Sunita Danuwar

Sunita Danuwar has made the remarkable transformation from trafficking victim to one of Nepal’s leading social activists. As the co-founder and Executive Director of Shakti Samuha, an NGO founded in 1996 that began providing shelter support to trafficking victims in Nepal in 2004, Ms. Danuwar has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to empowering other survivors.

Under her leadership, Shakti Samuha has expanded its services to provide repatriation assistance, legal aid, vocational and life skill training, livelihood support, job placement services, and psychosocial counseling to more than 20,000 people in some of the poorest communities across 13 districts in Nepal.

Ms. Danuwar has worked tirelessly to prevent human trafficking in poor and rural Nepali communities, traveling to villages to raise awareness and creating plays depicting human trafficking. She recently published her autobiography, Ashuko Shakti (“The Power of Tears”), to elevate self-esteem among survivors and empower them to overcome social stigma when discussing their experiences.

From 2009 to 2011, Ms. Danuwar headed the Alliance Against Trafficking of Women and Children in Nepal, a national network of NGOs working to raise strong and collective voices against human trafficking, and served as a board member of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, a global anti-trafficking network. Since 2014, Ms. Danuwar has served as a survivor representative on the National Committee on Controlling Human Trafficking. In each of her positions, Ms. Danuwar dedicated herself to giving a voice to trafficking survivors and elevating their perspectives.