Project Title: Sajha Dhago/Common Threads Project

Location: Nepal

Grant Amount: $49,368

Grantee Website: commonthreadsproject.org/

Areas of Impact: Gender Equality, Health, Safety and Security

Mission of Common Threads Project
Common Threads Project helps women heal from the enduring psychological effects of sexual and gender-based violence in the context of war and displacement by building local capacity through training, launching scalable interventions, and promoting efficacy research.

Summary
This project will provide transformative trauma therapy to groups of teens and other survivors of sexual and gender-based violence so that they can reach their full potential, engage in positive social relationships, and claim their right to participate in education and the workforce. It will also train local clinical staff in the Common Threads trauma recovery methodology.

Why We Love This
In the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic, gender inequality, unemployment, poverty, low literacy, lack of human rights protections, personal history of domestic violence, political and economic instability have all intensified, foreshadowing the likelihood of significant increases in victimization. Common Thread's project uses the power of group therapy, the participant’s creativity, verbal and non-verbal modalities, and story cloths for women and girls who have experienced sexual and gender-based violence to recover and thrive. This evidenced-based approach, which is inspired by ancient cultural practices and validated by neuro-scientific understandings of trauma, provides quality mental health care and trauma therapy that is both unique and effective.