Kathmandu, October 14:

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) in cooperation with United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is launching a cross-border level pilot project to address trafficking in the borders of Rupandehi and Jhapa.

The pilot project, Reduce Trafficking Vulnerability of Women and Children, aims at finding out the gravity of the trafficking situation in the two districts, evaluating government’s plans and policies designed to tackle the issue and take precautionary measures to lessen the incidence of trafficking, said under secretary at MoWCSW, Ritu Raj Bhandari, adding that the project would continue for a year.

Bhandari said the five-year long Joint Initiative in the Millennium against Trafficking in Girls and Women (JIT) project run by the ministry and the UN Systems ended last December and the results on the cross border level interventions against human trafficking in Rupandehi was encouraging.

“To give continuity to cross border level programmes, this project will start with formation of a loose forum to coordinate with non-government organisations and government organisations on the both sides of the border. USAID will fund the project worth amount $99,648,” he added.

A survey will be conducted in the first phase and in the second phase the project has plans to conduct programmes to educate the stakeholders. In the third phase vigilant groups would be formed and mobilised to inform the police and the organisations concerned about the incidents of trafficking.