A look back at our 2019 highlights...

We expanded our trips offering two new opportunities to travel to Nepal

We were thrilled to partner with Fernwood Tuggeranong, a female gym and health club in Canberra, to run a trip in March. We ran our first Women Empowering Women trip with nine women from across Australia. These trips provide valuable funding for critical care for survivors of trafficking and abuse, but they also are an opportunity for our community to gain an understanding of Nepal and the complexities facing women and girls through meeting Nepali community leaders, artisans and entrepreneurs. Travel with us in 2020! Read more about our trips over on our blog & sign up below to be the first to know about this year's trip.

We continued our strong partnerships in Nepal

We're proud to mark 5 years in our partnership with Asha Nepal. We supported the development of the growth of the women-led catering program with new women undertaking training. The women also landed a catering booking for a 5-day local government training session for over 30 people! Both our women's trips to Nepal enjoyed cooking alongside the women in their homes. 

The strength of our community allowed us to respond to an
​emergency care appeal

Thanks to your generosity we were able to respond quickly to an appeal from our local partner in May, asking for emergency care for six children rescued from an abusive orphanage in Kathmandu. The children were from the remote west of Nepal and their families had been tricked by traffickers promising that they would receive a good education. The children were badly malnourished and deprived of care. Five of the children have now been reintegrated with their families and our partner is continuing to support the families and provide ongoing care for the sixth child.

We welcomed new faces to our team

We welcomed a new board and a number of new volunteers in communications, partnerships, finance and design. As a 100% volunteer-run organisation, volunteers are golden, and the many ways they contribute to our mission and community can't be understated. Meet our team!

We made fruitful university partnerships to expand our impact

Through partnerships with Macquarie University's PACE Program and the UTS ShopFront Community Program, we attracted some very talented and dedicated students to contribute to our projects with their unique skills. Sam from Macquarie University did critical research on what economic empowerment looks like for women and girls in South Asia, and Zena, also from Macquarie, researched initiatives tackling modern slavery, helping us to improve our campaigning. From UTS, Lauren, Julia, Sonia, Queenie and Marie designed and created a truly impressive branding portfolio for #SomethingForSlavery. Marie will also be staying on with us as a volunteer graphic designer. 

We expanded our Youth to Youth program 

A new partnership with Orana School, Canberra has expanded our Youth to Youth Program. Orana’s first trip to Nepal with us will run in April 2020 as our ninth Y2Y!

2019 was a year of evolution for Project Didi, one that wouldn't have been possible without our community's support, time and investment. Thank you.
​
As newly appointed President of our Board, Chloë spent some time looking forward to what the new decade will bring. 

Read Chloë's blog