Project: Empowering Young Girls
Location: Pakistan
Our goal
Challenging gender norms through
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Child Rights Eurasia works with the Zambian Society for Child Protection in order to develop our project in Zambia. The partnership began in order to support ZSCP in the work they are doing for children that are survivors of CSA (Child Sexual abuse). The founders of ZCSP both have a deep-rooted passion for the well-being of children and with the collaboration of Child Rights Eurasia have kicked of a project with the goal of influencing leaders on different levels to take greater reasonability in supporting those who have been subjected to CSA and work towards lowering the number of cases of CSA in Zambia.
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In Pakistan, we have been working with gender equality since 2018 with a focus on girls from the Christian minority. Through partnership with Abba Home, programs have been developed and funded around challenging gender norms for young girls in the form of physical activities such as martial arts, dance, and swimming. Additionally, educational courses and teaching resources have been put in place to support economic independence of the young women leaving the home in the form of English classes, computer literacy, and women's health (mind and body).
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These programs based on Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child have reached 48 participants to date in the Youhanabad district in Pakistan. According to WHO, children between the ages of 5 and 17 should be physically active for one hour per day. The Abba Home program has led to 539 hours collectively for movement across the different courses.
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Some previous initiatives:
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Purchase of IT equipment for computer instruction
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Full-time employment of English and computer instructors for 38 children
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Summer camp for 38 children
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SRHR workshop for girls ages 12-18
Meet our partners
Dorothy
This is Dorothy. She is a retired nurse, a psycho-social and child counselor, and the Lead Child Advocate for the Zambian Society for Child Protection (ZSCP), a wholly local Non-Government Organization, where she is a founding member of the organization. She leads the team of advocates who accompany abused children from the time of abuse up to the conclusion of the case in a court of law. This involves taking the children to a health institution for medical attention, assisting with reporting the matter to the police, assisting with pre-trial attendance, and counseling for the healing process both for the children and the families.
“Being defenseless, children are also voiceless and need someone to speak for them. It is a known fact here that families tend to hold reconciliatory meetings where money is paid by the perpetrator. This is to the detriment of the child and must be stopped. The community is key in this change of attitude.”
Nick
This is Nick. He is a retired police officer who served in the Criminal Investigations Department for 10 years. He is also a founding member of the Zambian Society for Child Protection (ZSCP) together with his wife Dorothy. Nick works on a daily basis to achieve the highest level of child sexual abuse management in collaboration with like-minded stakeholders both in government and the private sector.
“The experience of meeting children who were sexually abused was unnerving, depressing, and sickening. Our focus was to be the positive spirit of the abused child in order to help overcome most of the challenges associated with sexual abuse.”
Approach
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Workshops and seminars with community and faith based leaders addressing the issues faced by young women and children
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Engaging youth in the discussions for potential solutions to CSA as well as in order to share their experiences
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On air radio programs to increase awareness in the community as well as highlight potential lines of communication for reporting issues. Check out one of the programs here below!
Project milestones
29 Apr 2020
26-30 Apr 2020
13 Apr 2020
Second radio program appearance
Social media takeover with posts reaching out to over 700 people introducing them to Child Rights Eurasia as well as the work being done in Zambia with ZSCP.
Appearance on the Don Bosco Youth Network in Zambia