Editorial

RutgersWPF Pakistan News

Interactive Session on Sexual and Reproductive Health: An Islamic Perspective

For the commemoration of World Sexual Health Day, Rutgers WPF Pakistan organised a lecture on the teachings of Islam regarding sexual and reproductive health, followed by a question and answer session with the audience, on September 28, 2011.

Dr Khalid Zaheer, a prominent religious scholar, was invited to talk about ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health: An Islamic Perspective’ in front of an audience of 70 people, comprising of youth, civil society organisations, including Rutgers WPF’s partner organisations and representatives of the media.

The purpose of the lecture was to provide guidance about the teachings of Islam on sexual and reproductive health in order to ensure that Pakistani youth is informed and empowered to make the right decisions and take charge of their behaviors in the lights of the true teachings of Islam.

Dr. Zaheer informed the audience that there is widespread sexual abuse of children and youth in our society and is owed largely to parents’ and teachers’ own reluctance to talk openly about such matters. He emphasized that it is necessary to give children information on matters of sexuality, and that this information should come from parents and teachers, based on the understanding of Quran. He gave reference to various Quranic verses and Hadiths to demonstrate the Islamic perspective on sexual and reproductive health. The five themes of the lecture were: what does Quran says; Islamic perspective on specific matters; the necessity of reproductive health education; the reasons for opposition related to reproductive health education; and what are the ways to counter this opposition?

Following the lecture, the members of the audience were given an opportunity to ask their questions, to remove misconceptions and seek further clarifications. Dr. Zaheer answered a number of questions on different matter, including early marriages, abortion and family planning, among others.

Rutgers WPF will compile the questions and answers from the session into frequently asked questions (FAQS) document, which will be made available online at Rutgers WPF website and Facebook page.

Memorandum of Understanding for PARWAN

The partnership for Parwan (Unite For Body Rights) was formalised through the signing of Memoranda of Understanding between Rutgers WPF Pakistan and partners from Multan and Quetta on September 13, 2011. This marks the finalization of pre-implementation or preparatory phase and beginning of the project implementation.

World Starts With ME (WSWM) Advisory Group

Rutgers WPF’s international expert on Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Mr. Jo Reinders, visited Pakistan for facilitating the process of adapting World Starts With Me (WSWM). The World Starts With Me is a web-based/CD Rom curriculum on IT and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for young people. Previously Rutgers WPF Pakistan has used the paper based approach for teaching LSBE, however, for the Parwan and dance4life projects WSWM will be contexualised and taught in schools.

Rutgers WPF Pakistan has established an Advisory Group of 10 members, constituting of experts, stakeholders, and representative of the target group including students and teachers, who will guide the adaptation and implementation of the WSWM project in Pakistan. The Advisory Group met for 3-days in Murree, from 25th to 27th September, 2011 for residential workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Jo Reinders with support from SRHR Education Team and WSWM lessons to be used in dance4life Pakistan were carefully reviewed. This was the first step in adaptation of WSWM for Pakistan. Over the next two month, Rutgers WPF will develop the lessons in light of AG’s recommendations while getting regular feedback from all stakeholders.

Ullema (Religious Scholars) Consultation for LSBE WorkbooK – Hamara Kal

A one day consultation was held by RutgersWPF with religious scholars, in Rutgers WPF Islamabad office, on September 25, 2011 which was attended by five Ullema (religious scholars). The aim was to review and endorse the revised LSBE curriculum in order to make it more culturally appropriate in the light of the teachings of Quran. The revised LSBE workbook was shared with the participants in advance, who went through the book section by section and gave their opinion and comments. They unanimously emphasized the need for LSBE for young people and appreciated Rutgers WPF efforts. The religious scholars while endorsing the revised workbook nominated Moulana Mohammad Ali to write a preface to the workbook in consultation with the religious scholars. It was agreed that the revised workbook will be endorsed by all the religious scholars and their endorsement will appear in the preface section of the workbook.

Workshop for Board Members under PSO Learning Work Trajectory (LWT) Project

Rutgers WPF Pakistan held a one day workshop for the board members of the partner organisations in the PSO Learning Work Trajectory (LWT) Project, on September 12, 2011, in Murree. There were 22 participants representing the organisations that are a part of the LWT: Aahung, Awaz CDS, Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP), Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS), KhwendoKor, National Trust for Population Welfare (NaTPOW), Participatory Integrated Development Society (PIDS), and Rutgers WPF Pakistan. The purpose of the workshop was to develop one vision of SRHR among board members for SRHR movement building and to seek board members support for SRHR mainstreaming.

The workshop, facilitated by Rutgers WPF and its consultant, RIZ Consulting, consisted of an overview of Pakistan’s National and International commitments on SRHR, key SRHR concepts and sensitization, forming a shared vision on SRHR and endorsement of the HR Code of Conduct.

The workshop was successful in achieving its objective of building stronger ownership amongst board members to mainstream SRHR in their respective organizations. The board members also endorsed the HR code of conduct and accepted responsibility for ensuring that it becomes part of the HR policy of their respective organisations. The workshop concluded with recommendations for further enhancement of SRHR rights: greater engagement with religious leaders; designing advocacy and programming efforts with sensitivity to local cultural context; and greater focus on network expansion with other groups particularly gender, children and human rights organizations.

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Workbook

Rutgers WPF Pakistan has adopted “Aaghee se Aagay (Stepping Forward) as the local name for the project “Empowering Girls - Transforming Communities”. After one and half year of the project, implementation framework of the project was reviewed, and on the basis of the feedback received from partners, community and the government, “Aaghee se Aagay” was chosen as the local name of EGTC. Rutgers WPF has also developed a new workbook for the project Empowering Girls Transforming Communities named “Khawaab se Tabeer Tak.” The new workbook has 24 sessions and is designed for students of grades 8, 9 and 10 of the girls’ schools in district Gujranwala and Sanghar.

The ‘Khawb say Tabeer Tak’ workbook for girls is a comprehensive life skills based curriculum that aims to provide adolescent girls with the knowledge, attitudes and skills required to promote their own and their family’s health and socio-economic well-being. It inspires and facilitates the girls to become self motivated and confident leaders with the ability, skill and intrinsic values to positively impact their communities.

Rutgers WPF would like to acknowledge the remarkable contribution of Empowerment Thru Creative Integration (ECI) that acted as a key player in the development and design process of the new workbook.

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Toolkit

Rutgers WPF has designed the adolescent girls’ empowerment toolkit. Following the feedback from partners, the community and the government, Rutgers WPF decided to develop and design a toolkit that incorporates life skill based education as well as economic empowerment lessons. The adolescent Girls Empowerment Toolkit called “Bano chotay Ustad”, designed by Empowerment Thru Creative Integration (ECI), is based on the idea of peer education and parents involvement, and will offer practical guidance for the adolescent girls in schools.

The toolkit has two components: stories that address the issue of harassment and girls’ economic empowerment; and a board game, “Choti Ustani” (Little Teacher), developed to teach life skills and lessons of empowerment to young girls. The stories are designed to engage parents and make them part of the learning process. The board game, “Choti Ustani” (Little Teacher) is an interactive educational game for school going and out of school adolescent girls. The game accommodates 4 and is developed for use with girls aged 8 to 15 years. The adolescent girls students will play this game with 12 out of school girls of their communities. These simple yet pertinent lessons provided in both the stories and the board game, can give insight and courage necessary to make correct decisions in life.

The toolkit piloting is planned in the first week of October after which Rutgers WPF will incorporate the piloting findings and feedback and will finalize it to precede printing.

Organizational Effectiveness (OE) workshop

A three days consultative workshop was held under the Packard Foundation funded Organizational Effectiveness (OE) project from 19th to 21st September, 2011, at Muzafarabad. The entire staff of Rutgers WPF participated in the workshop. During the workshop the Rutgers WPF Pakistan’s Strategic Paper was reviewed, and the five years Strategic Plan (SP) was finalised. The Annual Operational Planning (AOP) framework was also finalised and on the basis of the AOP the Quarterly Operational Plan was also drafted.

The next phase of the OE project will entail the supervision of the quarterly plans. At the end of each quarter a one day review meeting will be held to share feedback of the team on OP. At the end of the year three days workshop will be held with WPF Staff, where the one year OP will be reviewed and reflection will be shared, along with developing next year’s OP.

Asian Youth Conference & Peace Festival 2011

Representatives of Rutgers WPF Pakistan participated in the ‘Asian Youth Conference & Peace Festival 2011’ on September 29, 2011 at Al-Hamra Arts Council, in Lahore. The event was organised by Chanan Development Association (CDA) in collaboration with Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Department, Government of Punjab and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The conference was attended by 300 youth delegates, representing 16 Asian countries along with Pakistan.

Mr. Qadeer Baig, Country Representative, Rutgers WPF Pakistan, gave the key note speech on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4, 5 & 6: reducing in child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Ms. Nazoora Ali, Manager Policy Advocacy, was one of the panelists for the panel discussion titled “MDG 4 & 5, i.e. Infant & Maternal Mortality including SRHR”.

In his speech, Mr. Baig explained the direct co-relation between the MDGs and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). He emphasized that it is only through the recognition and improvement of SRHR that the MDGs will become attainable.

Meetings

Meeting with Packard Foundation

On 9th September 2011, Rutgers WPF along with the implementing partners, SAFWCO and Bargad, had a comprehensive meeting with Packard Foundation to present new workbook outline and to discuss various aspects of the revised strategy for the project Empowering Girls Transforming Communities. Dr. Yasmeen Qazi, Country Representative, Packard Foundation gave her expert opinion and recommended the conduction of a pilot test of the new workbook before launching the new workbook in schools. The planning of the pilot testing is in process and is expected to take place by mid of October.

Meeting with YAN and Choice

A meeting took place between Choice, Youth Advocacy Network’s (YAN) General body and Country Representative, Rutgers WPF Pakistan in Lahore, on September 22, 2011. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ongoing programmes as well as the future relationship between the three organisations. The discussion centered on the need for youth advocacy networks in Pakistan and exploring options for strengthening the existing networks. The visiting team of Choice will present to the choice boards , between RWPF, Yan and choice

Expressions

See? No evil

By Masud Alam

It was a breeze for the Jewish and Christian conspirators to get us hooked on Mother’s Day celebration. After all mother is an exalted figure in our religion. God has laid heavens under her feet — only under a Muslim mother’s feet though, the rest can check their own soles for clues but I doubt if they’ll find anything other than random lines and some dead skin.

Then came the Father’s Day, the So and So Day, the Valentine’s Day … we took them all in eagerly. But wait aminute, this last mentioned doesn’t sound right. Love has no place in our culture. It may be tolerated among married couples if they don’t go around shamelessly holding hands in public, but what have all the young ones got to do with love and romance? And look at all these enemy collaborators selling heart-shaped balloons, roses, and chocolates, willing us to love each other and have fun! What blasphemy, tauba, tauba. This is how conspiracies succeed. They start innocently enough and end up taking away the faith, may Allah save our souls.

Having repented and prayed thus, we have learnt to live with this abomination once a year. We even allow a day each for assorted Western indulgences like cultural diversity, postal services, thalassemia, international justice and so on. It’s merely our policy of reconciliation and a measure of our openness. But we have our own limitations. And we absolutely draw the line above World Sexual Health Day, being observed in some 50 countries today.

Fifty or hundred, all these countries are welcome to own up to their impotence. But what has this got to do with us? We are Muslims and for us sex is not healthy or sick, it’s just sex, the koochy koochy a married couple does in a dark room, under the blanket, with their eyes shut. Even if it’s not healthy who’s looking. We don’t buy it. We won’t let ourselves be fooled by Jews all the time.

So there won’t be an expert telling us that sexual health is a crucial part of an individual’s wellbeing and a central feature of human development. No one will talk about the prevalence of child abuse in the land of the pure, or state the fact that the abused is likely to become an abuser in later years and so the number keeps multiplying.

No scholar will talk about the risks of early marriage and sexually transmitted infections. The statistics of our adolescents learning their earliest sexual lessons from peers or their own experiences with animals and same sex partners, will not figure in discussions. No mention of psychological trauma the abuse survivors suffer for the rest of their lives. There won’t even be advertisements from health and population welfare departments, with pictures of ministers or secretaries and messages of their achievements in the field of sexual health. No one can claim any achievement in any pursuit that has anything to do with sex – even at tax payers’ expense.

Governments are trying hard to stop a dozen or so NGOs doing what they do best: harm Pakistan and Islam. These organisations are instructing our children and youth in matters of sexuality. They are making our young think and ask questions. They are making them more resourceful and confident. They are turning them into independent and responsible individuals. How can we sit back and watch? The Islamic caliphate of Punjab should be congratulated to take the lead in arresting this initiative. Programmes run in state and private schools by local NGOs, to impart life skills to adolescents, with the written permission of government officials, are now under threat of closure.

The MoU with a local organisation running a life skills based education programme in Multan was recently revoked without assigning reason. A similar project in Gujranwala is suspended for several months while the provincial government completes its enquiry into complaints of inappropriate study material. Another programme in Karachi is on hold on the government advice after two limited-circulation vernacular newspapers ran a dedicated campaign against it.

Opposing the mighty NGOs with their Israeli agenda and American money is a minority of conservatives. This minority is very small in size but al hamdo lillah vocal enough to drown out all other voices. It is because of their strength of faith that we feel protected even after being abused. We keep the truth under the covers, in a dark room. In time our children will learn to do that too.

Published in The News, September 04, 2011.
For online edition visit the link: http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2011-weekly/nos-04-09-2011/dia.htm#2