A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Nepal – Democracy and Discrimination

In 2002, AP began a partnership with the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP), a new network set up to help civil society work for human rights. In December 2004, AP launched an online petition to protest the beating of Dinesh Prasain, the COCAP coordinator. Following the imposition of martial law (February 1, 2005), AP posted COCAP’s bulletins and served as a mouthpiece for Nepalese civil society.

Also in 2005, AP developed a partnership with the Jagaran Media Center, a Dalit organization that uses the media to lobby against caste discrimination. AP reproduced several JMC e-Bulletins, until they were discontinued. AP Director Iain Guest visited Nepal in October 2005 to profile caste discrimination and the work of JMC.

AP has been sending Peace Fellows to Nepal to work with our partners since 2003; all have blogged on their experiences.

• 2003: Kate Kuo with COCAP
• 2005: Anne Finnan with COCAP
• 2006: Stacey Spivey and Nicole Cordeau with JMC; and Lori Mizuno with COCAP
• 2007: Devin Greenleaf and Ted Samuel with JMC; Tassos Coulaloglu, Nicole Farkouh, Mark Koenig, and Jeff Yarborough with COCAP