Catalyst Foundation : Holistic Community Development Program

1. Catalyst Foundation: Holistic Community Development Program Featured program for January 2014

2. Mission • Catalyst follows a four-faceted holistic approach for building communities that will be better able to protect their daughters. • elp entire communities by addressing basic needs • ffer families a chance to learn marketable skills • revent human trafficking through counseling and education • ducate a child to break the cycle of poverty “Supporting community building holistically in Vietnam to fight human trafficking”

3. Life Challenges of Women and Girls • Public services available to most Vietnamese are withheld from the Raglai community in NinhThuan province because they do not have ID cards • Families without ID cards are not eligible for public education or health services leaving them illiterate, unhealthy, and extremely poor. • Because of their extreme poverty, families see education as an extravagance even when an ID card makes it available • Without skills or education, families struggle to live on less than $1 per day • Girls offer more value to the families if they are sold to human traffickers. • Uneducated and unskilled Raglai girls collect and dry water buffalo dung to be sold as fuel or sell whatever recyclables they find along the roadsides • These girls are easy targets for human traffickers who either abduct the girls on false promises or offer the family money and false hope that the girls will live better lives. • Girls over 14 who are not married are at risk of being thrown out of their home or sold to traffickers who may offer the family as much as $150. Raglai girls between the ages of 5 and 15 are at the highest risk of being trafficked

4. The Program • The program supported by DFW directly impacts 165 Raglai girls, 176 women, and 100 families in NinhThuan Province in south Vietnam. Elements* of the overall Catalyst approach included under the grant are: • Adult Community Education • Basic literacy and educational counseling to address extreme poverty and trafficking • Vocational training and microloans • Provide teens and adult women the opportunity to develop financial self-reliance • Make microloans available to graduates to help them get started in a business • Community medical center • Staffing a small local medical clinic with young doctors without prejudice • Provide health education * Health Care and Youth Primary Education are being funded by other donations. The Holistic Community Development Program educates and protects 165 Raglai girls and helps 176 community women to become more self-sufficient.

5. Methodology • The people know best how to solve their own problems • Build strong partnerships with the community leaders who understand the complexities of each problem • Create sustainable programs to meet the needs of each community based on their idea • Building trust with the community • Seek input from the parents and children to meet the needs of the families • Create opportunities requested by the communities or helping individuals fulfill their dreams • Create realistic opportunities for families • Develop flexible programs for children that need to continue to work for the family Through a process learned from 12 years of experience, Catalyst relies on the community to help determine how best to assist the community

6. ProgramBudget DFW’s grant to Catalyst Foundation of $36,000 will pay for counseling, education for mothers and daughters, vocational training and operational costs for one year. * Funding from HSBC Future First, UPS Foundation, True Volunteer Foundation and general public contributions support the rest of the program.

7. Why we Love this Program We love the Holistic Community Development Program because it • Helps the whole community acquire knowledge, skills and opportunities to improve their lives, rise above discrimination and resist human traffickers • Asks mothers to commit to protecting their daughters from human trafficking • Helps the community with access to safe homes, safe water, and medical services • Provides accessible local education and health care Catalyst Foundation works with the Raglai, a matriarchal people whose children take their mother's name and where, in the past, women were landowners.   Through holistic efforts in other provinces of Vietnam, Catalyst Foundation has reduced the number of women and girls working in menial subsistence jobs, and reduced the number of girls being trafficked.

8. Evidence of Success • ChamaleaThiLem, 27, was educated through 12th grade, then she married and is raising her children. Lem is extremely excited about the opportunity for a new school because it means her daughters won’t have to walk almost 5 miles to go to school. • TapurThiNuong, 28, and her husband have two daughters ages 2 and 6 months. Nuong’s greatest concern is safe water and proper nutrition for her daughters and hopes to someday have clean safe water closer to her family. • Dr. John Stillman, author, psychotherapist and consulting trainer for Catalyst: ”During consultation over the past year, I have witnessed Catalyst social workers put this training into action and tirelessly address both the prevention and the effects of child trafficking and trauma.  One example of this is a recent experience in which parents sold their daughters to a brothel.  The social workers were able to find the girls and work with the family to allow them to return.  The community leaders then worked with the family on ways to keep the children safe.  Their combined efforts led to the girls’ safe reentry into the community.” Voices from the community in support of Catalyst programs

9. About the Organization • Founded in 1999 by Vietnamese-born Caroline Nguyen Ticarro-Parker to improve the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children in Vietnam • Refocused the organization to help not only children but also whole communities living in extreme poverty and children at risk of becoming victims of human trafficking. • Provided holistic humanitarian relief programs in communities in five Vietnamese provinces • Built a community school for children 5 – 18 and a 2-room community medical center to provide medical care and counseling. Founder and Executive Director Caroline Nguyen Ticarro-Parker. Catalyst Foundation’s focus is centered on a holistic approach providing humanitarian community programs which address basic needs, job opportunities, counseling and education to prevent the trafficking of women and girls.

10. Questions for Discussion Care to share your thoughts? • How does discrimination of a people create a state of poverty for a community like that of the Raglai of Vietnam? • Why is human trafficking more prevalent in poverty- stricken areas? • How does the holistic approach that Catalyst is taking to help the Raglai community out of poverty also help to prevent human trafficking of their daughters?