WHO WE ARE?

The Dalit Story is a unique platform for young storytellers working in the field of human rights, especially Dalit rights in Nepal to receive holistic support that amplify the voices of people directly impacted by gender and caste injustice in Nepal.

Dalit Story allows us to incubate and develop new projects by providing oral history training, storytelling, editorial guidance, and project funding to a diversity of human rights storytellers, who are fighting for the Dalit rights at the community level.

The project is a joint initiative of Samari Utthan Sewa (SUS) and International Dalit Solidarity Network, Finland (DSNFi), launched in March of 2021. The project has been implementing in the Haripur, Hariyon, Lalbandi and Kabilashi Municipality and Chandranagar Rural Municipalities of Sarlahi district through Dalit Story Clubs.

“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.”

–Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

WHY DALIT STORY?

The ‘storytelling’ offers a combination of traditional storytelling and new technologies that are attracting attention in empowering ways for participants, allowing them to collaborate, build shared awareness of issues, advocate for causes and share their priority issues with decision-makers and power-holders.

Exploring the suffering of ordinary people and knowing its value is itself a search for social justice through the people’s voice. It also closed for inspiring young readers to raise serious questions about the caste system as well as the political system that have deep roots in structural casteism of knowledge production. In such a way, personal stories will be provided an opportunity for historically excluded communities to uphold their values and community spirit. Stories with such experiences are more authentic than abstract analysis. Such stories have connections between historical, social structures and old ways of thinking or ‘commonsense’.

The project focuses on storytelling, an interdisciplinary and powerful vehicle for Dalit youths to build empathy, national and global awareness, and action orientation skills for combating caste-based discrimination. Dalit Story is a powerful tool to expose caste-based injustice, fight stigmatization and encourage Dalit youths to come forward with their stories through storytelling.

MISSION

Dalit Story advances human rights by amplifying the voices of people affected by caste-based injustice.

VISION

“Dalit Story” become “voices of authority” for mainstreaming the discourse of caste-based injustice and Human Rights in Nepal.

OUR GOAL

• Provide support for projects with the potential to amplify the voices of people directly impacted by caste-based injustice and build power among affected communities and contribute meaningfully to their movements and campaigns through knowledge production.
• Promote ethical, empathy-based storytelling to illuminate caste and gender-based human rights violence.
• Ensure quality, innovation, and diversity in the stories Dalit Story narrators tell.