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 […]

Digital Rights Foundation launches Digital 50.50 e-magazine

Digital Rights Foundation launched its newest initiative, a feminist e- magazine called the Digital 50.50, a monthly e-magazine that aims to create an open space for ideas, opinions, art, and discourse on a wide array of topics in the digital rights arena from an inter-sectional feminist lens. The idea behind launching Digital 50.50 is rooted in our organization’s goal to make online spaces safer and equal for women journalists and support them in providing reliable information to the public. To ensure gender-sensitive reporting and amplify women’s voices, Digital 50.50 believes that the inclusion of women is a must in all […]

Her Abilities Award 2020: Honouring the Achievements of Women with Disabilities

Nominations are open for the Her Abilities Award 2020 which is the first global award honouring the achievements of women with disabilities. Her Abilities was launched by Light for the World to honour women with disabilities who achieved greatness in their life or field of work. Categories Her Abilities will award the achievements of women with disabilities globally from the following three categories: Health & Education: Women with disabilities from the health or education sector, including but not limited to: teachers, teaching assistants, headmasters, university professors, doctors, surgeons, nurses, community health workers, etc. Rights: Women with disabilities from the advocacy and rights […]

Concerns expressed over rising incidents of violence and discrimination against religious minorities

It is unfortunate that despite the current Covid 19 pandemic, that is posing its share of challenges in Pakistan, religious intolerance and discrimination sadly in the past few months is on the rise. This concern has been expressed by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP). Recently, Nadeem Joseph a Christian from TV colony Peshawar died as a result of gunshot wounds he received on June 4th 2020. He and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Masih were brutally attacked by a Muslim man Salman Khan and his sons a few days after Nadeem Joseph bought a house in TV Colony in Peshawar. He was sprayed […]

AgriSurge – Innovation Challenge

Deadline – July 14, 2020 Agriculture sector is the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy as it contributes around 20 percent in the overall gross domestic product (GDP) and is also a big source of employment. It helps meet the food requirement of ever-increasing population, providing raw materials to all the major industrial sectors including textiles, leather, sugar, flour milling etc., and has a significant role in in poverty alleviation and rural development. Low growth, water shortage, environmental concerns, volatile energy prices, rising expectations from consumers – these are some of the complex challenges the agriculture sector is facing today, along with […]

Digital Victim Support Services Directory

The Victim Support Services Directory is a joint initiative of Group Development Pakistan (GDP) and the Federal Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) to provide easy access to information about services for victims of violence, harassment, and abuse, particularly children. This nationwide service provider database is searchable by organization, service type and geographic location, allowing victims and/or family members to quickly identify and access support and referral services. The service providers in the database offer the following diverse services to survivors and their family members: Shelter Referral Counseling Helplines Reporting Missing Children Reporting Online Abuse Legal Support Psychological Support People can […]

EVAWG Alliance demands public apology from Tariq Jameel for his misogynistic remarks on television

EVAWG (Ending Violence Against Women and Girls) Alliance, a civil society network dedicated to promoting and protecting women and girls‘ rights in Pakistan, would like to express its shock and disgust, following the televised statement from Tariq Jameel who blatantly attacked, objectified and vilified 47% of the Pakistani population by claiming that women’s lack of modestly was the cause of the Pandemic Covid-19.Such ill-informed and misogynistic narratives directly violate women’s fundamental rights to equality and dignity that are enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. EVAWG alliance is therefore extremely disappointed at the fact that our government could endorse such anindividual […]