Nepal
She/Her
2021 Cohort
Riju Dhakal, a young SRHR enthusiast is the president at YUWA. YUWA is a youth-led, youth-run organization in Nepal working for youth SRHR and other dynamic issues of diverse youths.
The pleasure audit study 
Riju Dhakal, a young SRHR enthusiast is the president at YUWA. YUWA is a youth-led, youth-run organization in Nepal working for youth SRHR and other dynamic issues of diverse youths. She has been strongly advocating for young people's sexual and reproductive health and rights including Comprehensive Sexuality Education at local, national, regional and international levels. Riju, believes that pleasure based education is important for informed decision making among young people.
During the Pleasure Fellowship, Riju worked on her proposal on conducting a research project with regards to the knowledge, attitudes and practices of pleasure among young girls between the ages of 16-25 in Nepal. She also worked on exploring the facilitators and barriers for seeking pleasure based choices among those young girls with regards to The Pleasure Principles (an initiative by The Pleasure Project). Riju has also participated in other initiatives related to the Pleasure Project, including doing a technical review of the Pleasure Training Manual.
Currently, Riju is working as Program Officer for the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Center for Women (ARROW). Before, Riju was Research Coordinator for the Nepal Intensive Care Research Foundation. Additionally, Riju was President of YUWA – a youth-led organization empowering youth and strengthening their involvement based in Nepal.
Highlights 
The pleasure audit is a mixed study in Nepal that will produce data and evidence regarding female pleasure and positive sex, whereby young girls’ stories regarding their lived experiences, challenges and their understanding along with the social structures that influenced them.
The aim of the project is to stir discussions around pleasure centric sex education and to advance the exploratory nature of pleasure with respect to an individual’s choices and experiences. The project included the formation of an internal research team – in charge of designing, implementing and monitoring the entire research. The two main objectives of the research project included studying the knowledge, attitudes and practices of pleasure among young girls between the ages of 16-25 in Nepal; to explore the facilitators and barriers of exploring and seeking pleasure-based choices among the young girls with respect to the seven Pleasure Principles; and to normalize and stir discussions among young girls around pleasure-based sex educations. The results of the study will be available soon.
"I think it was a new platform for me to network with people and the topic itself was relatively new to what I was working at, despite being involved in the sector for so long. This was because we have a culture of taboo of not speaking about so many things and pleasure. So, after the fellowship, I've been more open to discussions and open to bringing that into different institutions that I've been at. This fellowship in itself can be a great opportunity to other young people"
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