Government, Sanitary Workers, and Third Party Vendors

by Zishan Ahmad Siddiqui he plight of Pakistan’s sanitation workers is not a case that is given much space in our otherwise profoundly vibrant political and societal discourse. Only a few of the horrific accidents the sanitation workers meet while fixing our sewers etc get reported. The number of accidents and consequent loss of life is disproportionately large. Reports produced by some international organisations in collaboration with local partners point to the hazards the sanitation workers face routinely. Recent studies carried out across South Asia region, including Pakistan, have brought to life some shocking facts about the morbidity of their […]

CRTI Opposes Efforts to Weaken Federal Right of Access to Information Act, 2017

17-10-2020: Islamabad: The Coalition on Right to information (CRTI) strongly opposes the Right of Access to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which has been moved as a private member bill in the Senate of Pakistan. The said amendment bill, if enacted by the Parliament, will limit the scope of the right to information law by excluding Parliament from the definition of public bodies, which are bound to provide information to citizens. CRTI condemns this move for being malafide, unconstitutional and against the interests of people of Pakistan. Commenting on the move, Mr. Mukhtar Ahmad, Executive Director of CPDI, said that the […]

Spotlight on Pakistan amid re-election to UN Human Rights Council

Lahore, Islamabad, October 14, 2020: Pakistan’s re-election into the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday has put the country’s commitment to promoting and protecting human rights under the spotlight for the next three years. Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) and Group Development Pakistan (GDP) congratulate Pakistan for winning a seat with an overwhelming majority, securing 163 votes in the 193-member UN General Assembly. This is an opportunity for the country to reflect on its human rights record, protect the rights of women, children, religious minorities, and other vulnerable and excluded […]

Women in Law Awards – Call for Nominations

The Ministry of Law and Justice (MOL&J), Group Development Pakistan (GDP), and Women in Law Initiative Pakistan invite applications for the first ‘Women in Law Awards’ held with support from the Australian High Commission (Main Sponsor) and the British High Commission (Co-Sponsors). The Awards aim to recognize and reward female lawyers, in-house practitioners, academics, and law students from Pakistan and recognize the contributions of select entities towards an inclusive and equal legal profession. Candidates may nominate themselves or be nominated by another person, entity, colleague, or employer by submitting the ‘Nomination Form’ attached below and submitting other relevant and requisite […]

IRADA’s Annual Report on Proactive Disclosure of Information Launched

The study is a three-dimensional (3-D) assessment comprising inter-province comparison (which territory is the most PDI compliant and transparent about voluntarily sharing information online), intra-province comparison (which common departments in provinces are best at sharing their information online) and inter-indicator comparison (which of the common indicators outlined in the four RTI laws are most shared proactively online by the provincial departments). According to the study, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government has achieved the best ranking and the federal government the worst ranking in terms of transparency and compliance with the mandatory proactive disclosure of information (PDI) clauses of Pakistan’s right […]

The proposed Council under ICT Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2020 is heavily tilted in favor of government: Civic Path to Development

Islamabad: On Sept 16, the Senate of Pakistan has approved long awaited ICT Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2020. The act covers improving the condition of Persons with Disability (PWDs) in social, economic and political spheres. The act envisages a council entrusted with multiple functions that include implementation of the act, taking possible steps to protect PWDs from discrimination, exploitation and inhuman treatment and monitoring of government and private organization and issue them performance score cards periodically for the efforts they would make in implementation of the act.  The council consists of fourteen members, but its membership is heavily tilted […]

Collecting Data on Joblessness in Pakistan’s Development Sector

This is in continuation of our efforts to develop a case for improving policy environment for NGOs in Pakistan. Pak NGOs, in consultation with the NGOs Action Committee (NAC), has developed this form to collect data about people who lost their jobs due to the State policies. We request you to fill this form ONLY if it is applicable to you because we want to collect authentic data. Who should FILL this form? If you were were working for any CBO/NGO/INGO, and lost your job due to government policies. If your organization had to close its offices, or halt implementation […]

First Ever Transgender Health Care Manual Launched

Press Release by Blue Veins Blue Veins launched the first ever Transgender Health Care Manual at National Transgender Health Summit. The manual aims to promote greater awareness of the health concerns of transgender populations including disparities in treatment and barriers to care, health services research including cultural competency, mental health and well-being, reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, hormone therapy and surgery, and best practices, protocols, and guidelines to ensure optimal care. The event was well attended by Transgender community, Policy makers Govt officials and Civil Society Organizations.  Rabia Basri Member of the Provincial Assembly and Chairperson Standing Committee on Health […]

Increasing Women’s Representation in Law

Press Release issued by Group Development Pakistan The Covid-19 pandemic has affected nearly 1.5 million people across the globe and more than 85,000 deaths have occurred since the disease first emerged in December last year. The Covid-19 crisis however, is more than just a public health emergency as it has also negatively affected systems that took decades to build, to secure access to fundamental rights such as education, healthcare, justice, economic growth and infrastructure with devastating social and economic impacts on vulnerable groups such as women and children. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted the danger of the limited gains […]

Institute of International Education’s Artist Protection Fund

The APF makes fellowship grants to threatened artists from any field of practice, and places them at host institutions in safe countries where they can continue their work and plan for their futures. IIE-APF welcomes inquiries from threatened artists directly or from individuals or institutions nominating threatened artists for support. APF is for artists who are facing or have recently fled from immediate, severe, and targeted threats to their lives and/or careers in their home countries or countries of residence. Eligibility Criteria IIE-APF welcomes inquiries from institutions around the world interested in hosting threatened artists. Hosts can be academic institutions, arts residencies, […]

Global Water Foundation – Grant Guidelines

What types of support will be offered? Local initiatives are prioritised through direct grants, based on reviewed project proposals, which include clear guidelines on monitoring and evaluation of the project processes. Both new and existing local projects are considered for direct grants: existing projects are supported with the clear understanding of scaling them up by using unique or innovative methodologies; new projects are supported depending on whether they fulfil the criteria set out for specific project types. Replication projects are supported through direct grants, where innovative ideas have been successful and need funding for expansion. This applies to implementation projects as well as product […]

Learn Proposal Writing with Safeer

Proposal Writing has always been a challenge for people. the competition is really tough. The donor agencies are limited while the NGOs seeking funds are disproportionately large in numbers. There are plenty of resources available on various platforms that help you in learning proposal writing. However, there is little or no information available in Urdu language. Safeer Ullah Khan (Director, Content Management, Pak NGOs) has remained engaged not only in proposal writing but also in evaluating proposals for USAID – Ambassador’s Grant Fund. In this video, he explains the key points of proposal writing with special focus on formats/templates provided […]

Report- “Access to Age-Assistive Technology: A resilience building measure for older people”

“Access to Age-Assistive Technology:  A resilience building measure for older people”. This report explores the intersection between age, gender and disability and the use of AT by older people, in emergency response and as a tool for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). This report urges for sensitization and capacity building of humanitarian organizations for the inclusion and promotion of Assistive Product (AP) provision in humanitarian response and offers insight into key areas to enable AT provision to successfully meet the needs of older people. The report also explores age-assistive products beyond the traditional assistive products commonly supplied to support affected population and […]

Open letter to Punjab Assembly Members

We write to you today to express our grave concern over the passage of the draconian Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020 (“the Bill”), which empowers the Directorate General Public Relations (“DGPR”) to visit and inspect any printing press, publication house or book store and confiscate any book, before or after printing. The vesting of such immense arbitrary and unilateral power in a single bureaucrat is in breach of even those reasonable restrictions that can be imposed on the right to freedom of expression under the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 (“the Constitution”). Moreover, due to the ambiguous wording of the Bill, there are […]

Govt barred from coercing NGOs for re-registration

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday restrained the Punjab government from taking coercive measures against civil society and non-government organisations (NGOs) for their re-registration under the Punjab Charities Act 2018. Justice Shahid Karim passed the order on a joint petition filed by over a dozen civil society organisations and the NGOs, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Aurat Foundation, South Asia Partnership-Pakistan (SAP), AGHS Legal Aid and the Women Rights Association. Representing the petitioners, Advocate Hina Jillani stated before the court that the Punjab Assembly on Feb 28, 2018 had enacted the Punjab Charities Act, 2018. […]

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Charities Commission to be active soon

Source: JIO Welfare Organization Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Charity Commission has been established and will be active very soon. As it happened in Punjab, all the nonprofit organizations (NPOs) based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be required to registered with the newly established commission. As per our information, the deadline for registration for NGOs/NPOs was set as August 5, 2020. This seems unrealistic now. However, we can safely say that the KP government will start registration soon. The Commission has set up its website, which can be visited here: KP Charities Commission. The screenshot is attached here.

Download Zainab Alert application now!

Zainab Alert is the child abduction emergency alert app developed to report and track a missing child. Once a case is reported on the app, it instantly galvanizes communities and law enforcement agencies to assist in search for the safe recovery of an abducted child. It’s a nonprofit and  non-commercial initiative and now has been officially launched from the platforms of law enforcement agencies. A flyer along with this email to give a brief about the app is also attached.  Below are the links of our social media handles & to download the mobile application. Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/zainabalerts/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/ZainabAlerts Android – http://bit.ly/2U3uDqu Apple […]

Policy Recommendations on Online Harassment Cases

Digital Rights Foundation released Cyber Harassment Helpline’s annual report of 2019 on 24th June. The report highlights complaint trends observed in the previous year as well as the policy recommendations for all the stakeholders. Concerning trends observed were the increase of attacks on mobile wallets/ e-wallets like EasyPaisa and phishing attacks where people were targeted through WhatsApp or text messaging. The Helpline saw a total of 2023 cases being reported, with a daily average of 146 calls per month in 2019. When compared to the overall complaints the Helpline had received over three years, the calls from 2019 account for […]

“Girls Back to School” must be at the center of Pakistan’s Covid-19 recovery strategy

14 July, (Peshawar) An online session on Challenges to Girls Education in COVID Crisis was organized by Blue Veins which was attended by young girls, parents, teachers’ associations, lawyers and civil society representatives. According to Civil Society organizations, girls are particularly vulnerable when schools remain closed for long periods of time. They fear that a large number of girls, especially from the lower strata of the society, may not return to school after the Covid-19 passes. It is estimated that there are 1.8 million out of school children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 64 percent of them are girls. Coved-19 can […]

The Little Art announced 25 under 25 finalists

The Little Art is celebrating 25 stories of resilience to encourage and inspire millions and is ecstatic to announce the 25 young women for 25 Under 25 Award! These 25 young women represent the geographic and cultural diversity of Pakistan and bring assorted experiences and determination to contribute towards positive social, environmental, and cultural impact in Pakistan. Young women are continually leaving indelible marks over the framework of history and it comes at no surprise that wings continue to spread every day. In Pakistan, we are witnessing the change as it happens. From the seashores of Karachi, to the chilly mountains […]