The Youth Partnership Project for child survivors of commercial sexual exploitation in South Asia is an innovative initiative designed to empower and build the capacity of experiential youth to take the lead in the fight against CSEC. Trained YPP youth in Bangladesh, India and Nepal have set up peer support programmes in schools located in high risk areas to share information and provide individualized support to prevent their peers from becoming trapped into CSEC. YPP youth trained in media and advocacy skills are reaching out to local communities through awareness campaigns in an effort to reduce the numbers of children trafficked to cities and neighboring countries. The YPP also works with trained caregivers and local organizations to give them the tools to provide quality psychosocial care for child survivors. With the support of ECPAT and YPP teams in each country, YPP youth are working to improve the lives of child survivors and persuade adults at the community, national and international level to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children.      Large numbers of children are trafficked annually in South Asia, with estimates as high as 350,000 in India, 40,000 in Nepal and 29,000 in Bangladesh. The YPP aims to address the concerns and suggestions voiced in the Children’s Statement of the 2nd World Congress against CSEC (2001) through consultations with children in the three project countries. The YPP guiding principles have been adopted from UNICEF’s 1998 principles of psychosocial interventions for children. Project Objectives • Support and strengthen youth participation in the fight against CSEC in Nepal, Bangladesh and India, as well as within the global structures of the ECPAT International network. • Develop the skills of young people, with a special emphasis on CSEC survivors, to offer peer support to child victims of trafficking. • Develop lobbying and advocacy skills among young people to enable them to influence local and national policy makers for better prevention, protection and rehabilitation of CSEC survivors. • Train caregivers in the skills necessary to counsel young people affected by CSEC. • Develop and conduct public awareness raising campaigns for the dissemination of information about the dangers of CSEC, HIV/AIDS prevention and the rights of children. • Provide support to initiatives led by youth groups and networks through a Youth Micro Project Scheme.Promote legislative reforms for preventing CSEC. • Lobby for the improvement of law enforcement mechanisms related to CSEC.