Tag: Rato Baltin

The fight against the Covid-19, with our project Masks for Health, supported by Minyons Escoltes i Guies
For this year 2021, Minyons Escoltes i Guies de Catalunya, a youth educational organization in Catalonia, Spain, have decided to contribute the 1% of their own fundraising corresponding to the 2019/2020 course (€4,973.40) to two projects, both born to fight the impact of the Covid-19 pandemics. The entity issued a call for public tender in order to allocate the money to global justice projects created by associations and entities from outside their own organization.

Within the frame of this call, the jury has decided to divide that 1% between two projects, one of which is from be artsy. Thanks a lot, Minyons Escoltes i Guies de Catalunya! We have already spoken about this project to you: “Masks for Health 2021”. It is about doing reusable masks workshops in the Achham district, in West Nepal, where we mainly work, creating paid jobs for local women to facilitate their autonomy. It has also included giving out soap, and providing information plus raising awareness, helping thus the people in 17 villages to be more protected against the Covid-19.

The amount received has been €1,440, at it has been a great help! We congratulate from be artsy the other project, “Senders” (“Trails”), from the Tapís Association in the city of Vic, Catalonia: assistance with social and employment integration, with incentives, addressed to young people at risk of social exclusion, now aggravated due to the health emergency.

These types of collaborations do really make a difference! Thanks very much!
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Translation by Tere Salinero
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We need your help, please.

-Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

–2021 crowdfunding: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

-Teaming – 1 euro/month:

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject
Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

-Donorbox – Choose your own currency!

RatoBaltin: https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi

Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!
22/07/2021
Collaboration Makes a Difference: MacEwan University
The experience related to the collaborative workshops developed with MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has been rewarding for each of us. Through the Riipen platform, we unite around our academic and practical interests in defending the rights of children and women in Nepal.

Nursing students from the Community Mental Health: High Priority Population class have contributed and continue supporting be artsy. We want to thank all those students, but especially Taylor Wilson and Hannah Wildeman for the crowdfunding implemented for be artsy which obtained CAD 500 (EUR 332.80) for the Rato Baltin Project. Likewise, we want to express our gratitude to Professor Rita Dhungel, in charge of the Social Work course at the same University, who, with her students, included the participation of be artsy in events for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, last November.

Therefore, apart from with the fundraising, the students have contributed to spreading the predicament of women related to extreme discrimination just because they are women and being considered unclean when they have their menstruation. In addition to reflecting on possible implementation solutions based on menstrual, sexual, health, and sustainability education. Plus free participation. Proposals that have gained recognition not only in Nepal but also in other countries, but on which we must continue working. In 2020, where we have all been affected in various ways, primarily about health issues, we started at the end of the year with the 2021 project, which has continued to advance with care but strong.

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Going back to the main issue, the MacEwan University has contributed in ways that, as happens with all positive actions, have been crucial. The students, with some computer graphics in both English and Nepali, have helped the project, apart from with the fundraising, by providing an outreach tool for girls and women as well as for the communities.
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Translation by Liliana Gonzalez and Tere Salinero
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We need your help, please.

-Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

–2021 crowdfunding: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

-Teaming – 1 euro/month:

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject
Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

-Donorbox – Choose your own currency!

RatoBaltin: https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi

Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!
01/07/2021
We still need collaboration to continue ahead with the EDUFEM 2021 project. Below the detail of what has happened during 2019 and 2020

According to UNICEF, Nepal has got the third-highest ratio of child marriage in Asia

Although child marriage is illegal in this country since 1963, this practice is very common in remote villages. The minimum legal age to be married is 20, but in these remote areas there is still a majority of teenagers getting married at between 15 and 19 years. The reasons for child marriages in Nepal are complex. Poverty, the low value granted to female offspring and the lack of access to education are factors that contribute, when at the same time the caste system and the patriarchal culture also play an important role. It seems that with each passing day more teenagers are able to choose their partners and can even run away. In some cases, fathers and mothers encourage their sons or daughters to initiate their own marriage in order to avoid the high costs related to the dowry or the wedding. They can also choose to run away, as the sexual expression outside wedlock is not acceptable, to avoid a forced or arranged marriage, or just to flee from the difficulties at home.

This is the report of the years 2019 and 2020 of a project that still needs a last effort to keep on going

Our objective is to find more sponsors that are ready to participate in the program, in order for us to offer more opportunities to girls and young women to continue with their studies. The more donors we have, the more opportunities we can give our students. University can be very expensive and even unaffordable, and the girls who are ready to keep on with their studies will need to cope with those expenses. The challenges we are facing in the implementation of the project 2020 were due to the Covid-19 pandemics. The girls took their school exams late, because in April, which is when in principle should have taken place, there was a strict confinement. Even in this exceptional situation and having confronted them later, the girls passed all their exams. However, some of them decided not to pursue B. A. degrees.

Can we succeed in them deciding by themselves, without feeling coerced by external factors?

-Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

–Migranodearena: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

-Teaming (1 euro/month):

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject
Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

-Donorbox:
https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi
https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!

16/05/2021
We have the be artsy Activity Report 2020!
It will be of interest to you. And it will be surprising. We have started working on the project Rato Baltin 2021 and other projects this year, and finally we closed the activity report that we carried out in 2020, the year in which the main risk was the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide and in Far West Nepal. This has made travelling impossible (for international volunteers and local partners in Kathmandu).

Because of the lockdown measures, schools were closed from March to mid-November. During the first week of December the schools closed again. Due to the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and current public health restrictions, it has been impossible for local partners to monitor the project on the spot; we had to let the girls and the local government do it. We managed that 2 of our coordinators and 1 trainer helped with the monitoring, but we had to believe that the local NGO would do the work according to our vision, expectations, methodology and values.

The project could only be implemented with the authorization and coordination of the local government. The risk was that local government employees would not follow the correct guidelines during the implementation of the project. Obtaining stable funds for our projects is the greatest difficulty we face. The project is working very well, but it is not cheap.

In 2021, we will do the project Rato Baltin + Masks 4 health before reaching each town, to protect our trainers and mentors and the locals who come to our workshops. We are trying to get a donation of menstrual cups to provide all the women who want to use them. Besides, in collaboration with Dr. Yap from the WTO (World Toilet Organization) we will open a social enterprise in Achham, Nepal, to try to help women earn money. We are now carrying out a study on the natural materials that we can find, what projects can be included in the initiative. But surely it will be along the lines of sanitary napkins, masks, candles, soap … The initiative is aimed to help widows, young women who could not finish their studies and low caste women to have a regular income that gives dignity to their lives.

During 2020, we hired a project manager, two coordinators, three trainers and six mentors in Achham. As staff of the project Rato Baltin, they earn a salary that makes them more financially independent. This experience will make them leaders in their community and will allow them to develop new skills that they can use in the future. In the emergency project we also hired several women to make masks.

We finished the year 2020 with 61 partners, but we need more! Have a look at the Activity Report 2020, you will surely find it interesting.

Join us!
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Translation by Sari Manota
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We need your help, please.

-Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

–2021 crowdfunding: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

-Teaming – 1 euro/month:

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject
Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

-Donorbox – Choose your own currency!

RatoBaltin: https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi

Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!
12/04/2021
Impact of the 2020 project: we have keep on working despite the Covid-19

The challenges we faced while implementing the project in 2020 were due to the Covid-19, but despite the constraints, our local trainers have shown their motivation and willingness to keep working to bring changes in their community.

You can read the details of the evaluation of the 2020 Rato Baltin Project, the focus, the results, the budget evaluation, the data sources and the methodology in this document.

This year 2020 we have managed to maintain the presence of our team in the fields despite the sanitary measures due to Covid-19. Thanks to the goodwill of the trainers, the follow-up of the project went well, and we were able to implement some workshops. We have seen the need to design a workshop component aimed at boys, too, in order to holistically disseminate MHM knowledge and sex education.

We will pursue the implementation of a group workshop for school boys to be delivered in 2021. In every village, we also plan to organize talks with representatives of the municipalities as well as spiritual and religious leaders. Next year, the project is not going to be expanded to a lot of other villages. Instead, we will focus on having people working in the field during the whole year. We will try to reach more women and help them to stop Chhaupadi by assisting and encouraging them with the help of the mentors and training visits.

Our plan is to have a staff made up entirely of Achham girls. We will employ at least 2 girls from each village to work as social mobilizers and assist the trainer once per month throughout the whole year. We have been working to establish a strong mentor team in Achham, that can help in the future years of the project. This year we have been working with the new social enterprise Be Artsy Nepal as a counterpart, and because they were already working in 2019 as individual volunteers in the project, so things run smoothly and easily. They could get approval with SWC and implement the local girls in Achham, and we can trust that they will work with us in the long run.

In addition to that, we will continue to have Achham girls conduct the workshops on the field, and they will become team managers in the future. By means of these measures, the project can be managed more efficiently, and we will be able to count on the trainers in each municipality, who will take care of their menstrual cup users and foster Chhaupadi awareness year-round.

We need your help, please.

-Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

–Migranodearena: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

-Teaming (1 euro/month):

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject
Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

-Donorbox:
https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi
https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!

09/04/2021
What have we done in Accham to protect, and protect ourselves, against Covid-19?
In response to the consequences of the spread of the SARS-COV-2 infection, in early 2020, we initiated projects to distribute reusable masks, soap and information, and food for vulnerable women. We explain how it went.

The first case of Covid-19 took place in the Chinese province of Hubei, in December 2019. In Nepal, the first reported case was on January 23, 2020, by a Nepalese man who was returning from Wuhan. The patient recovered satisfactorily and his contacts came out asymptomatic. Nepal’s risk from the Covid-19 outbreak is high, according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, due to the borders with China and India with low health security and high entry rate. The government deployed its limited means. The situation meant that, by working on the field with the Rato Baltin project, we helped in the fight against Covid-19. Concerned for the remote villages of Accham, where the Rato Baltin project has been taking place in recent years, and especially by local staff and project beneficiaries, with whom we regularly share close contact with, tools were needed in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Masks for Health has promoted the realization of reusable masks, the creation of jobs for local women, and the distribution of soap to guarantee a high level of hygiene, and raise awareness about the virus and how to manage it.

Based on the work of the Achham community

We have done this together with local health volunteers like JCI – Achham and representatives of the local governments. Also, the representatives of the municipalities of Janalibandali, Basti and Kalagaun had asked for our help in relation to the provision of food for people that were in a more vulnerable situation. We decided to focus on households with widows and children who had no access to a place to eat and no economic resources for closure and confinement measurements: the Food for Need project was done in parallel and related to prevention activities. With the local organization JCI- Achham, our local staff and the support of local policy representatives, we have been able to carry out these actions and collected the qualitative and quantitative impact. 800 people- mainly widows with children- have benefited from the food distributed like rice, lentils, oil, salt, and sugar.

Due to the exceptional crisis situation that we are living in due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, it has not been possible to implement the Rato Baltin project as we had expected. But we have been able to bring our help to the most remote villages of the Achham district through the Mask for Health and Food for Need projects. As an organization, we think that by developing these projects we have shown the ability to act quickly in times of health and economic crisis, use the resources – human, logistical, material- generated from the trust built and deposited over these last few years from the work of the Achham community in promoting the rights of women and girls.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed through Migranodearena and everyone who supports us. All you have worked on that too!

You can read our report, in this link.
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Translation by Estefania Fernandez
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We need your help, please.

-Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

–Migranodearena: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

-Teaming (1 euro/month):

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject
Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

-Donorbox:
https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi
https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!
23/03/2021
We are already working in the 2021 project
2020 has been like a parenthesis, but work hasn’t stopped! If we look back to the last twenty years, Nepal has ratified the Beijing Platform for Action, and the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. The Nepalese women literacy rate has passed from the 25% in 1991 to the 57% in 2011; the maternal and infant mortality ratio decreased from 539 maternal deaths for each 100,000 live births to 170 in the same period. And the life expectancy for the women has increased from 55.5 years to 70. These statistics show the political will to improve gender equality and the quality of life for women in the country. The be artsy projects address education at a local level, against inequality towards women causing the Chhaupadi, which still prevails. And which aggravates it.

We are working since 2017 in the Rato Baltin (Red Bucket) project, and more recently, in other parallel projects, but interrelated: Edufem, and activities against the effects of the pandemic. We have associated ourselves with local NGOs, in the remote communities in West Nepal. We have seen the need for the project, to bring it to more municipalities of Achham. The results in Achham are just the beginning, we want to reach as many villages as possible. You can see the details of the 2021 Project in this link (pdf).

Through the creation and implementation of partnerships and workshop trainings, be artsy will pursue the project objectives via:

● Partnering with a socially conscious menstrual cup supplier to donate menstrual cups to the beneficiaries
● Partnering with ROKPA International
● Associating with a Nepali social enterprise with women committed to the project – Be Artsy Nepal
● Providing girls, schooling or out of school, with menstrual cups, hygiene kits, and adequate training in their use and upkeep.
● Hiring and training local trainers and mentors, to work with communities through workshops and maintain ongoing follow-ups and work as social mobilizers monthly.
● Conducting workshop trainings in sex education and menstrual health for girls, women, and boys, with special emphasis on respect, dignity and self-knowledge.
● Using participative photography to engage girls and communities in the topic of menstruation and what can be improved for better health and self-care during their period.

In 2021, we will keep on working also in our own environment, and in international forums. With the World Toilet Organization, we have agreed in working to create a social enterprise and to establish a training centre in Achham. This will help women and girls who do not attend school to earn money, and, at the same time, could help to make the project more sustainable. That’s our Happy Women Project.

In summary, we want to go back to all those villages where we have already been educating in sex and menstruation, for the girls who did not receive our training with the workshops. There are also plans for a sexual education group, only boys. And getting to 3 new villages and schools, one in each municipality where we work, making a total of 17 villages where we will carry out our Rato Baltin Project in 2021.
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Translation by Tere Salinero
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We need your help, please.

-Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

–Migranodearena: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

-Teaming (1 euro/month):

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject
Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

-Donorbox:
https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi
https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!
25/02/2021
Plan Himalaya does not only care for creating unique travel experiences…
For John Ruskin, “mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural landscapes”. And that’s how Plan Himalaya understands it, a local agency in Nepal characterized by creating customized travel experiences: adventure, trekking, sports, circuits and routes in motorcycle, bicycle, or even paragliding!, itineraries all surrounded by the wonderful natural landscape of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim.

But, Plan Himalaya does not only care for creating unique travel experiences in the Kathmandu valley or at the foot of Mount Everest, but also does collaborate with our Rato Baltin – Red Bucket project, thanks to each of the trips their clients may want to enjoy with them.

Thanks so much, Plan Himalaya! Many thanks for collaborating with our project!
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Text by Luisa Tejada, translation by Tere Salinero
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We need your help, please.

Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

Migranodearena – crowdfunding: https://www.migranodearena.org/en/cause/fighting-chhaupadi-the-taboo-that-is-leading-to-the-deaths-of-young-girls-

Teaming (1 euro/month)

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject

Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

Donorbox:
– https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi
– https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!
01/02/2021
Rokpa: a Tibetan word meaning ‘help’ and ‘friend’
There are areas with difficult accessibility that only organizations like ROKPA have been able to reach. Since its founding in 1980, Rokpa (A Tibetan word meaning ‘help’ and ‘friend’) is present today in Nepal, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Rokpa was also established in the Tibetan areas of China from 1990 to 2016 and provided education, medicine and food for disadvantaged populations.

ROKPA understands that education is a way to help overcome the barriers of poverty, and they are committed to educational plans that allow the empowerment and training of individuals. This includes: preparing children and adults for school and professional education, assisting in finding work for women through training workshops, and conducting family support programs on HIV / AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

In addition, ROKPA is committed to bringing urgent medical aid to the communities they serve, while also covering the costs of food and subsistence for the most vulnerable families.

Because of ROKPA’s concern for the education and health of communities and the women of Nepal in particular, ROKPA has become a wonderful “friend” who “helps” us to help others, wherever it is most needed.

Thank you very much, ROKPA, for being an essential part of be artsy projects!!
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Text by Luisa Tejada, translation Clara Garcia i Ortés, corrections by Teresa Marx
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We need your help, please.

Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

Teaming (1 euro/month)

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject

Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

Donorbox:
– https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi
– https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!
31/12/2020
Webinar: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Be artsy to participate in this event with MacEwan University, University of the Fraser Valley and the Asia Task Force Against Domestic Violence.

The areas that the webinar will cover, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, are experiences of domestic violence among South Asian Communities in Boston, USA, human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Nepal – Menstruation Taboos for Women in Nepal.

With Clara García i Ortés (be artsy founder, CEO and executive director) will participate: Rukmini Karki, MA., LLB., senior advocate Asia Task Force against Domestic Violence (Boston, USA), Dr. Rita Dhungel, assistant professor, School of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Community Studies, MacEwan University (Alberta, Canada), and Dr. Karun K. Karki, assistant professor, School of Social Work and Human Services – University of the Fraser Valley (British Colombia, Canada).

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/92287409639?pwd=ektCc3VhQjZuN21MYkpJd1NpRG4zQT09
Meeting ID: 922 8740 9639
Passcode: 316504
Free Webinar: wednesday, November 25, 2020 5:00pm – 6:30 p.m. (Vancouver, Canada) 2:00am – 3:30 a.m. (Barcelona, Spain) 6:45am – 8:15 a.m. (Kathmandu, Nepal)

We wait for your attendance!

We need your help, please.

Associate: – https://beartsy.org/associate /

Teaming (1 euro/month)

RatoBaltin: https://www.teaming.net/ratobaltinproject

Edufem to prevent early marriage: https://www.teaming.net/edufemproject

Donorbox:
– https://donorbox.org/againts-chhaupadi
– https://donorbox.org/edufem

Thanks!

24/11/2020

Thank you to WPML for supporting NGOs