UK’s grassroots minorities empowerment programme expands to Sindh

KARACHI, Sep 27 (SABAH): The UK’s grassroots minorities empowerment programme expands to Sindh.

The UK Government has launched its expansion of its Aawaz II programme to Sindh, helping to empower and protect the most vulnerable Pakistanis.

This expansion follows Aawaz II’s success in Punjab, Islamabad and KPK where it has been running since 2018. It has established over 1000 community led village forums. These forums have empowered members to intervene in and take action against potential conflicts and tackle entrenched views on key issues like child marriage and domestic abuse. Aawaz’s text message and radio campaigns have reached over 35 million people. Over 44,000 volunteers have already been engaged on social projects.

Aawaz II works to support people across minority communities. It supported over 34,000 people with disabilities to access disability certificates, understand their rights, and access funds. This includes Kaneez, who toiled day and night to support her husband, a gravedigger, despite her disability. Through Aawaz she was able to access a disability card and social safety nets, and she is now helping others in her community to understand their rights. Now the UK is expanding this work to Sindh.

There is an urgent need in Pakistan to take action on exclusion, abuse and exploitation. Pakistan ranks amongst the lowest in the world on gender equality and rule of law. Honour killings, forced religious conversions and child marriage persist, with 18% of girls married before adulthood.

The expansion of Aawaz II to Sindh will engage with communities in 5 districts. The UK aims to strengthen laws, policies and data on child protection and women’s rights, enable communities to raise their voice against harmful practices, and prevent conflicts and discriminatory practices such as forced conversions and child marriages.

Aawaz II works by empowering the community, including women, children, the youth, religious minorities and other marginalised groups, to have a voice in their future, and to join forces to prevent exploitation, discrimination and intolerance at all levels.

British High Commissioner, Jane Marriott CMG OBE, said: “We are delighted to expand Aawaz II to Sindh. Tackling inequalities, supporting reforms, and strengthening services to support marginalised groups are top priorities for the UK. Aawaz has already had great success in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and Punjab in supporting locally led action, and I look forward to seeing the impact it will have to build a safer and more inclusive Sindh.”

A key part of Aawaz II’s work in Sindh on strengthening systems is led jointly by UNICEF, UNFPA, Care International, and Oxford Policy Management, who work closely with both federal and provincial governments.

To formally launch the programme in Sindh, the British High Commissioner held a launch event in Karachi.

Minister for Social Welfare Sindh, Mir Ali Khan Talpur said, “We need to work collectively to protect the rights of children and other vulnerable groups. I am committed to fully support the Aawaz II programme in Sindh.”