United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Empowerment of Girls & Women – Girl Child Project (in collaboration with the Family Planning Association of Pakistan, FPAP)

Proposed Duration: February 1999 – December 2001

Objectives:

• To raise awareness in 500 locations directly and in 1500 communities indirectly, on the situation of girls and young women and the implications of their situation for community well-being and development;

• To empower 25,000 girls/ young women to participate at all levels of family and community life in the spheres of health, education and economic self-reliance, and to serve as role models/ agents of change in their communities.

Activities:

• Orientation and leadership workshops for adolescent girls on self-development, rights and confidence-building;

• Training for girls to set up home-schools, enabling 50,000 children from the poorest families to get educational support;

• First-aid training;

• Micro-enterprise/ income-generating training;

• National Girl Child Seminar to review progress on girls’ participation;

• Development/ maintenance of girl-child database to monitor situation of girls involved in the programme.

• Advocacy with decision makers and parliamentarians in support of district activities;

• Dissemination of communication materials on women’s rights.

Remarks:

Aurat Foundation is now coordinating a nation-wide network of NGOs in a major new project to promote the political participation of women. The CACs are key vehicles in this for encouraging women to stand as political candidates in the current local bodies’ elections (33% of seats are reserved for women) and encouraging women’s participation as voters.