Yearly Archives: 2015

Provision of Food Assistance for Communities in Tharparkar, Sindh

April 22, 2015

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In 2014, southern parts of Sindh experienced a continuing dry spell that inevitably lead to a drought crisis. Tharparkar, where the community’s livelihood depends mainly on livestock management and seasonal farming activities, is one of the most affected districts in Sindh. Following the drought, a scarcity in food and livestock resulted in the death of 650 people. This was mainly due to the lack of drinking water and feed for farming animals. Hundreds of children are reported to be suffering from pneumonia and diarrhea which is constantly adding to the cases of acute malnutrition in the area.

To overcome the alarming food security and nutrition requirements, Community World Service Asia initiated food assistance for drought affected families in the district from the month of February, 2015. In close coordination with local government authorities, nine villages and two bordering hamlets were identified in Taluka Chachro and Dahli of Tharparkar district. Twenty two village committees (VCs) are formed to promote coordination and assist in sharing information to ensure the full participation of communities in this project.

Moreover, our teams were assisted by the VCs in selection of 1,800 households for food assistance, with a priority given to orphans, people with disabilities, widows, and female-headed households. Each family will receive a food package as per minimum Sphere standards consecutively for seven months. The duration of the response is designed in consideration of the immediate food needs and the harvesting time of seasonal crops. In Tharparkar, farmers usually begin to plant seeds after the forecasted rainfall in the month of June, which is projected to harvest after seventy days of planting. The affected communities are also expecting an increase in availability of drinking water for their livestock following the rain.

Two rounds of food distribution are completed since the commencement of the project until now. Our team on the ground is regularly coordinating with stakeholders by participating in cluster meetings, working groups and general coordination meetings. This is done to ensure the sharing of information, to learn from each other’s’ experiences and to avoid duplication.

This assistance is possible with generous support from Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Presbyterian World Service & Development.

Noor Elahi envisions a better future

April 22, 2015

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Noor Elahi, age 29, is a resident at the Afghan refugee camp in Khaki, Mansehra. Being the sole breadwinner, supporting a family of eight members, including his five children, became challenging for Elahi after his father’s death. “I was distressed when my father passed away since I was dependent on him. Now I don’t have any other means of income.” Working hard to make ends meet, Elahi began to work as a laborer on daily wages until he was selected as a trainee under the Vocational Training and Market Development Program to learn carpentry skills.

Foreseeing a bright future, Elahi enthusiastically participated in a four month training program. To encourage participation, trainees were paid a stipend of PKR.150 per day including lunch and refreshment. Upon successful completion of the training he received a certificate along with a tool kit to practice his learning. In addition, he acquired a job as a partially skilled laborer at a local carpentry shop which further increased his earnings. To build upon his capabilities and learn advanced techniques, Elahi was selected for a one month refresher course.

“I was satisfied about my future to some extent and was pleased to know about the advance course offered by Community World Service Asia (formerly CWS-P/A). I happily participated in the course to enhance my skills and learned to operate 5 in 1 woodworking machine.”

Considering his expertise and his passion to progress as a professional carpenter, Elahi was selected by the Community World Service Asia (formerly CWS-P/A) team for Small and Medium Enterprise program along with another Afghan graduate. They were also provided a 5 in 1 woodworking machine to launch their own shop. “Together we are working very hard and generate a profit of PKR.15, 000 per month which is equally divided between us. Now, we also have an opportunity to share our knowledge and learn new techniques from each other. We provide economical services to our community members at their door step and also plan to expand our business to a larger scale. I am very thankful to Community World Service Asia (formerly CWS-P/A); because of their extensive assistance I can now support my family easily.”

To support the rehabilitation of refugee communities in Pakistan, Community World Service Asia (formerly CWS-P/A) is implementing a Vocational Training and Market Development Project in Mansehra and Haripur as Gifts of the United States Government since 2010. The goal is to enhance self-reliance and increase income for men and women of Afghan Refugees and host community. A four-month program imparts certifiable skills training to men in welding, electrical works, carpentry, auto mechanics, auto electrician, motor cycle mechanic, plumbing and masonry. Women participate in handicraft and dress designing trades in affiliation with Skill Development Council Peshawar. Upon course completion, graduates received a tool kit designed for their respective trades, which enabled them to establish small scale businesses or more easily find employment in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Maternal Care – Liberating Rubeena of her worries

April 22, 2015

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Dispirited by poverty, Rubeena was extremely concerned about the expenses she had to bear for delivering her first baby. Rubeena lives with her husband and his family in village Ranta, union council Bijora. A laborer by profession, her husband, the only breadwinner of the family earns PKR.200 per day, which is not enough to meet the essential requirements of seven family members.

“In view of my family’s current financial situation I was apprehensive about the high cost we would have to pay for my delivery. With transportation and medicine bills included, I knew the childbirth would cost us a lot, which we could not afford.”

Once Rubeena became aware about the quality of medical services provided at the maternal, neonatal child health center (MNCH) at very nominal rates, she planned to visit the center. Examined by an experienced,female medical officer, Rubeena was satisfied and began to visit the center for regular antenatal consultations. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy at the health center in mid-March, 2015. “Previously I was unaware of childbirth assistance available at such low costs. If I had been taking medical consultations at another health facility, we would have paid PKR.2000 or even more by now. I am glad that we managed the entire treatment at a very minimal cost of PKR.30.”

While Rubeena enjoys her early motherhood days, she continues to visit the health center for postnatal care and also consults with the medical staff regarding her baby’s health and vaccinations.

“I am thankful to Community World Service Asia, for establishing a MNCH in a remote area and for providing quality services at a very low cost. I hope this facility continues to provide support to us and to other communities.”

Community World Service Asia with financial support from Church of Scotland is successfully implementing a project on Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Centre (MNCH) in union council Bijora, district Thatta, Sindh. The aim is to improve maternal, newborn, and child health by providing curative and preventive basic health services, ante and postnatal care, family planning, and vaccination campaigns. The community also benefits from health education sessions on a variety of topics including HIV & AIDS, infant and child feeding, prevention of childhood diseases, and malnutrition. During the first quarter of the year, 1,569 community members received medical assistance at the health center. One hundred and fifty six participants including women, children and men participated in thirteen health sessions, and four health management committee meetings were organized till date.

Community World Service Asia celebrates International Women’s Day with Afghan Refugee Community in Mansehra!

April 8, 2015

The Community World Service Office in Mansehra organized an International Women’s Day event at their Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Bararai to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past year.

Young girls from the Afghan refugee community wearing purple head bands to show their participation in strengthening women empowerment through education in the future.

A group of women from the Afghan refugee community were invited to this gathering. They shared success stories of women and expressed their commitment towards promoting and protecting women rights. Protection Issues for women was also brought up in these discussions.

An awareness session on International Women’s Day and its history was held at the BHU during this event.

The project staff and community members paid tribute to the achievements and struggle of women globally. The photographs were taken to show their solidarity and support to all women around the world.

Pakistan Humanitarian Forum Expo 2015

April 2, 2015

On 31st March, the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum held a day-long event in Islamabad to showcase the wide variety of humanitarian development work being carried out in Pakistan. We were able to share our activities in disaster response and recovery, water and sanitation, health, education, livelihoods, peace and democracy, and quality and accountability with our colleagues and partners in the community. Our innovative Mobile Health Laboratory also made an appearance, and offered free blood pressure, blood sugar and blood typing tests to willing visitors!

The exposition was attended by international and national non-governmental, community-based and civil society organizations.

Our stall was well attended throughout the day!

A picture is worth a thousand words! Displays of photographs and handicrafts interested visitors and demonstrated our work.

Our Mobile Health Laboratory attracted interest and patients! Dr. Tayaba and Mohammed Jan, the laboratory technician were kept busy with examinations.

Caucus Conference Coverage by PTV

March 26, 2015

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P4R Holds Debate on Gender Inclusion and Equity

March 8, 2015

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IWD Banner (4) — International Women’s Day

The International Women’s Day 2015 #Make it Happen represents a celebration of the achievements of women in Pakistan towards a more inclusive and equitable society. Partnership for Resilience (P4R) Pakistan marked the Day with a lively debate to raise awareness and encourage dialogue with all sectors of society around effective action for women’s empowerment.

The debate titled “Make it happen – All overseas development funding should address gender equality and gender based violence to build resilient and safe communities in Pakistan”, brought together key players involved in disaster and development in Pakistan including the government and civil and private sectors. Ms. Annette Hearns, Deputy Head UNOCHA, Mr Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO Pakistan Pverty Alleviation Fund, Ms Abida Akram, National Forum for Women with Disabilities/STEP, Ms Khalida Salimi, OBE, Founder/Executive Director SACH, Ms Mossarrat Qadeem, Executive Director, Paiman Alumini Trust, Ms Asiya Nasir, Member National Assembly were actively involved in making the event a success. Ms Asiya Nasir was also the chief guest at the occasion.

Addressing the occasion, Chief Executive Officer, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), Qazi Azmat Isa, focused on the empirical link between gender related outcomes and improved socio-economic indicators, emphasizing on Pakistan’s lack of progress on Human Development Index indicators as we feature amongst the lowest 10 countries on the continuum. He referred to both religious and traditional values that encourage rather than hinder such outcomes, particularly while working with rural communities. He referred to Pakistan’s position on achieving the Millennium Development Goals and commented on how working through deliberate, gender centered outcomes would greatly improve this.

The debate centered on the facts that in early recovery programmes, only 22 per cent of funds from cash contributions were directly disbursed to women in 2013 while more than 75 per cent of the 80 million people projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2014 were women and children.

P4R support the many voices now being heard in Pakistan advocating for improvement in women and girls’ equality and one who stands out as an example of who ‘made it happen’ is Malala Yousafzai, joint winner of the 2014 Nobel peace prize for her education campaign work.

P4R is an alliance of seven NGOs working together in Pakistan to improve the lives of vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population in times of disaster and post disaster. By working for and through local communities P4R builds the capacity of communities to be more resilient in time of disaster and enable them to recover quicker.

“2015 is a critical year for gender equality, as this year global leaders will conclude three key global processes that set the development agenda for the next 15 years: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) following Millennium Development Goals, the post 2015 Hyogo Framework 2, and the Climate Change agenda. This is a unique opportunity for us to urge our Governments to ensure gender equality is not forgotten and call for a standalone goal on gender to be set in the SDGs, with clear targets and indicators for women’s empowerment and participation. This must, I feel, go further, with gender specific commitments cutting across all SDG goals and each of the 3 global processes. This is an opportune time for the Government of Pakistan to take up the banner for gender equality and champion it on the global stage”, said Neva Khan, Country Director of VSO and Chair of the P4R Steering Committee.

Each year, since 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Thousands of events occur to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women across the world. International Women’s day is also known for its #Paint it purple tag where the colour purple represents justice and dignity, two values upheld by P4R and used by all organizations in solidarity as we call for greater equality.

Training Supports a Joint Approach on Quality and Accountability

February 27, 2015

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Community World Service Asia held the second joint standards training, ‘Enhancing Quality and Accountability throughout Project Cycle Management in humanitarian action and non-emergency,’ in Asia from January 19-23, 2015. Thirty participants representing 21 organizations from thirteen countries attended the five-day training in Bangkok, Thailand. The training was designed and facilitated by Sylvie Robert and co-facilitated by Community World Service Asia’s team member, Rizwan Iqbal, and Go Igarashi from Association for Aid and Relief (AAR) Japan.

The main quality and accountability initiatives were introduced to participants which helped them understand the significance of linkages between various standards. With the launch of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and an increased pressure on agencies to adopt joint standards, the training provided an opportunity to identify key quality and accountability initiatives. Participants were able to select existing quality and accountability tools unique to their context and apply them throughout the project cycle, from the initial assessment phase, through the implementation, and finally the evaluation and learning phases. The training also assisted participants with opportunities to collaborate and coordinate with other agencies to improve quality and accountability in humanitarian response. This was achieved through various participatory learning and sharing methods, and a resource kit for each participant helped enable analysis of existing tools with fieldwork.

An active methodology allowed for creative learning and sharing throughout the training. Through a specific group activity, participants identified the implementation of quality and accountability initiatives by sharing examples from the field. Work in pairs formed after a brainstorming session allowed the groups to prepare short presentations on some quality and accountability initiatives and deliver those in plenary to share information with their colleagues.

Participants benefited from various types of practical exercises, such as a case study and a field school (real life exercise) to explore and understand the use of the quality and accountability tools in distinct contexts as well as the crucial need to select and adapt them.

“The case studies were quite useful, they allowed us to concretely apply the standards and consider them during PCM stages.”

“I learned about quality and accountability – the theory and practice during the group exercise.”

“Review of the tools was exactly what I needed. It was really helpful to use them in practice.”

Presentations on key approaches such as the rights-based approach and accountability to beneficiaries, as well as on more transversal themes including disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM), resilience, and the link between relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD), enabled participants to deepen their knowledge and share experiences from the region.

As the training concluded, participants agreed that a need exists to increase knowledge on quality and accountability approaches, initiatives, and tools in preparedness to ensure its effective use at the time of a disaster. The participants highlighted the need for future training on: Core Humanitarian Standards; training of trainers (ToT) on Sphere, quality and accountability, and complaints response mechanism (CRM); and separate training on each of the quality and accountability initiatives.

Participants were encouraged to collaborate with other agencies to improve quality and accountability in humanitarian action and agreed to seek future coordination, information, ideas, and other requirements.

Path to Resilience: Women’s Empowerment and Disaster Risk Reduction

February 7, 2015

Path to Resilience: Women’s Empowerment and Disaster Risk Reduction. Thatta, Sindh. 2013-2014

Socio-economic empowerment, adult literacy, and improved disaster resilience are helping disaster-affected communities in Thatta reduce poverty, hunger, and gender inequality.

2014 Achievements

60 women from four villages completed an adult literacy course from Adult Literacy Center in Jaffar Mallah Village.

With assistance from a freelance designer, 60 women received product development training at the vocational center.

These women acquired product development training in appliqué and embroidery skills and prepared a range of marketable products. .

During exposure visits to Karachi, production supervisors and sales market agents held meeting with potential buyers for income generation.

Several orders for laces, buttons, bags, bed sheets, appliqué work and other products were completed and generated an income of more than Rs 60,000 (USD 600).

An opportunity was provided by Community World Service Asia for women to participate in a festival and set up a stall of their products.

19 women and 6 men were trained to conduct sexual and reproductive health (SRH) sessions for the community with co-facilitation from project staff.

3,828 community members (995 men and 2,833 women) participated in 97 SRH sessions.

252 women, 248 men, and 358 school children participated in disaster risk reduction training.

With assistance from Community World Service Asia project staff, Samani Mallah, President of VO Jaffer Mallah organized an evacuation drill for women and children as preparedness measures for predicted floods in 2014.

Additionally Mother and Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) week was organized inBijora in close coordination with Thatta’s health department.

MNCH activities included a free mobile health camp day, a day training for traditional birth attendants (TBAs), and tetanus toxide (TT) vaccination campaign for women. A rally was also organized to create health awareness in the community.

All project components are integrated to enhance the capacity of vulnerable communities toward sustainable development.

Community organizations (CO) and village organizations (VO) were mobilized and trained so that they could successfully lead their communities on a sustainable journey toward resilience.