania
Peace First’s work in Asia began in 2018 when a group of young social change leaders in Nepal reached out for support with their work for democracy and educational equity. Since then, we’ve supported a rapidly growing base of young leaders across Asia and Oceania, with a large concentration of young leaders in South Asia, particularly India and Nepal. Our support has helped young people create integration and mental health support programs for refugees, take action for sustainability and stronger climate policy and mount major education reforms in collaboration with national governments. Our team in Asia has particularly focused on reaching young people in rural regions, running Peace First Lab tours in outlying communities to engage and support young people often not served by social change programs.
Project of the Month
Project Spotlights
In Nepal, less than half of adolescent girls have adequate knowledge about menstruation, and only one in ten practices good menstrual hygiene. Adolescent girls’ inability to effectively manage menstrual hygiene affects their education, physical health, psychological and emotional well-being, and general quality of life.
Raziya grew up in a small village in Rampur, Palpa, Nepal. She got her period when she was 13 years old and recalls the experience as terrifying as she had no idea what was happening to her body. The fear was compounded by a sense of alienation and shame. Raziya felt that it was not appropriate for her to talk about what’s happening even to her mother, so she resorted to using old dirty rags as a substitute for sanitary napkins.
When Yulan moved to Kathmandu for his higher secondary education, he learned that gender based violence is not just about physical assaults but the sexual, mental and spiritual trauma faced by women. He began to understand that whatever he witnessed in his village was all part of a deeply rooted patriarchal society that simply rejected the idea of supporting the independence and agency of young women. So, during his term break, whenever he returned to his village, he used to volunteer with different organizations, conduct interviews with self-help groups and informal mothers’ groups to research and learn more about this injustice. Based on these interviews and several training and volunteering opportunities he received, Yulan was motivated to create a comprehensive training module that focused on gender based violence and sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR).
Marwah began her changemaking journey volunteering at an event serving children with disabilities. She recalls finding joy being among children and feeling inspired by their tenacity and their commitment to work towards their dreams despite belonging to a vulnerable group. Her volunteer experience sparked a passion for working with young children - a passion that guided her career choices moving forward. At her position as a manager in her university’s Future Leaders chapter, in Malang, Indonesia, she grew to love project management and design thinking and focused those skills to designing projects to respond to the pressing need to provide quality education to children in rural areas.
Regional Opportunities and Events:
Fellow in Residence & Regional Manager
Koshika Krishna
Koshika is a human rights lawyer and social activist from India. She is the Founder of SEHER, (NGO) that focuses on addressing gender based inequalities through advocacy and strategic legal interventions. SEHER’s advocacy engagement has directly impacted the lives of over 12,000 women and young girls across rural Maharashtra. The legal interventions have led to policy level changes around access to water, pension rights, quality healthcare services and redressal of gender based violence across multiple states. She is a 2017 Resolution Project Fellow NY, USA, a 2018 ‘FundYourOwnWorth’ Awardee by the ICICI Bank, India and a 2020 +1 Global Fund Awardee by the Roddenberry Foundation, Los Angeles, USA. She holds a dual ‘Bachelor in Law and Legal Sciences’ degree from the University of Mumbai and a LLM Master’s degree (Distinction) in ‘Human Rights, Conflict and Justice’ from the SOAS University, London. She was awarded the ‘SOAS Global Impact Award’ scholarship based on her work at SEHER to pursue the LLM.