The Annual Review, Reflection and Planning Meeting of the Samrakshan Project, organized by the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), was held in Dhulikhel, Kavre, on 19 November. Speaking at the meeting, INSEC Chairperson Bijayraj Gautam stated that the INSEC and DCA have been working in collaboration for a long time.
He stated that INSEC has been working for the past three decades in the fields of human rights education programmes, documentation of human rights violations and abuses, and human rights advocacy. INSEC has continued to play an important role even during the current transitional phase marked by incidents of human rights violations, including the recent Gen Z protest. He further stated that the Samrakshan Project in collaboration with DCA, has been carrying out various activities at the federal level and in Madhesh, Lumbini, and Sudurpashchim provinces. These activities mainly include documenting incidents of human rights violations and abuses, increasing human rights awareness among civil society, and working in the field of environmental rights. He added that the project has also established its own networks and has been implementing its programmes in direct partnership with local governments, and that its effectiveness is expected to further increase in the coming days.
DCA Nepal Programme Manager Suryakumari Bishwakarma stated that the outcomes of these various programmes have begun to be visible even at the community level. She particularly highlighted that marginalized and Dalit communities have started to ensure their representative participation in policies and programmes formulated at the local level. She added that INSEC has been playing an important role in facilitating access to justice for the majority of community members in matters of public concern through its work of documenting incidents of human rights violations and abuses, as well as through the collection and verification of factual information during this documentation process. In the coming days, greater achievements can be attained through effective mobilization of relevant networks for environmental rights, human rights awareness programmes at the federal level, and social justice.
During the review programme, Programme Officer Teknath Acharya delivered a presentation that included a statistical analysis of the key achievements gained from the project, along with best practices. The department heads from the INSEC Central Office, the heads of the Accounts and Administration Sections, and coordinators from Madhesh, Bagmati, Lumbini, and Sudurpashchim Provinces also presented the key achievements of the past year and offered suggestions for future plans. The review meeting also included important discussions on the financial expenditure for the past year and the upcoming plans.