Theme 2: Human Rights and Social justice

The objective of this intervention is to promote human rights and social justice for women, men, girls, and boys from marginalized communities, including Dalits, climate migrants, gender and sexual minorities, children and youth, as well as those vulnerable to internal trafficking and workplace abuses.

SUS recognizes that investing in education and health is crucial for developing human capital, which positively impacts individual and family income. Improved education and health also help families break free from the cycle of poverty. Therefore, SUS integrates education and health interventions within the same families, acknowledging their close interconnection.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are essential for enhancing both health and education outcomes. Consequently, SUS’s WASH initiatives complement its education and health efforts. SUS empowers target communities through educational activities by engaging and motivating parents to support their children’s schooling, providing scholarships to needy children and youth for quality education and vocational training, and collaborating with schools and local governments to uphold the educational rights of targeted children. To improve health access, SUS supports community health and nutrition programs and facilitates access to safe drinking water. Awareness-raising and community mobilization around sanitation and hygiene foster meaningful, lasting improvements within communities.

Sub-priorities

• Reducing internal migration and anti-human trafficking
• Social Justice for vulnerable target groups and human rights violation

Outcome indicators

• Risk and vulnerability of internal trafficking and migration of vulnerable children and young people reduced at the end 2027
• Improved policies and programs to promote enabling environment for children and young people for socio-economic, cultural, civil and political rights and empowerment
• Increase collective voices and actions by dalits and non dalits community and CSOs at all level for combating caste, gender and identity discrimination

Major interventions:

Internal Migration and anti-human trafficking

• Support vulnerable children and young people via Community support center (critical awareness and interaction forums, capacity building, linkage and advocacy for govt services)
• Support services e.g. vocational and technical skill development, educational scholarship for drop outs children and young people,
• Capacity building on Life skills, ESCR, Labor rights, etc.
• Networking of affected survivor children and young people
• Media campaign to reduce modern-day slavery
• Engagement with adult entertainment sector (AES) business owners for labor rights and decent work environment
• Rescue and reintegration of minors from AES
• Provide support services PSS counselling, legal support, referral services, health support
• Networking, and collaboration with CSOs, government authorities, and local governments
• Evidence-based research and strategic advocacy

Social Justice and protection of human rights of vulnerable target groups

• Critical Awareness on Caste, gender, and identity based discrimination – via networking, awareness training to Dalit/Non Dalits community people and CSOs/CBOs
• Mainstreaming GESI with focus to inter-sectional groups
• Awareness and capacity building
• Networking and advocacy
• Mainstreaming GESI in all programs, SUS and its partners-CBOs, CSOs, community groups
• Ending Gender based violence (awareness, capacity building, networking, advocacy, safety and security of survivors)
• Campaigning and social movements for ESCR and legal rights e.g. on economic rights due to meter byazi (local illegal creditors) exploitation, freed bonded labor (haruwa, charwa), social rights e.g. child rights exploitation and child labor, child marriage, etc.
• Strengthening Civil society and network’s capacity development
• Strategic advocacy with govt and educational institutional at all levels on economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights
• Strengthening HRDs (capacity building, networking, and safety and security of HRDs)
• Story-telling on discrimination, suffering from and resistance in ESCR violations
• Legal support/aid for affected target groups from ESC, civil and political rights violations
• Capacity development and sensitization of government agencies, private sector actors and CSOs on social justice and human rights.