PRAYASS II: Continuing the Journey Toward Safer Futures

We are delighted to announce that Right4Children have received funding for our PRAYASS II project, launching 1st March 2026, and running through December 2029.

PRAYASS is an initiative addressing some of the problems caused by the rapid growth of the Adult Entertainment Sector (AES) in Pokhara. This includes sex work and adult entertainment sold in Spas, Dohori (folk song bars), Dance Bars and Khaja Ghar (informal restaurants) throughout Pokhara.

There are an estimated 2322 women working in this sector in Pokhara alone, as per our 2023 research findings. Shockingly, 68% report abuse, 64% want to leave the industry and 16% lack citizenship and therefore have no legislative rights. From the sample of women we’ve supported, 72% are rural migrants who arrived in Pokhara seeking better educational or working opportunities, only to find themselves trapped in the AES.

A lack of citizenship can create huge barriers to many of the things that most people take for granted: these women can’t open a bank account, access education, health services or secure alternative jobs. The AES industry is the easiest entry point for vulnerable girls who don’t have familial networks in the city or who don’t have legal identification.

We think this is a growing, unregulated and unrecognised problem that is worth doing something about, so we started PRAYASS I in January 2023.

PRAYASS has three main aims.

1.      To prevent girls from entering this type of work and dismantle its perception as an inevitability.

2.      To rehabilitate those who are trapped in the sector and who want to escape and reintegrate them into their communities.

3.      To make the lives of women who choose to continue working in this sector safer and easier, reducing stigma and mobilising community support.

These aims are interwoven with the overarching goal of community engagement, where PRAYASS works to raise awareness, reduce stigma and involve different stakeholders (police, government and AES business owners) in the work that we do. This encourages accountability, ownership and participation in decision-making, ensuring a lasting sustainable impact.

Our approach is two-pronged.

Preventive:

PRAYASS identifies schoolgirls who are at risk of being recruited into the AES – often due to absent parents, familial economic hardship or educational barriers. Our team provide tailored support through learning materials, remedial classes, career guidance and home visits. This both incentivises parents to invest more in their daughters’ education and empowers the young girls we work with to realise their potential and break the cycle of inevitability.

We also strengthen Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes in schools as well as helping mothers with childcare, addressing issues at their root cause, preventing them from emerging.

Rehabilitative:

Through our hotline and SHE Centre facilities we perform direct rescue from abusive situations. In some cases, this involves identifying underage girls and removing them from the AES. Following this, we provide counselling services and work with Kopila Nepal to provide facilities where our beneficiaries can remain safe.

PRAYASS I Achievements

From 2023-2025, our team along with the support from government stakeholders and Police officers, we rescued 82 women and girls through our hotline and SHE Centre facilities. The indirect number is harder to quantify as PRAYASS I’s impact will unfold in a ripple effect over the coming years. We have made slow but steady progress: recent surveys show that 69% of workers report harsh working conditions and abuse, compared to baseline data prior to PRAYASS I, which reported 78% of workers experiencing similar conditions.

Women who work in the AES have greater barriers to receiving medical attention due to cultural sigma around sexual health, STIs, contraception, etc. The health clinics that the SHE Centre offers have built significant trust with the local community, so that they are no longer afraid to ask for help. We now have 1153 workers registered at our SHE Centre.

One of our most significant achievements is the Code of Conduct we established with local police, government representatives, Spa and Dohori Associations and AES business owners, through continued teamwork and collaboration. By involving these stakeholders in decision-making, we have found that they have been eager to work with us. The government and police made a huge U-turn from refusing to acknowledge the growing problem to now wanting to address it. The Code of Conduct aims to enable safer and fairer working environments, offering more transparency and open dialogue with all involved parties.

Advancing with PRAYASS II:

Building on this foundation, PRAYASS II are introducing a new initiative forming self-help groups (SHG) in each of the 9 communities we work with. Each group will receive seed money from R4C. These groups will promote collective saving, enhance financial literacy and strengthen economic resilience within communities. This community development approach works to tackle the key contributory social determinants that often lead to women turning to sex work.

Recognising and learning from the challenges of PRAYASS I, this second phase will shift to work with fewer women, while engaging on a deeper level. Many women dropped out of re-training and work placements in our PRAYASS I programme due to the wage gap, mental health issues, and lack of engagement.

Project phases:

The first phase of the project will focus on direct implementation, capacity building, and community mobilization. After rescue and rehabilitation, beneficiaries will receive ongoing support to reintegrate successfully into their families and communities, promoting their long-term wellbeing and resilience. The second leg of the project will prioritise advocacy and policy support for system strengthening together with partners, leveraging their influence to institutionalise reforms for sustainable impact.

Thanks to the continued support of our donor partners, we will continue our trajectory, which will hopefully snowball with the expertise and established relationships that our PRAYASS team have.