Women Empowerment
Women comprise 52% of Pakistan's population even though their participation in the nation's life in a productive manner is much less than their population. Pakistan unfortunately is among those nations of the world where women, particularly in the Town and Rural Centers (TRC), are subjected to many kinds of violence and harassment. The culture and social environment in Pakistan's urban centers even though not ideal, are somewhat better and improving for women, as compared to the Town and Rural Centers (TRC). Violence in these areas has countless manifestations and usually begins from the family culture where the talents, ambitions and strengths of the womenfolk get suppressed in the "name of honor". Then those women who managed to come out and try to get education have to face social and sexual harassment.
Respect for gender development and mainstreaming contribute to increased women's participation in Pakistan's society and economy, and are two important causes that the civil society and nongovernmental organizations have pressured the Federal and Provincial governments to achieve. In addition to local pressures, the reports and observations from the INGOs and United Nations have played an extremely important role in pushing the official government to take appropriate steps to address gender discrimination. Unfortunately, despite many legal developments from the Women Protection Bill, 2006, little has changed on the ground since meaningful implementation and enforcement of the "good hearted" legislation has remained extremely weak.
TWO firmly believes that time is now to provide opportunities for economic emancipation of women in the project areas to set examples of excellence and start a meaningful cycle of women's economic growth and independence. TWO has been implementing projects in districts (Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Chakwal, Gujarat, Jhelum, and Chiniot) to create emancipator models of women leadership. These districts are poor and underdeveloped where strong patriarchal, tribal and feudal culture leaves little or no space for women's development. Almost 70% of the total population in target districts is rural. The project components included rights based Awareness Raising, Women Support Programs with the subcomponent of counseling & legal aid, skill enhancement and women's leadership initiatives. It also has a strong Lobbying and Advocacy component that engaged with the legislators, civil society, media and civil servants. GPDP envisaged an ambitious National and International Lobbying matrix and while carrying it out, the Staff Development and their skill enhancement was also made an integral part of the whole process.
Overall Objective
The overall goal of the project is to reduce both the level of violence against women, and the impact of violence on the lives of women and their families in particular and society at large in target localities.
Specific Objectives
