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UNATTI FOUNDATION 2022 IMPACT REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Founders Message

Creating Dignity

Why girls - Why Nepal

Preserving Art and Culture

Keys to Success

2023 and BeyondPathways to Sustainability

Expanding our Impact

How You Can Help

10 Success Measurers

OPEN NOTE FROM FOUNDER | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEPHANIE WAISLER-RUBIN As I get up and watch the sunrise over the ocean in Santa Monica, I know that the Unatti girls are watching it set over the Himalayas. I feel the connection to them even though they are literally 7,500 miles away on the other side of the Earth. Together we are making a lifelong impact on the lives of the girls and how their community supports and cares for them. It is not our vision but theirs, that drives us to try harder, reach further and turn the impossible into reality. We welcome you into our Unatti family. If you are new to us, we want you to feel the same welcome that each girl receives when she enters the Unatti Group Home for Girls, a classroom, or encounters a Unatti auntie. We are excited to share all about our lifechanging programs for girls that are creating new paths and possibilities.

Many of you are long-time friends of our Unatti family and have shared in the stories of success and offered advice as we have grown and developed new programs to meet community needs. Your partnership is valued, the honesty of your suggestions, the creativity of your ideas, your support of programs, and the shared vision we have of a new future for girls and young women. Regardless of our connection, we are excited to share this report with you. The next few pages highlight the work that Unatti is doing in Nepal and the success of our programs. We invite you to celebrate with us as we look to the future and all that it holds. We are changing things for the better.

WHY NEPAL? WHY GIRLS? Nepal is a land of friendly and engaging people, where deities mingle with mortals, and magnificent temples, monasteries, and historical monuments can be found at almost every turn. This is the home of Sagarmatha “Goddess Mother of the World”, the iconic Mount Everest. It is also where the Unatti Foundation works to change the lives of girls within its boundaries. Nepal is one of the most beautiful countries on earth, but it is also one of the poorest. In the East of the Kathmandu valley, lies the city of Bhaktapur. Here girls face a difficult future. One out of 10 girls is illiterate and will never have the opportunity to attend school. Of those that do, most drop out before 10th grade. Religion and a lifetime of tradition make it nearly impossible for girls to thrive beyond conventional mindsets. The crushing poverty and need to find an income source make them targets for traffickers, child marriage, and abuse.

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HOW CAN WE MAKE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT on the lives of girls, half a world away? WE BELIEVE THE KEY TO SUCCESS IS TWO FOLD.

COMMUNITY INVOLEVMENT IS THE FIRST KEY WE HOLD.

QUALITY PROGRAMMING IS THE SECOND KEY WE HOLD.

First and foremost it is critical that those who live in the community and understand the needs of girls guide us to the solutions we seek. Only through this partnership can we truly do what is right for girls. Unatti employs local women and some former Unatti girls to lead the programming and partner as members of the Nepali Board of Directors. Our new strategic plan is being developed by and for the women and girls in Nepal.

Because we know all of our girls need a safe place to live to be successful, the Unatti Group Home for Girls remains the central pillar of our programming in Bhaktapur, Nepal. We provide a happy home, nutritious meals, education, and mental health support to local girls, ages three to twenty-one. After over twenty years of work in the region, we are proud to house thirty-six exceptional Unatti Girls who show courage, determination, empathy, and grace, as they become far more than their circumstances allow them.

The Unatti Foundation sponsors 13 years of formal primary school education, plus an additional 4 years of college or vocational training for all residents of the Unatti Group Home for Girls. Graduating from high school can mean up to 20% increase in income and even more if they are able to transition to college or a trade school.

From UNESCO to the Brookings Institution, everyone agrees that education is key in both reducing poverty and disrupting harmful practices. How can this happen? Grinding poverty, caste discrimination, and the belief that women have little value mean that girls are often seen as an extra mouth to feed until they are married off.

EXPANDING OUR IMPACT IN 2023 We know that the impact of COVID was felt worldwide but for Sony, age 14 and Kripa, just 4, it devastated their lives. They lost their father during the COVID lockdown and now live with their mother in Kamalbinayak, Bhakatapur. Their mother supports the family as best as she can and works as a dishwasher in a government school. Her job is the only source of income in their family and what she makes does not bring in enough to pay for even the most basic needs, let alone school for the girls. Living together in a small and narrow trust, about 6 ft by 10 ft the potential future for the girls was bleak. Until Unatti. The Unatti family was thrilled to welcome Sony and Kripa as the two newest Unatti sisters as part of our K-College Educational Sponsorship program. Sony and Kripa join a small, but special community of girls that we support, but who do not live at the Unatti Group Home for Girls. Since the girls play an important role in their home with their mother, our social workers determined that displacement to the Unatti Group Home would be too destabilizing to both daughters and their mother. Keeping the family together was a priority as is their education.

Sony and Kripa with their mother

As sisters in the new program, they will have similar support of our other Unatti girls to ensure that they have what they need to thrive both in the community and in school. This includes tuition to private school, uniforms, supplies and tutoring. Additionally, the girls will work with the social worker and other aunties so they feel connected and supported until they too, are ready to be strong independent career women. Currently the Unatti Foundation supports eight girls in our Educational Sponsorship program. The goal is to continue to support girls like Sony and Kripa until 500 girls have a chance to beat the odds with the same K-College opportunity each year. With the strong educational and career outcomes of the Unatti girls in the group home, we are certain that the Sony and Kripa will have the bright future they deserve.

The room where the family of 3 live

SUCCESS MEASURES While the challenges for girls in Nepal are significant, the Unatti Foundation’s success shows the impact of locally directed support on preventing negative outcomes and achieving more than many believed possible. In Nepal, 37% of girls are forced into child marriage, 20% become pregnant and an unknown number (estimates are as high as 200,000 a year) are trafficked. Because of the success of our programs, NOT A SINGLE Unatti girl has suffered any of these fates.

COMMUNITY AVERAGE | UNATTI

20% | 100% Transition from lower to upper school

20% | 94.7% Graduated high school

05% | 100% Achieves computer literacy

COMMUNITY AVERAGE | UNATTI

00% | 100% Receives art and music education

22% | 100% Gain “official” employment

44% | 100% Can read at or above grade level

UPLIFTING THE VALUE OF GIRLS BY CONFRONTING HARMFUL PRACTICES For those of us in the US, menstruation is a natural process of the body. But for millions of women and girls in Nepal, this bodily function gives rise to superstitions, stigma, and discriminatory practices every month. One of these practices is called Chhaupadi. Chhaupadi is a form of menstrual taboo, where it is believed that women are “impure” during their menstruation. Many women and girls are banished from their family homes and social activities, staying in isolated “menstruation huts”. They are often not allowed near food or male family members. While Nepalese law criminalized this harmful practice in 2017, it is still widespread throughout Nepal.

The Unatti Foundation Girls Health Education Empowerment Program (GHEEP) was started to allow girls to open up the conversation on periods in private and public spaces and make menstrual health management more visible. Through direct communication with girls about menstruation and its management, we ensure that young girls are more empowered and equipped with fact-based information, tools, and confidence to manage their menstruation. They become familiar with menstrual health and hygiene. With each GHEEP workshop, more girls & women at all levels of decision-making and society are provoked to speak out, loud and clear.

Traditional Chhaupadi hut 12

It is not just enough to change the minds of girls, so Unatti works with boys and men as well. GHEEP uses a gender transformative approach that encourages in-depth discussions with men on power dynamics in the communities, how they affect girls and women, and how they can become allies in the social change process. Our team works to involve school management committees through training and awareness-raising sessions so that they will provide supportive environments for girls in schools as well as inspire men to become agents of change.

Gheep Workshop participants

OUR GHEEP PROGRAM HAS REACHED 5,000 GIRLS AND BOYS AND PLANS TO REACH ANOTHER 10,000 THIS YEAR. NONE OF THE UNATTI GIRLS ARE EXPOSED TO CHHAUPADI AND 100% RECEIVE HEALTH EDUCATION.

THE POWER OF ART AND PRESERVING CULTURE One aspect of Nepal that does not escape any visitor is the beauty of the art, crafted over centuries, that adorns buildings, temples, and homes. Art is a central part of the culture and history of Nepal yet due to limited resources it is not taught in schools. We know that art is not only important in preserving part of traditions and history but it is also a healing outlet that promotes creativity and expands the mind. All the girls at the Unatti Group home receive music and art education but it was clear that the need was far greater. So in 2010, Unatti opened the Unatti Art & Music Center, and later developed partnership with local schools and now offers in school art classes to students at no charge. Since that time, we have provided art classes to thousands of children in partnership with local schools. Through these programs, children can learn more about their heritage and gain new skills and expand their creativity. Like our GHEEP program, the introduction of art and music classes has been so popular and so well received that partner schools are now asking Unatti to expand access to all students both in their schools and in rural communities.

Growing up at the Unatti Home, Roshani has always dreamt of being an artist. She knew the challenges of pursuing a career in art, especially in Nepal. Roshani chose to follow her dream and study fine arts in college - a dream made possible by our Make Her Dream, sponsorship circle. “Unatti has given me the opportunity to not only dream about pursuing art but the support and education to support my dream.” Roshani shares that creating art has always defined and given her life a meaning. ”I have always been drawn to the beauty of the world. So I try to share this feeling of beauty and happiness with everyone through my art.” Along with two of her Unatti sisters, they have launched an Etsy e-commerce site called Nepalique Art Boutique, to start on the journey to turn their passion for art into selfsustaining careers. With support from mentors, they are ready for the responsibility of running a business and fulfilling their dream. The path from the support of the group home through the reintegration program and on to a career highlights the power of Unatti in changing lives. “I see the possibility of standing on my own and not having to give up my passion to create.” "We will donate 50% of our profits from our Etsy business back to Unatti to support the education of our younger Unatti sisters." https://www.etsy.com/shop/Nepalique? ref=shop_sugg&section_id=39993794

NEW IN 2023 PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABILITY Bridging the gap between college and self-reliance Unatti is developing a social entrepreneurship program modeled after Home Boy Industries, to create opportunities for girls who have grown up in the social welfare system or extreme poverty to have clear pathways to entrepreneurial business opportunities and financial independence.

ON THE JOB TRAINING CENTER & COMMERCIAL KITCHEN

BRICK & MORTER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Creating jobs for previously educated young women and revenue stream to funnel back into the educational components of the program.

Girls will learn; Management skills Leadership skills, Financial literacy, Culinary skills, Food cost Food prep, Inventory management, Supply chain management, Distribution management, Labor management, Marketing/advertising

03 MOBILE SALES OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCALEABILITY

HOW YOU CAN HELP We invite you to join us in making an impact for girls in Nepal. Your investment will build powerful futures for Nepali girls in the year ahead.

K-COLLEGE EDUCATIONAL CIRCLE Educational Circle- $20,000 annually- recurring Underwrite the education of 25 girls, providing one year of school for a girl in the community who is ready to thrive. Your investment affords: Tuition fees Uniforms Tiffins- School lunch Stationery & books After-school academic tutoring Mental health support programming Program staff

MAKE HER DREAM CIRCLE Make her Dream Circle- $30,000 annually for 3 years: Join our Make Her Dream Circle and provide 10 girls with the opportunity to have higher education and a career. Your sponsorship affords; College tuition Books and other materials Room and board Transportation allowance Mental health support programming Career counseling support Program staff

PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABILITY- SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM Sustainability Circle- $40,000 annually for 3 years: Affords the funds to launch this new program, to provide girls raised in the Nepali welfare system to have clear pathways to entrepreneurial business opportunities and financial independence.

REACH OUT!

824 17th St No.4 Santa Monica Ca 90403 310.453.8968 www.unattifoundation.org stephanie@unattifoundation.org @unattifoundation