CLOSE
Authors Posts by comms

comms

723 POSTS 0 COMMENTS
https://www.communityworldservice.asia

1874

This year, International Women’s Day occurs on a Sunday and will be celebrated with the special 2020 theme, #EachforEqual. It is the time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women.

Community World Service Asia is celebrating International Women’s Day with the staff and project participants by sharing their contributions and what they are doing to create a gender equality society. We have an opportunity to celebrate the women who have given us inspiration. The day is a gift – it’s the perfect time to remember the progress that’s been made on gender equality, to shed some light on everything that still needs to be done and to recognize those who’ve helped to inch the bar to benefit everyone.

As President of the Steering Committee under the Every Voice Counts Project, I encouraged my wife to become a member of the Community Group. Since 2018, we have been engaged with community members and build awareness to disregard child marriages and promote girls education in our village. As supportive parents, we respect our daughter and daughter-in-laws and encourage them to contribute in decision-making processes.

Husband and Wife, Luno Mal and Rahoo from Ahori Farm village, Umerkot

I am a member of the Steering Committee and also working as an artisan in the Taanka project. My husband and I advocate about girls’ education by meeting families in Ahori Farm village every month. Through the continuous meetings, we have been successful in enrolling seven girls and today, they regularly attend school. Ramesh involves me in decision-making processes of the family matters. I want to urge women to share responsibilities with their partners and encourage each other to play their role in building a gender equal society.

Nirjala with her husband, Ramesh from Ahori Farm village, Umerkot

As Community Group member under the Every Voice Counts Project, many young girls in the village see me as their role model as I was the first girl in the village to complete Matriculation with the support of my parents. We are five siblings and I am the eldest amongst all. I support my siblings in their school work and encourage other children, especially girls to gain education and go for their dreams. Through awareness meeting with parents in Surto Oad, eleven girls were enrolled in the local primary school. My message on this International Women’s Day is to urge parents to provide equal opportunities of education and career growth for their daughters and sons. Daughters will make their parents more proud as they will continue the same practice in future in their families and encourage their children towards education.

Shardah from Surto Oad village, Umerkot

My wife, Soomal and I are members of the Steering Committee (SC) in Surto Oad since 2018 under the Every Voice Counts Project. When elected as President of the SC, I was the first person to stand up for gender equality and persuaded my wife to become a member of the Steering Committee. In the village where women were not allowed to speak freely or visit their neighbors without the permission of their elders, this was a big step towards change. I saw the potential in our women as they handled home chores and field work perfectly and at the same time took care of large families. Their management skills are outstanding; so why not use them on a broader level. Today, there are seven active members in our SC who take part in decision-making processes of matters in the village. In the monthly meetings of the SC, they bring out the issues faced by women in our community such as child marriages and domestic violence.  We then, jointly work to resolve such issues. Changing the rigid mindsets have become easier through women involvement as the people, especially elders, are witnessing the positive change these women are bringing in our village. Girls are going to schools, young women are earning income through orders of stitching and embroidery and women are taking part in decision-making.

Shewa Ram and his wife, Soomal from Surto Oad village, Umerkot

I was married at a young age of 13. I was not ready for the responsibilities of taking care of my husband’s family and handling home chores at the same time. But I had no other choice but to obey the decision of my elders. Today, as member of the Community Group under the Every Voice Counts Projects, I have taken the responsibility to stand for the young girls who are afraid to voice their concerns. The trainings held for the members of the Community Groups have enlightened us with our rights, marriage laws and punishment for child marriages. I have stopped child marriages occurring in our village through meetings and awareness sessions with families and women specifically. Together, I encourage young girls to attend school and build a better future for themselves. My message this year on International Women’s Day is that child marriage is a crime; do not punish your children by marrying them in such young ages. Instead, it is the prime responsibility of the parents to support and encourage them to gain education.

Hamzo from Harsan Bhagat village, Mirpurkhas

Since 2015, I have been engaged in livelihoods, health and women empowerment projects with Community World Service Asia. As Community Mobilizer, I feel proud to advocate women rights and girls’ education. These projects have given the opportunity to change lives of women in the rural Sindh. The livelihoods and women empowerment initiatives have made the women economically strong. They have travelled to different cities in Pakistan to promote their handmade apparels and home accessories. It is amazing to see how far women can go if they are provided with opportunities. I also belong to a community where women are restricted to growth. But I have proudly convinced my parents that women can play a prominent and constructive role in our society. My younger sister has followed my footsteps. She had joined an organization and have become a humanitarian worker like myself.

Kaneez Rubab, Community Mobilizer, Community World Service Asia

I was always enthusiastic about playing a prominent role in creating a gender equality nation. Consequently, I completed my degree in Gender and Women studies. Throughout my career, I have been engaged in projects promoting gender equality and women empowerment. I have conducted awareness sessions and trainings on different topics for organizations all over Pakistan, with special focus on women participation in economic activities. My tagline for this years’ IWD is ‘Empowering Women means Empowering Nation’.

Kausar BIBI, Senior Training & Development Officer, Community World Service Asia, Islamabad

As member of the Health Management Committee under the Health Project of Community World Service Asia, I have actively worked for the health rights of women. Women residing in remote villages of Sindh have limited access to effective healthcare. For this reason, I conduct health education sessions to build awareness and promote improved health for women and children. My message this year to men especially is to initiate women empowerment from home. Involve women in decision making and encourage them to support men economically.

Haleeman from Ranta village, Sujawal District

For more than 10 years, as a trainer, I have encouraged women from different organizations to participate in trainings focused on Program Management, Organizational Development, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, Social Mobilization and other essential topics. I am proud to share that women have excelled themselves in every field of life and are actively contributing through various professions. I believe that human rights directly relate to women rights. Hence, promotion of women’s rights upholds the fundamental human rights granted to individuals internationally.

Lubna Hussain, Senior Program Officer at Community World Service Asia

Education plays an essential role for any individual’s development and growth in life. I am a role model for women in the rural area as I live in a conservative society where women are not even allowed to leave their homes without the permission of the men at home. I work as a Lady Health Worker with Community World service Asia. My family is very proud of me as I transfer my learnings through health education sessions with community members and consultations in the Health Center.

Preh Baloch, Lady Health Visitor with Community World Service Asia

It was my dream to work in the development sector as I wanted to do something for the humans of Sindh. Since 2011, I have been engaged in community development through a number of projects. Currently, working as Project Officer under the Education project, I have got the opportunity to work with 15 government schools, with focus on girls’ education. We support in advancing curriculum and school activities. We train teachers and introduces child-friendly classrooms and practical activities to learn through playing. Students, especially girls, have become interested and regular in studies. We provide equal opportunities to men and women in our training programs where teachers share experiences and learn new methodologies to make teaching effective and fun. My message on this Women’s day is ‘Traditionally, women and girls have been a vulnerable group affected by gender inequality and deprived of their rights to education. However, to achieve a sustainable world, this must change. Gender equality must be integrated at all levels of education, from early childhood upbringing to higher education, both in formal and non-formal settings’.

Farhat Fairy, Project Officer with Community World Service Asia, Umerkot

Under the DRR and Food Security project of Community Worlds Service Asia, I have been engaged alongside men in various trainings in relation to Disaster Risk Reduction, Kitchen Gardening, Climate Smart Agriculture and Health and Hygiene. I have successfully made my own kitchen garden through which I provide my family with fresh and healthy vegetables. I also save money that we use to spend in purchasing vegetables from the city. Realizing the fact that women can contribute in the economic and physical wellbeing of the family through small initiatives such as kitchen gardening, I encourage other women in the village to replicate my learning and support their husbands in saving money. I believe every women can contribute in economic empowerment if she is willing to do.

Jhamoon, wife of Roop Chand, Walhar village, Umerkot

I am an active member of the Village Management Committee. Under the DRR Project, I have been part of DRR trainings and awareness sessions. I have conducted awareness session for men and women in our community. Initially, I use to hesitate to speak in front of men especially as our culture is different and conservative. After being regularly involved in meetings and project interventions, I now confidently forward my learning to large audiences. In addition, I have attended trainings on Kitchen Gardening, Village Management and Health and Hygiene. I have helped in developing a DRR plan which has information of various disasters and its preventive measures. I believe that women can play a prominent role in combating disasters.

Khandi, Walhar village, Umerkot

As a midwife, I provide health services and education to increase access to efficient healthcare for women residing in remote areas. Through health session, I encourage women to adopt health behaviors and exercise health rights.

Pashmeena, Midwife at Salingar Health Facility of Community World Service Asia

I train Community Health Workers for them to provide effective health services for women in rural villages. Through these training, I encourage CHWs to motivate both men and women to utilize health services provided in the health facilities. Moreover, I motivate women to take decisions in their households to support their family members.

Marzai, Community Health Supervisor at Community World Service Asia in Salingar Health Facility

IT has mostly been considered as a man’s field of work in our society. But this did not stop me from achieving what I want. I completed my Master’s degree in Information Security in the year 2019. I proved as a women that there is no field of work limited to a specific gender. Women can equally become a professional in any field they choose. Women are strong, beautiful and leaders in every walk of life. May we continue to inspire others around us.

Rosheen Qazi, IT Officer at Community World Service Asia

2412

Humanitarian standards related to Quality and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) have brought humanitarian actors one step forward in terms of principles and commitments towards the people they seek to assist. However, humanitarian field practitioners acknowledge confusion in the knowledge and the application of standards, and the sector recognizes the need for cultural and systemic changes to enhance Quality and AAP, including Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). 

As we shift towards a collective inter-agency approach to Quality and AAP – including PSEA, with common frameworks and more systematic measurement and verification at national or response-levels, it needs to be integrated into programming cycles, at both inter-agency and organizational levels, through a people-centered lens. 

The Quality and Accountability for Project Cycle Management Booklet and training materials have been designed for field practitioners. Through these resources, we aim to enhance the quality and accountability of humanitarian and development programming to ensure the best interest of the communities we seek to assist.

The Booklet and the associated training materials will promote shared decision making at all phases of the programming cycles.

3 day Training on QA for PCM TRAINING PACKAGE Jan 2020
3 day Training on QA for PCM TRAINING PACKAGE Jan 2020
Size: 10.8 MB
Version: Jan 2020
Download791 Downloads

Feedback

 

1135

Community World Service Asia is working towards resource and environmental conversation through an exciting “Going Green” campaign initiated within all its offices in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Under one of its initiatives, our office in Islamabad signed an MOU with Saaf Suthra Shehr in September 2018 to recycle all of the office’s organic waste. Saaf Suthra Shehr (SSS) Private Limited is committed to create environmental management an integral part of development processes, whereby policy makers and public at large start recognizing their responsibility to capitalize on the intrinsic environment-development correlation.

Since 2018, all of the waste from Community World Service Asia’s (CWSA) Islamabad office is divided into organic and inorganic waste and delivered to Saaf Suthra Sheher. In the last one and a half year, CWSA’s Islamabad office has recycled 311Kgs of Paper, 35Kgs of Plastic, 1Kg of Metal, 7Kg of Glass which is equivalent to saving 4 trees, 5857 Liters of water and 1 MW of electricity according to a report provided by Saaf Suthra Sheher. This achievement would not have been possible without the commitment and determination of the organization and all the staff at the Islamabad office who passionately took the responsibility of storing and segregating waste and timely delivering it to the authorized company each month.

1816

 Most families in Anwar Pathan live in a joint family system. Early marriages and living in a big family bring along a lot of responsibilities for new and young brides in this community. The new bride is expected to take on all the home chores, go to the field and harvest the seasonal crops in addition to taking care of all the family members living in the house. A tremendous amount of burden is put on the little shoulders of a child bride. This naturally deteriorates her health. As you see, there are very few or almost no woman here who is overweight. This is because all women here work a lot and are weak due to the many burdens they bear since a very young age. If these women or girls complain even a little, it results in conflicts among family members,

shared a young man, named Gom Chand, who is a member of the Steering Committeeⁱ and Community Group set up in Anwar Pathan village, located in Umerkot district of Sindh province.

Gom Chand and his wife were only 14 years old when they got married. Four years on, now 18 years old, Gom Chand teaches at a local private school in Anwar Pathan.

Women in this village are not educated as most have not attended school and those who did get the opportunity, have only studied up till class 5. Even as a boy, I was forced to marry at a young age and had to leave my education, with no one encouraging me to continue studying. Instead, I was told to earn a living as I had to bring home money for my wife and bear family responsibilities. Soon after my wedding, I began work as a daily labourer, and earned a mere income of PKR 200 a day.

For many centuries, it has been a cultural norm to wed off young couples aged between 12 and 16 years in villages such as Anwar Pathan. Just as a child would be born, their families would start searching for a perfect matrimonial match for them and in many cases even engage them at birth and as soon as they would turn 12 years or reach their teens, they would be married off.

I never supported this idea though,

shared Gom Chand,

And as it turned out, I also suffered a lot by being married so young.

We are a family of six members, including my parents, wife and siblings. My relative, Chander, told me about the EVCⁱⁱ project as the team visited for an orientation meeting at the village. He shared the main objective of the project which was eliminating and discouraging the practice of early and childhood marriages. This convinced me to join the Steering Committee. I saw this as a platform to share my experiences and motivate the youth to gain education and build a bright future for themselves.

Fifteen of us, seven men and eight women, joined the Steering Committee of Anwar Pathan. As members of the committee, we largely work towards achieving for four key objectives. Firstly, we will build awareness on the importance and access to health care for men, women and children. We encourage women and children to avail proper healthcare treatments from the nearest health facility instead of always adopting traditional home remedies. Secondly, we discourage the practice of early childhood marriages. Thirdly, we are advocating for increasing girls’ education in the village.   Since this is not encouraged much in our village, we are conducting meetings with parents who do not send their girls to school and are urging them to educate their daughters and sisters as it is equally important as is educating boys. Lastly, we are promoting the role of women in decision-making.

Gom Chand watched a theater play in Bharo Mil village which highlighted the disadvantages of early childhood marriage and encouraged communities to educate their children instead. The play exhibited how societies would flourish if their people and youth were well educated. Upon his return from Bharo Mil, Gom Chand felt the need of opening up a school for girls in his village. And he did as he had planned and did inaugurate a school in Anwar Pathan in March 2019. Gom Chand teaches at this school and earns a monthly income of PKR 14000.

There was no school in our village so no girl in our village ever went. With the help of a friend working in another welfare organization, I registered the school and encouraged parents to specially send their daughters and sisters to the school. Today, 45 girls and 12 boys are enrolled in this school and attend classes every day.

There are 10 pairs of Community Groups established in each village, each pair consisting of a man and a woman. Every one of these pairs is assigned five households to work with and build awareness on the same objectives as the Steering Committee. Gom Chand and his Shama, another resident of Anwar Pathan village, make up one these pairs.

The training that was organized on Gender and Women Empowerment on November 2018, and a refresher course that followed a year later in 2019,  delivered sufficient information on the fundamental rights of women and the importance of education, especially for girls. We understood how the existing gender issues in our community adversely affected the lives of.

 Gom Chand and Shama held meetings with the five households allotted to them and encouraged women in those families to voice out their concerns and participate in decision-making processes.

Gom Chand’s brother, Prem Chand, was to be married at the end of 2019.

When I heard about the wedding preparations, I could not hold myself back from standing against this decision and lifelong tradition. He was just a 16-year-old boy and his bride to be was only 15-years-old. My father did not want to go forward with the wedding either but due to the pressure from my brother’s in-laws to be, my family decided to go with it. Shama and I visited the in-laws’ and tried to convince them on postponing the wedding. After hearing about my early marriage experience and the challenges my wife and I faced, the bride’s family postponed the wedding for three years.

In terms of contributing to women empowerment, Gom Chand encouraged his wife to further enhance her embroidery skills by enrolling her at a nearby vocational center. A District Engagement Group member, named Shanti, helped him identify this center and facilitated them with the enrolment process.

A skill building training was held in Mirpurkhas to which I accompanied my wife, Pooja, every day for fifteen days as it is difficult to commute alone in this area. After successfully completing the training, Pooja received five sewing machines.

I am very proud of my wife as she teaches embroidery and stitching skills to other girls and women from our village at our home now. Fourteen woman and girls come to learn the use of different threads, design methods and colors. For running this home-based coaching center and working on orders, Pooja receives PKR 4000 monthly from PCDPⁱⁱⁱ. The attendees of the centre pay a monthly fee of PKR 100. I can see the happiness in the eyes of my wife as this initiative has brought new meaning to her life.

Hina, 16 years, and Seeta, 15 years old, are two of Pooja’s students at the center.

Miss Pooja teaches us stitching and embroidery. We come to the center for four hours daily. If it wasn’t for this center, we would be doing home chores the whole day. This is a fun activity and us friends get to sit together, share jokes and learn new skills of designing and stitching,

 shared Hina.

A video screening, highlighting the goals of the Steering Committee and its role in promoting positive change in the communities by reducing early childhood marriage and motivating women towards decision-making, was organized on December 18th, 2019 in Anwar Pathan, by the Steering committee members.

The members of the committee invited the Chairman of the Union Council as a special guest at the screening. It was an honor to welcome a higher official in our village. The community members were excited to see the video as these visuals are appealing and conveyed the message very clearly. More than 250 people attended the video screening. It was a very proud moment for us.

ⁱ 22 Steering committees are formed in each village, comprising of 15 representatives with equal representation of male and female participants. The steering committee works on different issues of the village and supervises the Community Groups. They represent grass root level issues with civil society and local authorities at district level and work towards resolutions in collaboration with the EVC Team. The committees were formed in the month of August 2018.

ⁱⁱ   Every Voice Counts – Community World Service Asia’s project

ⁱⁱⁱ Parkari Community Development Program

1274

Zohra, a student of class four, is an intelligent girl who studies well and has been a class monitor from the day she joined school due to her remarkable academic and extra-curricular performance. A few months ago, Zohra’s teachers observed that she had started being irregular in school and when one teacher, Naureen, asked her why, she started crying but did not say why and left school abruptly that day.

Zohra often spoke about becoming a doctor after completing her education. She had such great dreams for herself. I was worried about her and wondered how and why such a good student would lose interest suddenly,

shared Naureen.

Zohra stopped coming to school one day. After waiting for a week, I called Zohra’s mother but she did not agree upon meeting me or any of the school faculty. I waited one more week and called again and this time I insisted for her to meet me.

Her teachers shared Zohra’s excellent performance results with her mother and asked her the reason behind her leaving school suddenly. Zohra’s mother was very happy to hear of her daughter’s performance in school and of her being assigned the class monitor. She heard this information for the first time. Since most parents in rural areas have little interest in the education of their daughters, she had never bothered asking about how her children performed at school. But to know this now, she felt very proud.

After repeatedly being questioned by the teachers, Zohra’s mother replied,

We have six children and all of them have dropped out of school. My husband has been diagnosed with cancer and is unable to work anymore. His was our only source of income. We can barely afford food to eat for the family, therefore paying for our children’s school fees has become unthinkable. Moreover, we feel that educating girls is not that important anyway because they will be at home washing dishes and cooking food eventually. In this difficult situation of ours, my daughters will stay home and will manage household chores while my sons will find work on daily wages.

Listening to Zohra’s mother, her teachers expressed sympathy but still tried to encourage her to send her daughters to school.

Many families here are living in challenging conditions but we have to deal with these issues and cannot let them impact our children’s future.  It is difficult to totally eradicate our issues but we can still educate our children so that they have a better future.

It was difficult to convince Zohra’s mothers who was burdened with the family’s responsibility and was facing many challenges at home but she agreed at last.

Fine, the girls can continue their education but who will bear the educational expenses. We have no money to anymore.

The teachers assured Zohra’s mother that the school will take care of the monetary expenses of their daughter’s education.

A day later, the teachers spotted Zohra and her sister present at the morning assembly in school. They were overjoyed to see them and to realize that their efforts in convincing their mother had worked.

A School Management Committee (SMC), has been established in Zohra’s school under the Education project [1]implemented in the district. These SMCs are set up to increase the participation of communities in the functionality of their local schools and improve education quality and strengthen accountability to the principles of positive learning environments and inclusive education.

Along with mobilizing public awareness on the importance of education for children and girls, the SMCs also work towards enhancing parents community participation in the school and provides mechanisms for more effective management. The committee also monitors the teachers’ attendance, school enrolment trends and builds awareness amongst parents on the long-term benefits of education for their children. Teachers are also part of these SMCs. Zohra’s teachers,  including Naureen, are members of her school’s SMC. As part of the SMC, they have also been trained on ‘Positive learning Environment’ which focused on teaching members the significance and ways of ensuring inclusiveness, promoting gender equality and providing access to quality education to all children. Naureen has played an important role in bringing Zohra back to school to ensure that she is provided consistent access to quality education.

[1] Early Childhood Care and Education Project-July 2018-June 2020 in Collobration with Act for Peace and Ausaid and support of Presbyterian World Service & Development (PWS&D)

1372

We were taught to carefully choose our mode of communication to effectively influence communities in a positive way and bring real change.

Reehana, Easy Approach Community Organization (EACO), Pakistan

Reehana participated in a training titled “Essentials of Social Mobilization” held in Lahore under Community World Service Asia’s Capacity Enhancement Program for local humanitarian and development practitioners in Pakistan. The training took place in August 2019 and was participated by twenty-eight staff members representing eleven civil society organizations from across Pakistan. Participants strengthened their knowledge and skills on concepts of mobilization and influencing, conflict resolution and policy development in the four-day workshop.

Employed with Easy Approach Community Organization (EACO) as a Program Manager for ten years, Reehana is actively engaged in community mobilization and management of Community-Based Organizations[1] (CBOs). She is responsible to ensure smooth implementation of projects through providing guidance and support to field staff and monitoring and reporting on the project. With over 15 years of experience in the development sector, Reehana has worked with various local and national level organizations in different capacities and found this training to be one of the most enriching personal development experiences in her career.

When I saw the contents of the ‘Essentials of Social Mobilization’ training I could not wait to attend it. The content was related to the work we are doing in EACO, therefore, I believed that the learning would be fruitful in terms of strengthening influence and bringing change in the communities we are working in,

 shared.

I have taken part in numerous trainings focused on Microfinance, Leadership Skills, Human Resource Management and Social Mobilization. But I was lucky to get a chance of attending this training workshop as the holistic approach incorporated by the CEP[2] team has been very interactive and high-yielding for me.

The two facilitators leading the training, Moazzam Ali and Nergis Ameer Khan, engaged us in developing content of the training resulting in the content being relevant to our work and nature of field activities. We also gave input in designing the pre and post training assessments to make the learning more effective and useful. The most interesting aspect of the training was identifying a need for a social mobilization policy and actually starting drafting one during the training.  EACO did not have a separate policy on social mobilization. Currently, EACO is working on the first draft of the policy and aims to take support of Community World Service Asia for review and recommendations for improvements.

After enhancing my own skills and building my own knowledge at the training, I organized a training for the fifteen field staff members of EACO. The learnings of my training with CWSA, were shared with all the participants and the team assured to implement the new techniques of mobilization in their field of work. The training provided insights on conflict resolution. Consequently, the field team arranged a community level meeting to resolve the conflict between two communities in Mohala Sadiqi Haidri Farooqabad in Sheikhupura district. There was no draining system for waste water. People in the communities were facing health issues due to the standing dirty water in the area. The conflict arose as the communities blamed each other for not constructing a proper drainage system. In the meeting, community members were mobilized to gather measurements for the pipelines to install the drainage system. The costs of installing the system were divided among the two communities and two members from each community were selected to collect the funds. The communities mutually agreed to invest jointly to build a better drainage system for both the parties to benefit from. The project of draining system was completed under EACO technical and partial financial support,

expressed Reehana.

The training allowed a systematic learning of social mobilization which consequently improved our quality of work. The communities we work in trust us more and are comfortable with our interventions. I will be happy to recommend such trainings to my colleagues and CBOs[3]as they are relevant to our work and are very useful in the humanitarian sector. These learning opportunities provide a platform to network and increase our capacities at the same time,

 concluded Reehana emphatically.

[1] Community based organizations (CBO’s) are nonprofit groups that work at a local level to improve life for residents.

[2] Capacity Enhancement Program

[3] Community Based Organizations

2423

Pakistan has recently experienced a fierce desert locust attack. On February 1st, the Government of Pakistan declared the attack as a national emergency due to the presence of the prolonged locust swarms and the damages that they have caused to the agricultural crops and local rural communities in parts of Sindh and Balochistan. The locusts enter Pakistan from two sides; on the western front, the locust swarms enter Pakistan through Balochistan from Iran, while from the east, they attack through Indian Rajhastan in Cholistan and Tharparkar deserts.

Last year in March, the locust swarms entered Balochistan and further spread into the Sindh and Punjab provinces by June 2019. After summer breeding in Thar, Nara and Cholistan deserts of Sindh and Punjab, the locusts migrated to Indian Rajhastan deserts in July and re-entered Tarparkar in Sindh in October 2019.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) anticipated that the locust infestation in Pakistan will persist throughout October and then will move into south eastern Iran and Sudan by mid November. However, the outbreak has continued due to moisture in the atmosphere, sandy soil and vegetation and favourable weather conditions ( caused by climate change) for the locusts to breed. This is not the first time for such an attack. Locust swarms have caused huge damages to Pakistan’s agriculture back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1990s as well. According to FAO’s senior locust forecasting officer, “locusts increase 20-fold every generation, which equates to roughly 8,000 times the number of locusts compared to the beginning. In search of food, locusts travel in swarms (of between 30 to 50 million) and can cover a distance of 150 kilometers to devour 200 tonnes of food in a day.”

After three years of arid conditions, the region saw pouring rains this season, recharging the wells and pushing up tall grass. The villagers sowed their crops and were looking forward to a bountiful harvest when the locusts struck.

The General Secretary of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has announced that the locust attack this year has destroyed 40% of crops which include wheat, cotton, maize and tomato. The local communities feel that the locust attack has destroyed their standing crops. The area had received some rains in monsoon season, and though the rains were inadequate for the revival of all agricultural activities, it had still produced some pasture/grazing areas for livestock. These pastures have also been entirely damaged by the locust and has resulted in extreme food insecurity among local communities and their livestock.

The Government has taken action against this insect infestation over 0.3 million acres (121,400 hectares)  and aerial spraying over 20,000 hectares of land has already been done. “District administrations, voluntary organizations, aviation division and armed forces are all positioned into operation to combat the attack and save the crops,” shared by the Minister for National Food Security. In order to mitigate the effects of the locust attacks in future, Integrated crops and pest management (ICM/IPM) trainings are proposed to make the communities aware on pest management and on which crops to be cultivated and are less prone to such attacks.

Source
www.dawn.com
www.gulfnews.com
httts://expresstribune.com.pk

Contacts:

Shama Mall
Deputy Regional Director
Programs & Organizational Development
Emal: hi2shama@cyber.net.pk
Tele: 92-21-34390541-4 

Palwashay Arbab
Head of Communications
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: +92 42 3586 5338

1308

Seventy-three-year old Kasi, from village Ranahar of Umerkot district, takes care and provides for her bed-ridden son and his family. She works for agricultural produce on their local fields.

While sharing her challenges and talking about her sufferings of recent years, Kasi could not help but reminisce about their better days,

Just a few years ago we were leading a very happy life. My son earned PKR. 15,000 per month as a tractor driver. His monthly income was sufficient to meet our family’s needs. However, those days were short-lived as our happiness turned to sorrow when my husband started experiencing frequent chest pains and fever and had to leave his job. Soon after, just four years from today, he was diagnosed with asthma and severe lung illness which could lead to chest cancer within years if not treated properly. With his job gone and barely any income, we could not afford his medication which further aggravated his illness.

Kasi added,

Our worries further heightened when our agricultural fields completely dried up. The drought had struck our lands.  I was not even able to collect a single grain from our field in the last two years.  Only my God knows my struggle and how I was trying to feed my family since the last two years. Not even our neighbours or relatives were able to help us.

On March 2019 Kasi and her family were selected as participants of a drought response project implemented by Community World Service Asia and supported by Presbyterian World Service & Development and Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Through the project, Kasi’s family, along with ninety more severely drought-affected families in Ranahar village of Umerkot received six rounds of food packages.

Before receiving this food assistance, I used to start worrying about what we would eat each day at the first light of dawn. Having even a single nutritional meal seemed to be a challenge each day. But thankfully, I do not need to worry about that anymore. The food provided to us has saved us from many sufferings. The quality and quantity of food provided is much appreciated by all of us.

Kasi is happy that her family and other families affected by drought in the area will be assisted with food supplies for the next six months. This support will be sufficient to feed the families until their own agricultural produce can be harvested in September.

1231

The United Nations World Health Organization (UNWHO) standards state that a country should have at least a twenty-five percent forest cover to help conserve ecosystems that provide for all living things and also works as a barrier against disasters[1]. Forests play an important role in helping species, people and countries adapt to climate change. Sindh lags behind in reaching this standard.

According to the latest Sindh Forest Department data, the forest cover in Sindh has reduced to an alarming level of less than two percent, forcing an estimated one million people in the province to migrate to other areas in the last 30 years.

To mitigate climate change impacts and help reduce deforestation rates in Sindh, Community World Service Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of Japan, and partners, have initiated a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) project in Umerkot district of the province. As one of the project’s interventions, 334 women from eight villages were trained on effectively using a new technology of fuel-efficient stoves in their homes. The fuel-efficient stove is an energy system that has a positive impact on the ecosystem while providing basic cooking needs. The stoves are made of mud and straw. It enables cooking simultaneously on two burners and the flame can be controlled as per temperature required. As a result, it allows for less emission of smoke and less consumption of fuelwood. Thirteen of these training were conducted by women community mobilizers that oriented rural women on the use of the stoves and made them aware of its environment-friendly nature.

The trainings enabled the women in the communities to help reduce health risks associated with smoke emissions that women and children often experience while cooking on traditional stoves made of firewood. Consequently, it has reduced incidents of household fire that were caused due to uncontrollable firewood flames.

Cleaner environments and being provided cheaper cooking sources has been seen as a direct impact of these training and the increased use of fuel-efficient stoves.  The adoption of these stoves has significantly increased in the area since the training. Other women in the communities have also requested for training and construction of these stoves.

The utensils turned black when we cooked on traditional stoves using firewood. The fuel stove is a remarkable tool which not only saves time and fuel, but it endows relief in cleaning utensils. Many women in the community are requesting me to construct the fuel-efficient stove in their households. We are grateful to be introduced to these remarkable stoves,

shared Saleemat from Mandhal Thakar Village in Umerkot.

[1] https://www.dawn.com/news/1402307

Prev1...282930...63Next Page 29 of 63
© Community World Service Asia