A journey of passion and struggle

Struggle with belief for making a difference

Difference leading towards a never ending commitment

Commitment with CHILDREN

Children the REASON for our BEING

Save the Children envisions a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in thier lives.

Copyright: 2010 Save the Children Sweden

Graphic Designer: Madiha SandhuPhotographs: Save the Children Sweden Printed by: Print MaticPublished by: Save the Children Sweden PakistanProgrammeOffice P.O. Box 307, F-8 Markaz Islamabad

Conte

nts

Message from Country Director 6

Context 7

History of Save the Children 8

Programmatic Interventions 9

1. Child protection 10

1.1 Child Protection System 10

1.1.1 District Model for Child Protection 11

1.1.2 Child Protection within Health System 12

1.1.3 Working Group on Child Sexual Abuse 13

1.1.4 Protection of Street Children 13

2. Juvenile Justice 14

3. Education 18

3.1 Quality Inclusive Education 18

3.2 Non-Discrimination & Integration of Child with Disability 19

3.3 Formal Education in Madaris (Religious Schools) 19

4. Emergencies 22

4.1 Community Based Child Protection in Balochistan 22

4.2 Response to Internally Displaced People (IDPs) 22

5. Child Rights Governance 24

5.1 Advocacy for Increase in Budgetary Allocation for Children 24

5.2 Good Governance for Rights of the Child 24

5.3 National Child Rights Centre 24

5.4 Every One – New Born and Child Survival Campaign 25

Lessons Learnt 26

Budget 2009 27

Annual Report2009 6

The year 2009 over all was a challenging year for Pakistan due to increased militancy, deteriorated law and order situation and global economic recession that affected every single individual and every lone sphere of life. Under such prevailing situation,someUNofficesandrelief facilitiesof international

organisation also became target of terrorism. Moreover; the Government launched military operations in Malakand division

and tribal areas that gave rise to internal displacement of millions of people including women and children.

The cost of military operation in Malakand division alone is estimated to be US$ 2.6 billions with the total loss to the

economy of US$ 50 billion. Pakistan’s total external debt increased from below US$ 51 billion to around US$ 57 billion. The foreign investment declined to US$ 774 million as compared to US$ 1.620 billion last year. Tax collection remained US$ 2.6 billion against thetargetof US$7.44billionforthefirsttwoquartersof fiscalyear2009-2010.Thewhole security as well as political instability has resulted in decline in local funding for long term development projects as the larger institutional donors shifted their interest towards relief operations for Internally Displaced People and militancy-hit areas. Restricted movements and increased costs of security have extensively damaged the efficiencyof developmentorganisations.

Internally, the year 2009 for Save the Children Sweden was mostly about preparations forunificationof theorganisation.Countrymanagementdecidedtorestructuretheorganization to facilitate harmonisation of the programme with effect from January 1, 2010. Moreover; the year also celebrated the 90th anniversary of the founding of the organisation as well as 20th anniversary of Convention on Rights of the Child in various ways with activities aimed at employees, members and media. Through inputs such as story-telling, local heroes and exhibitions; Save the Children Sweden described its history and accomplishments to inspire others to help children enjoy a better future.

Despite all the uncertainties, Save the Children Sweden has remained and will remain committed to advocate for the realisation of the child rights and making efforts to make these rights a reality.

Save the Children Sweden team in Pakistan here takes a moment to thank all its partners in child rights’ struggle, including the government, local and international civil society organisations, media, communities, parents and most importantly CHILDREN for their cooperation in all our endeavours. We extend our continued and promising support to children, our core inspiration, for making this world a better place where they exercise their rights without any fear and discrimination.

Country Director

Mr. Mehmood Asghar

Save the Children Sweden-Pakistan Programme

Message from Country Director

7 Annual Report 2009

Pakistan currently has a population of approximately 170 million and is the sixth most populous country in the world. It is projected to grow to 295 million by 2050, becoming the fourth most populous country in the world. About two-thirds (65 percent) of the populationisrural,withchildrenunder-fivecomprisingabout14percentof thetotalpopulation1.Theunder-fivemortalityrateis94perthousandlivebirths,andtheneo-natal mortality rate is 54 per thousand live births2. According to an estimate, Pakistan ranksfifthamongcountrieshavingthehighestnumberof hungrypeople,withwomenand children among the worst affected, where 85 percent of the population lives on income less than two dollars a day and food costs are more than 50 percent of the monthly expenses.

Education is a low priority in public spending; sharing only 2.3 percent of the GDP. According to UNICEF, the literacy rate is 54 percent (Male 66.25 percent, Female 41.75 percent).Thereiswidecriticismonthelevelof thequalityof educationprovidedtochildren at primary level, but most alarmingly, it shows that a sizeable population is out of schoolandlivingindifficultcircumstances.

Being located in South Asia, it is considered to be prone to natural disasters, such as, floods,earthquakes,cyclonesanddroughts.ThegiganticOctober2005earthquake,the2007floodsinBalochistanandSindh,andthe2008earthquakeinZiaratarelatestinstances; which had enormous human, social, economic, and environment distress.

Thesebleakeconomicandsocialindicatorsaredirectlyinfluencingthelivesof childrenin Pakistan that constitute over 49 percent of the total population.

In Pakistan, children across all cultural, religious, ethnic, social, and geographical groups are at risk of violence, neglect, abuse and exploitations. The colossal direct as well as indirect violation of the children’s right to protection remains under-recognised and under-reported. Common types of violation of children’s right include; child marriage, childsexualabuse,commercialsexualexploitation,trafficking,physicalandpsychologicalabuse in family, discrimination against children with disabilities, schools and other institutions of the society, children without primary care-givers, physical and humiliating punishment/corporalpunishment,streetchildren,childreninconflictwiththelaw,childlabour, bonded child labour and domestic child labour. Tragically, often such acts of violence are committed at the hands of the individuals responsible for children’s care and safety. Discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, disability, ethnicity, minorities, language and socio-economic condition is every day experience for the children in Pakistan.Furthermore,inrecenttimes,naturaldisastersandconflictshavegivenbirthtonew manifestations of child protection in Pakistan; child suicide bombers and children recruited in militancy have emerged as a recent threat to the State and society.

1Population Reference Bureau, 20082Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2006-07

Context

Annual Report2009 8

Eglantyne Jebb was the name of the visionary woman in Great Britain who realised that the children of war-torn Europe were in trouble and needed support for better life. Soon after that, SavetheChildrenwasinitiatedinSwedenbyfivevisionarywomen. Their work was concentrated on alleviating the sufferings of children after World War-1. Between the wars, the emphasis was on children in Sweden, but after World War-2 children in the rest of the world were also included. In 1970s, Save the Children Sweden was transformed into a modern development cooperation organisation with more resources available to change the situation for children in developing countries.

In Sweden, the organisation advocates for children’s rights together with the members and outside Sweden, it works mainly in collaboration with local and national partner organisations. They are the experts on children’s situation in their countries. Save the Children Sweden works with more than 330 organisations in about 70 countries.

Vision: Save the Children’s envision a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

Overall objectives:

Three concrete objectives which encapsulate the fundamental principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); seek to ensure that:

No child is subjected to discrimination, exploitation, violence or any other forms of �

abuse.

Childrenareabletomaketheirvoicesheard,andareabletoexerciseinfluenceover �

their own life situation.

Children are guaranteed a safe and secure childhood, and have access to education �

thatenablesthemtodevelopself-esteemandacquirerelevantknowledgeandskills.

History of Save the Children

Annual Report20099

The following four pillars constitute working strategy of the organisation.

Research and Analysis: All interventions are based on rigorous research and analysis of the issues in the target areas to identify the dynamics of child rights’ violation and make programmatic choices on the basis of the evidence. New tools and methodologies are formulatedtime-to-timeforreflectionof experiencesandlessonslearnt.

Advocacy and Raising Awareness: The results from research and analysis are used as evidencetoinfluenceandsensitizepolicymakers,communities,civilsocietyorganisa-tions, parents and other stakeholders to push for wider change in child rights’ situation in Pakistan.

Knowledge Dissemination and Capacity Building: Save the Children Sweden has developed particular expertise in capacity building and knowledge development and dissemination in child rights. The organisation provides support to civil society partners and government counterparts through training programmes on a number of child rights thematic areas; particularly child protection; positive discipline, juvenile justice system, gender-based violence and application of United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child. This also includes building their capacity on child rights programming, advo-cacyandfinancialmanagement.

Direct Support: Whererequired,SavetheChildrenSwedeninPakistanprovidesdirectsupport to children and their care-givers. However, this support is always associated with advocacywiththeGovernmenttofillupgapsinservicedelivery.

Programmatic Intervention

Working Approach

Annual Report2009 10

1

The overall goal of the child protection programme is to ensure that all children in Pakistan have access to a functioning child protection system that effectively prevents, resolves and responds to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of children in ALL settings.

1.1 Child Protection SystemThis is a strategic intervention within Child Protection theme, under which Save the Children Sweden together with other key stakeholders within the Government, UN and civil society is striving tofulfillrequirementsforlegalframeworkandgoodpracticesonground for establishment of child protection system.

As part of the programme, Save the Children Alliance and Plan Pakistan joined hands to work together with local partners to ensure that child protection becomes a reality under the law in Pakistan. A campaign was launched for the approval of the Protection of Children (Amendment) Bill 2009 and the National Commission on the Rights of Children Bill 2009. The proposed legislation was initiated by the National Commission on Child Welfare and Development with support from the UN and civil Society organisations.

Child Protection

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Annual Report200911

The campaign carried two components; advocacy for approval and enactment of the Bill as well as to pilot intervention to build on to the learning for up scaling the programme. Advocacy is essentially based on lobbying with key decision and policy makers, together with awareness-raising with civil society. The draft of the Bill has been agreed and approved by all relevant Government departments and is ready to be put to the Federal Cabinet for approval.

Simultaneously, Save the Children Sweden provided technical support to the Social Welfare Department in Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa to draft a child friendly; Child Protection Bill for the province. The provincial bill is drafted and is in the process of approval from relevant Government Departments.

1.1.1 District Model for Child ProtectionAs part of the programme, Save the Children intends to set up district models for child protection system in the four provinces by the end of 2012. In 2009, Save the Children Sweden focused on Mansehra District in Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, while interventions in other three provinces will start in 2010 in Sanghar (Sindh), Muzaffargarh (Punjab) and Quetta (Balochistan) districts.

In Mansehra district, Save the Children Sweden built upon the initiative of Save the Children Sweden, UNICEF and other civil society organisations in establishing a Child Protection Unit in Social Welfare Department in response to October 2005 earthquake.SavetheChildrenSwedenissupportingtheSocialWelfareDepartmenttosustain the Child Protection Unit.

A Child Rights Advocacy Network (CRAN) comprising civil society organisations hasalsobeenformedthatworksfortheidentificationandregistrationof vulnerablechildren.

Under the Child Protection Unit, a referral mechanism has also been set up with the government and non-government agencies working in the district to provide appropriateprotectionservicestochildrenidentifiedtobeinneedof support.

In 2009, this unit referred 230 cases of children with disabilities to Handicap International for their medical and social rehabilitation.

Similarly,theunitidentified135casesof workingchildrenwhoweresupportedtoquitfull time work and join formal education or skill training centres run by partner agencies.

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1.1.2 Child Protection within Health System

Theprogrammeaimstoworkdirectlywithhealthcareprofessionalsforidentificationand clinical management of children reported to hospitals with cases suspected to be caused by abuse and neglect. The project also includes development of a referral system with other stakeholders and service providers and educating parents on symptoms of abuse among children and seeking professional support in case those symptoms are identifiedamongtheirchildren.

For this purpose, Hospital Child Protection Committees (HCPC) have been established in 12 major hospitals in the country including Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, Peshawar, Hyderabad and Karachi. In these hospitals, the health professionals were trained on clinical management of abuse and neglect cases. The two major tangible and sustainable

Sadia wins against corporal punishment

In our society, punishing children at schools is a norm. The normal image of a teacher is always with a stick in hand. Sadia, a 14 year old young girl was also one of those school children who were subjected to punishment

on almost daily basis. But one day, beaten by her teacher; she didn’t surrender to this rule of the stick. Sadia did not go to school for two years after that incident. Her parents used to force her everyday but somehow Sadia managed to escape. She had developed a strong disliking for the school and teachers.

According to Sadia’s mother, “Sadia was a very short tempered child and would misbehave too often. When she was hit by theteacheratschool,weaccepteditasaconsequenceof her misbehaviour”.

Save the Children Sweden introduced its Community

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SINDH

1%

3%

3%

3%

2%

88%

Corporal Abuse

Drug Abuse

Emotional Abuse

Sexual Abuse

Physical Abuse

Medical Neglect

PUNJAB

e

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8%

3%

12%

9%

16%

52%

Bulling

Emotional Abus

Sexual Abuse

Physical Abuse

Medical Neglec

Abandonment

The following pie charts provide the number of cases that HCPC dealt with in the year 2009:

Abondonment

Medical Care Neglect

Bullying

Emotional Abuse

Sexual Abuse

Physical Abuse

50%27%10%

8%

3%

2%

KPK

Annual Report200913

achievements were institutionalization of Child Protection Committee at Children HospitalLahoreasafullyequippedChildProtectionUnitandinclusionof ChildProtection in the curriculum of Dow Medical College, Karachi.

1.1.3 Working Group on Child Sexual Abuse

A working group of civil society organisations has been formed for raising awareness about exploitation of children’s rights, advocacy and lobbying with parliamentarians and key decision-makers and capacity building of multi-disciplinary professionals. In 2009, a research study was conducted on commercial sexual exploitation of children in the transportindustry.Thestudyidentifiedhighprevalenceof sexualexploitationof childrenin the transport industry. Results of the study were widely disseminated and IEC material was produced to create awareness about protection of children in the industry.

The group has also played its vital role in sustaining a national dialogue on the emerging issue of “Exposure of children to pornography at the internet cafes.” Resultantly, a concept paper on Regulatory Framework for internet cafes has been formulated and shared with government authorities.

1.1.4 Protection of Street ChildrenThis project is being implemented in Lahore at two levels; one, to facilitate repatriation and reintegration of street children with their families, and second, to advocate for anInterAgencyStandardProtocolforidentification,referral,reunificationandreintegration of street children. In the year 2009, 23 children from different parts of the country were reintegrated with their families after a vigorous counseling process with children and their families. Simultaneously, individual meetings were held with the governmental and non-governmental agencies working directly and indirectly with children for attaining consensus on the development of standard protocols.

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Development and Learning Centers (CDLC) in the villages surrounding Mansehra and formed child clubs in the villages. The children from these clubs were involved in peer-peer awareness raising activities, identifying out of school children from their village and bringing them to the CDLC. Sadia wasidentifiedinasimilarwaybythechildrenof her neighborhood.

Sadia’s sister: “She would refuse to come in front of the Save the Children Sweden staff members. She would hide inside the house somewhere and play with her dolls.”

It took one and a half month for Save the ChildrenSwedenfieldstaff toconvinceSadia to join back her school and resume

her studies. The commitment and dedication of the Save the Children Swedenfieldstaff madeitpossibleforSadia to believe in the best at school.

School Teacher: “Before Save the Children Sweden helped us allocate another teacher, there used to be only two teachers to handle and teach 120 studentswhichwasquiteadifficulttask. We would easily loose our temper to students and punish them very often. Now, Save the Children Sweden has provided us trainings on inclusive teaching methodologies and healthy school activities, which have greatly helped us build a healthy school environment.”

“I like my new teacher because he doesn’t keep a stick with him. He talks to us politely and doesn’t scare me. I like spending time in school now and will become a doctor one day.”

Sadia

Annual Report2009 14

Save the Children Sweden is implementing an ambitious Juvenile Justice Programme that aims to establish an effective juvenile justice system in the country. The programme is following a multi-pronged strategy wherein a formal system to monitor and track cases of children coming in contact with the law, a mechanism to divert juveniles from criminal justice system and rehabilitation of juvenile prisoners has been established and is being replicated on scale.

The programme is supporting juvenile prisoners in four prisons of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Balochistan i.e. Adolescents Training Centre Haripur, Mach, Quetta and Gaddani Jails. This programme provides the inmates with free legal aid, psycho-social counseling, education, health and recreational facilities and work with Police, Probatin Departments and Bar Councils to provide appropriate protection and legal support to children. Another strong component of the programme is of Juvenile Justice Working Group at provincial level that advocates with relevant government departments for policy reforms and practice change in best interest of juveniles.

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Juvenile Justice

Annual Report200915

In 2009, Save the Children Sweden supported Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa Police and the Ministry of Human Rights to establish a monitoring mechanism for juveniles. Under this initiative, the Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa Police has developed a system to separately register and report crimes committed by juveniles or crimes committed against them. Under this initiative, the provincial police placed separate registers for juvenile cases in each police station and reporting against the registers was made mandatory. Every police station sendsareportonthejuvenilecasestoCentralPoliceOffice,whereadatabasewithfacilities for recording and tracking juvenile cases is maintained. To make the operation functional, Save the Children Sweden supported Pakistan Society of Criminology to train 711policeofficials,threefromeachof 237policestationsinKhyberPukhtoonkhwaProvince, on the new registration and monitoring mechanism. The model is now being replicated in Balochistan province.

Save the Children Sweden also supports a Juvenile Justice Working Group, comprising relevant Government Departments and NGOs. This group serves as a think-tank and advocates for policy reforms for issues pertaining to juveniles.

Anothersignificantprogressmarkedunderthisprojectistheestablishmentof firstever Police Child Protection Centre (PCPC) in Peshawar that is governed jointly by

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Qahar gets education and skills behind the bars

Qahar has been imprisoned in Mach Jail since 2002 under section 302 (murder). He lost his freedom attheageof thirteenwhenhewassentencedfortwentyfiveyearsagainstamurdercase.

Qahar was a bright student with immense passion for being a doctor. However; life took an unpleasant turn when Qahar went to see a person who owed himmoney.ConflictoccurredbetweenQaharandthatperson,whichsoontooktheshapeof fiercedispute.Resultantly,Qaharflowingcompletelyinthestreamof aggression and emotional instability, shot that person to death. The case was taken intothesessioncourtandQaharwassentencedfortwentyfiveyearsinjail.

Now his eyes clearly speak out the regret for having lost his freedom as now the sun rises and sets for him behind the bars. But jail could not rust his passion and commitment of completing education. His passion got support of programme of Save the Children Sweden for formal education for juveniles under which Qahar completed his H.S.S.C and Intermediate examinations. Currently, he is preparing for Bachelors Degree. This has not only kept him alive emotionally but also inspired the jail authorities where he was granted four years remission.

He says, “I have realized the importance of life after a mistake that not only took life of one human being

“Life is rooted

into the

grounds of

freedom.”

Qahar

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Peshawar 20%

Charsada 7%

Nowshera 7%

Mardan 9%

Swabi 6%

Kohat 1%

Hangu 2%

Karak 2%

Abottabad 6%Haripur 3%

Manshera 6%

Battagram 2%

Kohistan 1%

Bannu 4%

3%

3%

Tank 1%

Swat 3%

Shangla 1%

2%

Dir Lower 7%

Dir Upper 2%

Chitral 2%

District wise reported cases in the year 2009 are as follows:

Lakki Marwat

D.I. Khan

Buner

Annual Report200917

but affected of many other individuals belonging to both the families. However; I still consider myself lucky enough to have the opportunity of living my dream of education and learning as most of the prisoners don’t even get that opportunity.”

Corently, Qahar is looking after the administrative work of the juvenile programme of Save the Children Sweden inside the jail. He is also a Convicted Teacher of comput literacy and teaches other juvniles. He has learnt various skills inside the jail e.g. bead work, tailoring and calligaraphy.

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the Ministry of Human Rights and Police Department Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa. The core objectives of the center are to ensure safe custody of children and to divert their cases from criminal justice system. The centre has boarding, psychological counseling and child protection support services. The PCPC is linked with all police stations of Peshawar through wireless system. In case the local police arrests a juvenile, he/she is sent to PCPC and efforts are made to resolve the case outside the court by involving the community from the victims and perpetrators side. Moreover; the child is also provided withpsycho-socialcounseling,temporaryshelterandlegalaid,if required,asprovidedinthe Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000.

Additionally, a Missing Children Center that provides services for tracing and reintegration of missing children with their families has also been established within the PCPC. During the reporting period 1600 cases of missing children were managed by the centre.

Annual Report2009 18

3 Education

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The purpose of this programme is to advocate for policy reforms to ensure inclusion of children from all marginalised groups into mainstream education where schools meet learning needs of all the children in protective and enabling environment. The strategies of the programme strive for Quality Inclusive Education to ensure maximum enrolment of children, creating child-friendly environment by making schools violence free, and stressing upon meeting the learning needs of all the children.

3.1 Quality Inclusive EducationThis programme has two objectives; policy change for addressing the issues of inadequateaccess,poorquality,genderdisparity,unfriendlyenvironmentandlowbudget allocation for education and developing a replicable child friendly inclusive education model. Under the programme, Save the Children Sweden is supporting Pakistan Coalition of Education, a coalition of organisations working for promotion of education in the country, to advocate for the policy change.

Annual Report200919

Simultaneously, a pilot project has been initiated in district Mansehra to develop 30 schools into model child-friendly schools by providing technical support to teachers, organising and mobilising children and their communities and providing for physical infrastructure improvement.

3.2 Non Discrimination & Integration of Child with DisabilityThis project in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa province focuses to maximize the visibility of children with disabilities in the community, their integration in schools, community programmes and skills’ training centers, capacity building of target communities with various human resource development programmes, empowerment of local community and establishment of base for service delivery.

Under the project, 267 children and their families have been provided rehabilitation support. A total of 92 children have been mainstreamed in formal schools. During the reporting period, 1250 community members were sensitized on child rights issues.

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3.3 Formal Education in Madaris (Religious Schools)Save the Children Sweden has started a pilot intervention to promote protection of children in religious schools. The project focuses on provision of formal education, making the Madaris environment sensitive to children’s development and protection needs and increasing interaction of children with schools that will lead to their mainstreaming into formal education system.

The project is being implemented in District Kasur in partnership with seven Madaris, where children are taught primary education course. A teacher, trained on child friendlyteachingtechniqueswithsupportfromGovernmentCollegeof ElementaryTeachers Kasur, is managing each classroom having on average 35 children. Apart from the primary education syllabus, children are also taught life skills with focus on self protection.

The pilot project has been a success in terms of acceptance by the management of Madaris,parentsandcommunitywhichisreflectedbyincreaseddemandfromotherMadaris in the district for starting interventions in their institute promoting change in children’s lives, particularly access to education and reduction in corporal punishment.

Annual Report2009 20

“Sumera has improved

very much, she talks

about her school and

friends all the time

and makes toys from

clay. She now helps me

in household course.

These young girls (Save

the Children field staff)

have really supported

us in understanding and

helping Sumera to lead a

normal life”.

sumera’s mother

SumeraBibi,13,lackedfinemotorskillssincebirth.Shewasaslow learner and was not able to pick up anything even a pencil. Parents’ negligence further aggravated her condition. She was living a life in

absolute isolation. Community and family alike would call her ‘abnormal’ and ‘insane.’

One day a social mobilizer of Save the Children Sweden saw Sumera sitting outsideherhome.Sheenquiredfromherfamilyabouthersituationandproposed to get her enrolled in the village school. Sumera’s mother was reluctant, keeping in view the condition of her daughter. The mobilizer explained to her the Inclusive Development and Learning Centre (IDLC) of Save the Children Sweden in the village school and how it caters to learning needs of children excluded from the education system. On her persuasion, the family reluctantly agreed to allow Sumera to join IDLC.

Sumera was brought to the center next day where she was assessed to identifythenatureof herlearningdifficulties.Basedonherassessment,an Individual Education Plan was developed for her, initially focusing on improvingherfinemotorskills.Sumerawastaughtsomebasicexercisesforher hand muscles through musical poems. She was involved in simple mind games like weaving beads into a thread to increase her attention span. She was also encouraged to participate in group activities and role plays with her classmates to enhance her socialisation skills. It took Sumera six months to be able to show improvement and start writing with a pencil.

After one year of continuous support, Sumera was able to complete accelerated learning course and now she has been mainstreamed into Government Girls Primary School Battal, Mansehra.

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From rejection to recongnition

Annual Report200921

“Child Council has

accomplished what the

elder community had

failed to do for long. Our

children have taken up

their responsibility and are

happy in their new role.”

(Siraj, a PTC member)

“We love our school now!”

(Sanam, a student of Class 5)

In villages like Susal Gali (Union Council Oghi) situated in the remote and hilly areas, usually schools suffer due to poor infrastructure, irregular attendance of children, and teachers’ persistent absenteeism. Similar was the case of Government Primary School,

SusalGali.SavetheChildrenSwedenreachedthisschoolduringthepost-earthquakerehabilitation programme. Save the Children Sweden team assessed the situation and introduced a community-based approach to address these issues. After persistent meetings, community elders, the Parents-Teachers Council (PTC) and Community Organisations were mobilised to work towards the betterment of their children by creating child friendly educational services.

Child Councils were formed and several trainings and motivational sessions were conducted with the students to raise their awareness on Child Rights. Children actively participated in all the activities as this was a complete new dimension to their lives, who were never given an opportunity to speak for themselves before. They discussed the problem of teachers’ absenteeism among themselves, with the members of Community Organisations and PTC and negotiated ways of resolving the issue. As a result, the elders of the community submitted an application to the District Education Department and called for immediate solution of the issue. However, no signs of progress were shown for months afterwards.

Havingwaitedforquitesomewhile,themembersof ChildCouncilstagedaprotest during the inauguration ceremony of a newly constructed school in Oghi in the presence of the District Education Department. It was a peaceful road-side protest by 300 people including children, members of PTC and the Community Organisation. The children raised placards demanding the appointmentof anewteacherattheirschool.TheExecutiveDistrictOfficer(EDO) Education took notice of the matter and visited the school where he found out that only one teacher was regularly attending school from among the seven appointed there. The EDO carried out the necessary disciplinary action against those teachers and immediately appointed new teachers to the school.

The school is now functional with a total enrolment of around 225 students (46 Girls and 174 Boys) managed by 6 well-educated and trained teachers. The children transformed a ghost school into a functional one which gave them self-confidenceandreassuranceof abilitytochangetheirsurroundings.

Children speak for themselves

Annual Report2009 22

4.1 Community-Based Child Protection in BalochistanThis project was initiatied to provide survival and rehabilitation support mechanism toprotectthechildreninareasaffectedby2008earthquakeinZiarat.Forthispurpose,male and female community groups were formed in target communities. Simultaneously, support was also provided for reviving education by providing essential supplies and shelters for schools. In each target school, child clubs were formed to raise awareness among children on their right to education.

4.2 Response to Internally Displaced People (IDPs)

According to Pakistan Humanitarian Update (Issue 4, 2009), the number of IDPs from Malakand Division and South Waziristan stands at 1.27 million or 196,560 families. Due to the military operations in Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), there are also displacements from Bajaur, Khyber and Orakzai Agencies. Responding to the needs emerging from the military operation in Malakand division, Save the Children in 2009 assistedanestimated571,216beneficiaries(including342,729children).Atotalof 18,104 families (126,726 individuals) were distributed non food items and another 3,500 women were provided with hygiene and winterisation kits. The health teams deputed in the four districts treated another 6,571 patients. With this addition, the total number of patients treated by medical teams stands at 119,569. In child protection, the 8 mobile play buses in Swat, and 4 mobile play buses and 24 Child Friendly Spaces established in BunerandSwabiarecurrentlybenefitingatotalof 7,101boysand2,575girls.

For the livelihood programme, social and technical appraisals of 53 micro enterprises have been completed in Swat district. Approximately, 37% of the business owners were female.

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4. E

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The Change Agent

Raz Bibi belongs to Wam Dabona, one of the most devastatedvillagesindistrictZiaratof Balochistanprovincewhichwashitbyanearthquakeon29

October 2008. Ms. Raz Bibi lost 53 members of her family and was left on her own to take care of some of the survived members.

Raz Bibi was courageous and educated girl. While initiatingtheearthquakeresponseprogramme,shewasidentifiedasapotentialcandidateforthe post of social organiser by the assessment team. She was assigned a job to organise the communities with an aim to bring back children to their normal life routines. She was courageous enough to accept the job for belonging to an area where there was no previous example of any woman involved in such kind of work. Despite her sufferings and the trauma she faced, Ms. Raz Bibi started her work with lots of dedication and commitment. After joining Save the Children Sweden partner organisation as social mobilizer, she was trained by Save the Children Sweden staff in different aspects of the programme. Ms. Raz Bibi’s engagement in the rehabilitation work also helped her in overcoming her own trauma and positive changes occurred in her behaviour. She is more resilient now and competent to support her own community and bring back normalcy to their lives.

Now she is working as an energetic and committed member of team and spending her time constructively. She has also become a role model for other women and girls of her village to become a productive asset for the community.

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This programme is in line with the overall priorities of Save the Children Sweden for building the civil society as a real change agent for child rights. It focuses on supporting and capacitating the civil society to monitor and promote child rights, produce independent report on implementation of UN Convention on Rights of the Child and develop models for promoting state accountability to parents and families for realisation of child rights. There are various initiatives working under this programme as follows.

5.1 Advocacy for Increase in Budgetary Allocation for ChildrenUnder this initiative in 2009, a comparative analysis of the federal and provincial budgets of all the four provinces has been made with a child rights perspective. Findings of the studyarebeingusedasanadvocacytooltoemphasiseonsufficientbudgetallocationforfulfillingbasicrightsof thechildren.

5.2 Good Governance for Rights of the Child

Under this programme, Save the Children Sweden works with core partners with a holistic programmatic approach to make the district governments accountable for providing appropriate support and services to parents in realising rights of their children. For this purpose, child rights advocacy networks have been formed in two target districts – Mansehra and Quetta. Through these networks, community-based organisations and children are supported to monitor rights of children in their respective communities and take appropriate action for making the government accountable for implementation of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

5.3 National Child Rights CentreThe organization envisages establishment of state-of-the-art Child Rights Centre (CRC) to cater to capacity building and knowledge development needs of national civil society organisations on child rights. A feasibility study of the proposed centre was conducted in 2009. The establishment of the centre will start in 2010. The proposed centre will have two distinct wings; A Resource Centre and a Capacity Building Unit. The resource centre will act as a strategic think-tank to conduct advocacy, researches, knowledge management activities whereas the capacity building unit will focus on provision of technical support, curriculum development, planning and execution of open and customised short and long-term courses on child rights’ thematic areas.

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5.4 Every One – New Born and Child Survival CampaignThis is a global campaign of Save the Children which envisions the world and Pakistan tobeaplacewherenochildundertheageof fiveandnomotherdiefrompreventablecauses. This campaign provides a forum to have concerted efforts around Maternal andNewBornChildHealth(MNCH)issues,specificallychildandnewbornhealth;programme, research, advocacy at policy level and popular mobilisation. Using its tested strategies (community mobilisation and capacity building), Save the Children will make efforts to reach children and women in uncovered/un-reached areas where Lady Health Workers are not available. This programme will also provide technical assistance to governmentforimprovedqualityandaccesstoMNCHservices,specificallyinunder-served areas.

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Building Partnerships: If different organisations working for a common cause coordinate and collaborate, they can maximise results for bringing changes in the lives of the children, increase outcome of their respective programmes and overcome expertiseandresourceconstraints.ThiswasreflectedinCampaignforChildProtectionBills where three Save the Children Alliance agencies in Pakistan and Plan International collaborated to advocate for enactment of the Child Protection Bill. Also, it was clearly visible with Child Rights Advocacy Network in Mansehra district where 25 organisations came together to establish a child rights monitoring and referral mechanism.

Allow the Programme to Evolve: Sometimes, a small change in the programme strategy can transform the results. It is, therefore, important to keep the scope for continuous change in the design to let the programme evolve. Save the Children Sweden experienced this in Juvenile Justice Programme where one small intervention with Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa policy led to development of a monitoring and response mechanism for children coming in contact with the law. That has now been replicated on scale in the Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

Accountability & Integrity: Transparencyiskeyfactoringainingconfidenceof stakeholdersineventhemostdifficultcircumstances.Byexplicitlysharingtheprogramme objectives, keeping them involved in all stages of project cycle and making sincere efforts to implement their recommendations can produce results that otherwise aredifficulttoachieve.Thiswasexperiencedduringworkwithreligiousschools.Religious schools generally do not welcome external interventions. But open and frank communication with management of religious schools in Kasur led to establishment and development of a child rights programme.

Long-Term-Investment to Develop Quality Education: The professional developmentof teachersprotectionissuesof childreniscriticalforsustainablequality.This also includes school-based support after training. Participating in and contributing to civil society education networks, holding governments and other duty-bearers accountable for children’s rights have proven to be important for shared learning and better targeted advocacy. Save the Children has learnt from its present education programmes which have shown that support for changes in children’s lives must be holistic and long-term, dealing with the right to education (inclusive access), the right ineducation(e-quality,learningresources,language)andtherightthrougheducation(empowering; transformative). Likewise, Save the Children Sweden own investment in educationneedstobelong-termedandsubstantialinordertoinfluencegovernmentsoninclusionandquality.

Strengthening Community-Based Approaches: Building community ownership to sustain its programmes was another important learning Save the Children Sweden gathered during the reporting period by working closely with the community and local community structures which gave remarkable results. This approach also helped to internalise a rights-based and child rights understanding in the community. It made the community more responsive to the needs and rights of children and took action to address those. Some successful examples are the creation of community-based childprotectionmechanismsinearthquakeaffectedareasof MansehraandZiaratandformationof Anti-TraffickingCommunitiesinRahimYarKhan.

Lessons Learnt