Editorial

As the year 2010 approaches its finale, one is prompted to sit back and wonder if the year gone by was a satisfactory one. Did we get to achieve all the goals we had set for ourselves? Did we keep all the resolutions we had kept when the year had commenced? Reflecting back on last year’s activities, we are proud to say that we attained most of our set goals in fact we travelled an extra mile in few projects/programmes. Thanks to the dedication of each and everyone associated with WPF, Pakistan we were able to not only achieve our set goals, we improvised in the face of adversity (2010 Flood crisis), and we remained steadfast through some of the challenges and firm about our objectives.

Last month was spent in evaluating the results and learning’s of Life Skills Based Education project, conducting ToT’s in Gujranwala and Karachi, training young, aspiring youth advocates in Multan and bringing back extremely interesting, resourceful and enlightening information from staff visits to Indonesia, Nepal, India and Kenya.

Read on to find out more!

LSBE/ SRHR education in Pakistan

WPF initiated its SRHR/LSBE education programme in Pakistan in 2004 in four districts of Pakistan with the financial support from the subsidy of Development Cooperation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs- The Netherlands.

In the span of last 7 years, the programme was piloted in urban and rural setting in all four provinces of Pakistan after building the capacity of local implementing partners and involvement of local stakeholders from education departments. The work resulted in not just reaching out to young people with knowledge and skills on issues of SRHR but also in creating an openness within the civil society organizations to use LSBE as an effective strategy of behavior change on issues of SRHR. Currently this programme is in its concluding month with 4 IPs in Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad and Multan.

The last month resulted in planning and organizing of events related to reflection and communication as well as recognition and appreciation. In this regard two Implementing partners, PVDP and PIDS, held Professional Development Forums as well as convocations to acknowledge teachers who implemented the last one year successfully.

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." – William Arthur Ward

Empowering Girls – Transforming Communities

Training of 140 Teachers, Gujranwala –Bargad and WPF

One of the most integral parts of effective curriculum implementation is motivated teachers, who have been trained properly and thoroughly. The main purpose of the TOT’s (training of teachers) on Life Skill Education Curriculum is that they relay the subject matter to the children in a way that would inspire them to implement it in their lives and to impart it to others in a similar way. Thus, they were trained in participatory teaching methodologies and cognitive learning, which would help young girls in being more informed about themselves and their rights. In this regard, ToT’s were held successfully in Gujranwala for 140 teachers, who had been divided into 4 clusters. These trainings were facilitated by two very skilled Master Trainers and held from 22nd November to 2nd December 2010.

It was very encouraging to talk to the Educators, each of whom was very excited to take this initiative forth to their schools as they firmly believed that it would bring about a positive change in the lives of the adolescent girls. The teachers facilitated the EGTC project by giving insightful feedback; in addition there was full support to the project by the staff, DCO and the EDO.

"If we are to reach real peace in this world... we shall have to begin with children." - Mahatma Gandhi

Multan Training – ‘SRHR Services during Emergency’: Funded by RutgersWPF

The widest bracket of our population is the youth. It is also the most energetic, positively driven and optimistic portion of the population. The carry within them endless oceans of untapped potential and their involvement in the development of this nation is not only imperative but a prerequisite for it. In the present context of the calamitous floods that hit our country this year, we realized that the need is to be well-prepared in advance for any such misfortune, and that preparation would be incomplete without the youth. Thus, a four days training at Multan was carried out to prepare young advocates on SRHR who were chosen from the flood affected areas of the six districts; Muzafargar, Jaccobabad, Jafferabad, Naseerabad, Kashmore and DG khan. These Young advocates aged from 18-24 comprised of 2 boys and 2 girls from each district, were given residential training of 4 days on SRHR problems in the context of humanitarian crisis.

These young advocates will raise the issues of SRHR in relevant clusters of their districts and will support the decisions of the clusters while having their meetings with the government departments and disaster management authorities. In these meetings they will advocate for development and inclusion of the minimal standards of SRHR services in the emergency response situation by Government, UN organizations and NGOs through advocacy. The key aim of this intervention was to ensure a coordinated effort between civil society and government through the youth, which will augment their capacities to respond efficiently to the humanitarian crisis by developing and setting standard basic guidelines of SRH in disaster.

Several resource persons having expertise in crisis management were invited to give the training sessions. A representative from UNHCR delivered a very productive presentation on cluster approach and role of cluster meetings in handling crisis. Mr. Zia Ur Rehman and Ms. Surriya of Awaz CDs also held very useful session keeping in view recent flood catastrophe and SRH condition. The Policy Advocacy team from WPF kept interactive session on SRHR and its relevance with Human Rights and on the Advocacy steps and its process. A dinner meeting was held at Services Club Multan where the participants were given an opportunity to meet with the representative of UNOCHA who shared his experience of disaster response and planning. Country Representative Qadeer Baig along with Dr. Khalid (the famous professor of Psychology from Baha-ud-Din Zakria University, Multan) was also invited at dinner who explained the emotional and mental impact of the SRHR issues from the perspective of flood catastrophe.

Rights-driven Institutionalization of Sexual and Reproductive Health in Pakistan-Hamara Kal

The ‘Hamara Kal’ project was taken forth with the development, execution and implementation plan for activities that would be held on the International World Aids Day at our project district areas: Multan, Karachi & Hyderabad. This is an important step in sensitizing school children, teachers and their parents about HIV/AIDS.

Gender-Based Violence: RutgersWPF

16 Days of Activism is being celebrated by WPF-IPs in their respective districts, with WPF technical support and expertise. The suggested theme for this campaign is “Men Involvement for Combating GBV & for Gender Inequality”. The objective of the campaign is to draw attention at local level on how men can play a positive role in addressing GBV and to show men as role models to protect and ensure women’s rights. This is being carried out at different levels via the radio, talk shows, newspaper articles, published press releases etc to create maximum awareness.

“Evaluate what you want—because what gets measured; gets produced”. James Belasco

LSBE Evaluation

The LSBE evaluation is being carried out for the project period 2006 – 2010 with a broader aim to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of LSBE project. The evaluation involves an in depth analysis of the design, implementation, and sustainability of the project and the findings will be used in devising future strategies.

The first week was spent in data collection for the evaluation and PM&E’s team visited Faisalabad. Qualitative information gathered through the field visits was analyzed against the expected outcomes of the evaluation study. Data from pre and post tests conducted during MFS-1 is in the process of analysis. PM&E team also reviewing the status of LSBE in the Education and Health Policies of Pakistan. Additionally, PM&E is coordinating with the stakeholders and partners to document their experiences in running similar/relevant projects on LSBE. The evaluation study will finish in November and the results will be shared in the LSBE Learning Forum in December.

The idea of evaluating last five years of LSBE project was WPF Pakistan’s own initiative and was not required by the donor or the Headquarter. The study has two major objectives; process evaluation and impact evaluation. It is aspired that the findings from this study would not only help in identifying the project’s achievements but also the best practices deduced and lessons learnt from the whole implementation process which would help WPF in planning future projects and strategies, and hopefully set a model example of LSE for future.

The Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation team has simultaneously been busy with the preliminary work of developing WPF’s work plan for the upcoming year of 2011. In this regard review meetings will be held with all programs to develop a well-directed and structured plan for the coming year, so as to utilize our potentials optimally and achieve all our set goals.

European Union Structured Dialogue- 9th to 11th November. India

Structured Dialogue (SD) is an initiative launched by the EC to discuss the involvement of civil society organizations (CSOs) & Local Authorities (LAs) in EC development cooperation. Conceived as a confidence and consensus-building mechanism - and not a negotiation process- the initiative aimed at increasing the effectiveness of all stakeholders involved in EC development cooperation, by building on the momentum gained by international and European debates. A panel of 6 representatives of CSOs from Pakistan were selected for this seminar, including Country Representative Qadeer Baig.

The Regional Seminar for Asia was part of a year-long initiative launched by the European Commission, which aims at promoting a more effective partnership for development, in the frame of the Aid Effectiveness Agenda. About 100 Representatives of civil society including Trade Unions, Cooperatives and NGOs participated in the two-day event, together with Members of the European Parliament, Delegates from EU Member States and EU Delegations. To provide a level playing field to all civil society participants; a preparatory meeting prior to the event was held on the 9th. Country Representative WPF chaired one of the groups and shared recommendations of the group adopted by the plenary. The SD formally started with the plenary to introduce the discussions held prior to it. A unique mechanism was adopted whereby all the participants were divided in 3 groups, dealing respectively with; (1) the role of CSO & LA in EC external cooperation; (2) Complementarily and coherence within the Accra Agenda for Action agreed at the recent Istanbul Conference; and (3) EC aid delivery Mechanisms. Later, each group attends all three roundtable discussions; utilizing the World Cafe Methodology, which proved quite useful in taking a comprehensive look at all inputs and suggestions. It was mutually decided that the next SD will be held in Brussels on January 25th followed by a conclusive one in Budapest in March 2011.

The Structured Dialogue provided a "space for discussion" aimed at increasing the effectiveness of all stakeholders involved in EC cooperation, by building consensus on the specific role to be played by CSO & LA, exploring ways to improve the effectiveness of CSOs & LA and finding ways to adapt EC programmes accordingly. Most of the recommendations of the dialogue was to simplify the process for call for proposals, building partnership between EU and CSOs instead of donor recipient relations, rationalizing EU resource allocations to Asia in conformity with population and poverty, invest in programmes than projects, support international and national NGOs that work to strengthen grassroots organizations, invest in programmes for media and political parties mobilization to create political will for sustainable development, support regional and national civil society networks to engage all stakeholders.

“Watch us, we will do great things!”-WAYAN

WAYAN High Level Event, Nairobi, 10th November 2010

WAYAN, World Starts with Me Youth Advocacy Network constitutes of 20 alumni of ‘World Starts with Me’ from Kenya. The network was formed in February 2010 and is hosted at Center for the study of Adolescence (CSA) in Kenya. The vision of WAYAN is
“…a society in which the sexual and reproductive health & Rights, including choices and responsibilities of young people are realized”.

This network is powered by energetic young individuals who want to bring about a positive change at both policy and community level. Through World Starts with me, the members of WAYAN have had their capacity built on SRHR, Advocacy, Leadership and Organizational Development with the guidance of CHOICE and CSA. As a next step, WAYAN launched itself on 10th November in a High Level Event in Nairobi, Kenya. This event was attended by high level government officials, media, donors, fellow youth and civil society from Kenya and other countries, to advocate for youth friendly SRHR services.

Interesting case studies were presented from 4 different provinces; which included demographic information, quality of health care services and extensive recommendations on how to tailor them to be more youth-friendly. A holistic and comprehensive approach to the research was employed and many interesting suggestions were surfaced and put forth by the group. It was a great opportunity to exchange ideas and share the learning’s from different contexts. The recommendations by WAYAN are also appropriate & easily applicable to Pakistan and other developing counties. The involvement of LSBE youth alumni, similar to WAYAN will prove viable to the sustainability of this model. Project Co-coordinator Packard Foundation, Ms. Huma Nayani represented World Population Foundation, Pakistan at this High Level event in Nairobi and brought back many resourceful insights.

Partner meeting on Youth-Adult Partnerships, Nairobi. 11th November 2010

On 11th November 2010, WPF-Netherlands organized a workshop on “Youth-Adult Partnerships in promoting SRHR”, which was facilitated by Ms. Hilde Kroes. The promising partnership between CSA and the youth-led WAYAN was a motivation for reflection on effective youth-adult partnerships, youth advocacy and youth participation. The workshop participants included, Representatives from Kenya (CSA and WAYAN), Uganda (SchoolNet Uganda, TASO and 2 students), Malawi (YECE), Indonesia (FO and DAKU student), Vietnam (FO and Hands in Hands), Pakistan (FO and YAN) and the Netherlands (CHOICE). WPF Field Offices, including Pakistan shared their experiences on youth- adult partnership, highlighting National Youth Task Force (NYTF) and Youth Advocacy Network (YAN).

WAYAN members were very eager to learn from best practices from representing countries and assured that this opportunity will enable them to strategize their work in the future. This workshop was followed by WAYAN and CHOICE meeting where the strategic plan for the coming years was to be discussed. Overall the visit to Kenya to meet WAYAN members, get a close look at their work and different practices, was extremely insightful, knowledgeable and highly inspirational.

“Partnering with men to end gender based violence is crucial to women empowerment” – Men Resource International

Men Involvement to address Gender-Based Violence, Indonesia

The Institutional Strengthening team went for an exposure visit to Indonesia from 8-12 November; 2010. The team comprised of the Programme Manager Ms. Kanwal Qayyum, the Programme Officer Ms. Sabeena Gul and a staff member from partner organizations from Gender Based Violence project, Mr. Syed Sajjad Hussain. WPF Indonesia office arranged this exposure visit for Pakistan and Vietnam teams on request of WPF Vietnam office. The objective of the exposure visit was to have a clear picture of how Gender Based Violence issues are dealt with by Indonesian counterpart and to explore, and learn from the male counseling programme as a component of Men Involvement to address Gender Based Violence in Indonesia.

The team got the opportunity to visit National Commission on Violence against Women which helped the team to understand the social, cultural, religious, political and legal aspects of Gender Based Violence in Indonesia and held a meeting with a local organization Yayasan Pulih working on psychological counseling of perpetrators. During the reported period of time WPF Indonesia office arranged detail meetings of the teams with its partner that is working for legal, psychological and medical support of violence survivors and counseling to the perpetrators. These meetings were helped understand the partner’s intervention towards the male involvement by looking at their service, community interventions and advocacy. The team also got opportunity to visit Panti Ralph Hospital and Special Unit of Police for VAW. It was very interesting & rather pleasing to know that health is fully covered by the State through insurance while Police has a close liaison with NGOs for mutual referral of services.

During the visit many technical and programmatic issues were discussed. Exchange of lesson learned from GBV interventions, especially those of male involvement and identifying areas for future collaboration and exchange were explored. This visit also stimulated to conceptualize male counseling as a component of Men involvement in safe district approach in a more practical way.

Our partner from PGRN also deemed this visit highly resourceful and enlightening. He relayed the important lessons and key learning of the visit; stating that to completely erase gender based violence from our societies it is a must that we inculcate a cultural change, and that can only sprout through men involvement in social issues. He reiterated the importance of integration at different levels; civil society, NGOs, government institutes and the society in general for the struggle against violence against women. He was very excited about using these findings in the GBV project in Pakistan and is sure that it will further our cause.

Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action (CREA) – SAMBHR Training: Nepal

CREA is a feminist human rights organization founded in 2000, based in India and led by women from the global South. CREA promotes, protects and advances women’s human rights and of all people by strengthening feminist leadership, organization and movements influencing global and national advocacy , creating information, knowledge and scholarship changing public attitudes and discourses and addressing exclusions. CREA has developed an institute SAMBHR, which offers mid-level leaders in NGOs an opportunity to enhance their conceptual understanding as well as build their skills to do effective activism and advocacy on human rights and movement building. This training was held in Kathmandu, Nepal for six days where 22 participants from different national and international organizations of Nepal, India, Sri-lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan attended the training. Three Recourse Persons Sirilatha Batiwala & Sunita Kujurfrom from India, Rita Thapa from Nepal, and Ayesha Khan from Pakistan were invited to facilitate the training. From the WPF, Pakistan Programmer Officer Institutional Strengthening, Ms. Sabeena Gul attended the training. The training was structured to help participants first to conceptualize understanding on gender, Feminism and Women movements and to build skills of the participants to analyze social movements and successful advocacy. This was done through a broad-spectrum training methodologies; group discussions, presentations, simulation exercises, role plays, case study analysis and discussions. Interesting perceptions surfaced through these training sessions and it gave clarity to the participants on how to understand these terms for better advocacy strategies.

By the end of 2010 World Population Foundation and Rutgers Nisso Groep will enter into a merger under the name of Rutgers WPF. For more details visit www.rutgerswpf.org

For more information please logon to: www.wpfpak.org

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