2022 Floods Aawaz II Partners’ Recommendations on Social Inclusion

2022 Floods Aawaz II Partners' Recommendations on Social Inclusion 24 January 2023, Peshawar Omar Asghar Khan Foundation met with the Secretary-Relief & Rehabilitation and the DG and senior officials of the PDMA to share recommendations made by women, PWDs, transgender persons and religious minorities to make relief, rehabilitation and resilience more responsive to their needs & interests. The recommendations were made at an Aawaz II Provincial Consultation on Social Inclusion & 2022 Floods held in…

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Improved Referral Pathways Exposure Visits to 16 Government Facilities for GBV, Child Protection, Drug Rehab, etc.

Improved Referral Pathways Exposure Visits to 16 Government Facilities for GBV, Child Protection, Drug Rehab, etc. Abbottabad, Haripur, Mardan, Nowshera & Peshawar December 2022-January 2023 Based on a needs assessment conducted in November 2022 involving 25 women’s organizations in 5 KP districts, the Foundation facilitated exposure visits to 16 government facilities including the Women Crisis Centre, Darul Amans, Child Protection Units, etc. Meetings were also held with the Social Welfare Departments and the District Reconciliation…

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Omar Asghar Khan Foundation & COMSATS Collaborations on Development Studies

Meeting with Faculty & Students 10 January 2023, COMSATS, Abbottabad Following up on discussions in November 2022 between senior faculty members of COMSATS and Omar Asghar Khan Foundation on exploring ways to collaborate on development studies, the Foundation's team met with about 30 faculty members & students of COMSATS at its campus in Abbottabad. The Foundation's strategy, work and results were discussed in detail. Opportunities for students benefiting from experiential learning through participating in the…

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Expenditure Tracking Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) KP Budget FY2022-23

Expenditure Tracking Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) KP Budget FY2022-23 27-29 December 2022, Islamabad KP's Women Parliamentary Caucus successfully advocated an allocation of Rs,3.5 billion in KP's Budget FY2022-23 with support from Omar Asghar Khan Foundation and Shirkat Gah. To track expenditure, the WPC was assisted in convening a two-day meeting that brought together legislators and senior government officials. Comprehensive presentations on budget allocations and projects/schemes updates were made by senior representatives from Social Welfare & Women…

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Gender Based Violence: Referral Pathways in KP

Aawaz II Provincial Consultation 6 December 2022, Peshawar #16DaysOfActivismAgainstGenderBasedViolence Aawaz II in collaboration with the KP Commission on the Status of Women convened a multi-stakeholder consultation on referral pathways used by survivors of GBV & ways in which their access to available services may be better facilitated. GBV is a core focus area of Aawaz II. "We are striving to improve prevention, protection & prosecution of GBV," said Dr. Yasmin Zaidi, Team Lead of Aawaz…

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Balochistan Budget FY2022-23 Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB)

Balochistan Budget FY2022-23 Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) Meeting with MPs & Chair-BCSW 1 December 2022, Quetta Members of the Balochistan Assembly and the Chair of the Balochistan Commission on the Status of Women attended a meeting in which Omar Asghar Khan Foundation's gendered analysis of Balochistan's Budget FY2022-23 was shared. This meeting was hosted by the Foundation and Shirkat Gah in continuation of its engagement with parliamentarians & government officials under Fempower Pakistan to promote GRB,…

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Balochistan Budget FY2022-23 Gendered Analysis

Gendered Analysis Meeting with Secretary, Balochistan Assembly 1 December 2022 "Consistent engagement with MPs is necessary to promote GRB," suggested Mr. Taher, Shah, Secretary, Provincial Assembly of Balochistan. He was talking with a delegation of Omar Asghar Khan Foundation and Shirkat Gah who called on him to hand over 65 copies of the Foundation's gendered analysis of Balochistan's Budget FY2022-23 for distribution among the honourable MPs. Agreeing with the Secretary, Ms. Rashida Dohad assured of…

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Trends in Funding for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in Pakistan

Trends in Funding for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in Pakistan Launch of Report 29 November 2022, Islamabad Omar Asghar Khan Foundation analysed federal & provincial budgets (2015-20) to track funding for women’s economic empowerment in Pakistan. The study identified 1,674 projects, with a combined expenditure of Rs.131,998.8 million. It also assessed funding for women’s financial inclusion and women’s empowerment collectives. https://www.oakdf.org.pk/.../National-Funding-for-WEE-in... About 30 key stakeholders including government officials, business persons, CSOs and the media attended…

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Call for Proposal

Vendors are requested to send your proposals/quotations (inclusive of all government taxes) for: upto 250 packed units of food & non-food items as per specifications given below delivered in Abbottabad (no additional travel or loading costs will be paid) between September-October 2022, as needed Payment will be made within 15 days after delivery. Please email your proposals/quotations to mrafiq.oakdf@gmail.com & faisal.oakdf@gmail.com Deadline for submission: Before 5:00 pm, Monday 5 September 2022 Download File

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Training CSOs in Budget Analysis & Advocacy

7 Pakistani CSOs working on VAWG, women's rights, healthcare, education & governance attended a five-day intensive training on budgets facilitated by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) and the Foundation. The training helped participants become more familiar with budget documents, learn skills in budget analysis & advocacy, and also social audit. Case studies from Pakistan and other countries assisted learning from experiences. Participants designed advocacy strategies for using budget skills to further their organisational goals. The…

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Climate Change: Training local communities & WSSC staff

Abbottabad & Islamabad 29 female and 28 male community members from Ward-11 in Abbottabad and 26 WSSC workers attended a field-based training on kitchen/rooftop gardening, home-based & community composting. The training was delivered by the Akhter Hameed Khan Memorial Trust. It was arranged by the Foundation under its project: Building Resilience of Urban Communities to Climate Change (2017-22), implemented in collaboration with Oxfam with ADB funding. The training included workshop sessions and a field visit…

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10th Aawaz II KP Provincial Forum Meeting

An expanded membership & more field-based engagement were recommended to further strengthen the Provincial Forum in the next phase of Aawaz II. It was agreed that it is an important platform that brings together all key government and civil society stakeholders. These discussions were held at the 10th Aawaz II Provincial Forum (PF) meeting attended by 34 participants including PF members, PMU-British Council team and representatives of UNICEF and SNG II. The meeting also reviewed…

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Khuli Kutcheri for Women

Public Petitions based on Social Accountability Plans (SAPs) 27 June 2022, Haripur 31 women leaders and other activists representing 9 Haripur CSOs including members of the Area Support Network created under Fempower Pakistan were assisted by the Foundation to present 51 public petitions for improvements in drinking water, healthcare, waste disposal and other public services at a Khuli Kutchery organized by the District Administration in Haripur. One of the petitions was for a vocational centre…

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TOT on Media Reporting

The Foundation facilitated participation of journalists from KP in a TOT on gender-sensitive media reporting. The TOT was led by Simorgh and Digital Rights Foundation.

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Improved Water Supply for Abbottabad

Completion Ceremony, Abbottabad, 1 June 2022 Since 2021, the Foundation has worked with WSSC and Oxfam to rehabilitate water tanks, upgrade distribution lines, install pumping machinery, construct staff rooms and provide other facilities to improve the supply of water to selected urban communities of Abbottabad. Rs.9.8 million was the cost of the rehabilitation. It is part of a pilot project: Building Resilient Urban Communities (2017-22) implemented with ADB support. The project seeks to increase the…

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KP Budget FY2022-23

KP WPC presents GRB proposals to KP's Finance Minister Peshawar 30 May 2022 "Last year KP WPC's proposals led to an allocation of Rs.1 billion, reducing the gender gap in KP's budget FY2021-22. This year again they have made remarkable efforts that will lead to more funds, if not double than that allocated last year," said KP's Finance Minister, Mr. Taimur Khan Jhagra at the conclusion of a meeting hosted by the KP WPC in…

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RFP for the Capacity Development

Omar Asghar Khan Foundation is inviting bids for: Designing and conducting training on home-based composting& kitchen/roof top gardening for local communities & compost pit management and operation for WSSC sanitary workers/staff in Abbottabad. Documents ( Click Name to Download ) Annex 1 Terms of reference-FM Annex 2 Attachment_Supplier's CV format Annex 3 Template Suppliers Evidence of Experience Annex 4 Template for Technical Proposal This training is part of the Building Resilient Urban Communities project implemented…

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Promoting Social Accountability & Gender Justice

Fempower - CSO Partners Meeting 23-24 May 2022, Islamabad The Foundation brought together about 100 activists from more than 50 CSO partners from across KP in a 2-day meeting to share experiences in helping women and other vulnerable groups to claim their rights and entitlements using social accountability and networking. Strategies were also developed on moving forward, building on successes.

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Pre-Eid Food Assistance

29 April 2022 in Abbottabad In collaboration with the Social Welfare Department, District Abbottabad, the Foundation distributed one month's food items to about 100 poor families, giving priority to those with trans and differently-abled people. This was made possible through assistance provided by Fempower-Pakistan and local philanthropists.

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Aawaz II Provincial Forum KP Meeting

Peshawar, 30 March 2022 Members of Aawaz II PF reviewed the past two-year progress & made suggestions for building on success in the next two years. They also followed up on key legislative, budget, policy & perfomance issues at the provincial level.

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Pre-budget FY2022-23 consultations with MPs, government officials & civil society of Balochistan

2 March 2022, Quetta The Foundation and Shirkat Gah assisted Balochistan's MPs, government officials and civil society representatives to review budget allocations for FY2021-22 and prepare gender responsive budget (GRB) proposals for FY2022-23. The need for a creative Provincial Finance Award was discussed as part of systemic changes to improve public finance management in the province. The GRB proposals are framed to support priority actions to better comply with CEDAW & SDG5, which were idenified…

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Citizen Budget FY 2021-22

District Haripur, 1 March 2022 The Foundation facilitated members of the Aawaz II District Forum-Haripur & local activists using social accountability for improved public services under Fempower to attend a meeting in which DC-Haripur presented a Citizen Budget FY2021-22 with support from the Sub-National Governance Programme. Using the opportunity presented by the event, the Foundation presented details of over 600 social accountability plans developed by women and men in some of the poorest areas of…

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Building Resilient Urban Communities

1 March 2022, Abbottabad OXFAM and the Foundation handed over hardware material to the District Administration & the Water & Sanitation Company (WSSC) in Abbottabad as part of its demonstration project to help governments & urban communities build resilience to the impacts of climate change. This project funded by the Asian Development Bank also helped government, service providers & communities to become more familiar with climate change and ways to mitigateits impacts.

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Social Integration of Religious Minorities in KP

Aawaz-II Provincial Consultation 23 February 2022, Peshawar Aawaz-II's district dialogues commemorating the World Interfaith Harmony Week in early February 2022 identified critical issues faced by non-Muslim citizens in KP. At the Aawaz-II Provincial Consultation on 23 February 2022 about 100 women & men representing different religious minority communities from 9 KP districts prepared policy & budget recommendations to respond to these issues. These were presented to three legislators who represent them in the KP Assembly:…

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KP WPC prepares gender-responsive budget proposals for FY2022-23

16-17 February 2022, Islamabad P’s Women Parliamentary Caucus in collaboration with the Foundation & Shirkat Gah held a 2-day intensive meeting in which budgets for FY2021-22 were reviewed & gender-responsive proposals were drafted for FY2022-23. More than 30 parliamentarians from the ruling PTI and also from JUI-F, ANP and PML-N participated in the meeting along with senior government officials from Planning & Development, Social Welfare & Education Departments. Mr. Mahmood Jan, Deputy Speaker & Patron…

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Khuli Kutcheri for Women

Social Accountability Actions 25 January 2022, Pabbi-District Nowshera About 30 women activists were assisted by the Foundation to present public petitions for drinking water, healthcare facilities, waste disposal and other public services to the DC Nowshera, Mir Reza Ozgen, and, the Additional DC-Finance & Planning, Ms. Quratualain Wazir, at a Khuli Kutcheri organized by the District Administration.

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Social Inclusion in KP’s Local Government

Aawaz-II Consultation ‘Local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is significant as it will help build social capital, improve the delivery of public services, and help citizens assert their rights.” Ms. Farida Shaheed, Executive Director, Shirkat Gah & Member-Aawaz-II Provincial Forum emphasised in her key note address at the Aawaz–II consultation on Social Inclusion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s New Local Government. Better facilities for birth, marriage/divorce registration at the Village/Neighbourhood Council level will reduce gender-based violence and early-age marriage.…

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Gender-responsive budgeting, CEDAW & SDG 5

Punjab Budget FY2021-22 Meeting with Punjab parliamentarians, government officials & CSOs 29 December 2021, Lahore About 35 participants including MPs, government officials, academics and CSO members attended the meeting to review details of the Punjab Budget FY2021-22, analyzed by the Foundation using Shirkat Gah’s assessment of Pakistan’s achievement and obligations with regard to CEDAW & SDG 5. Appreciating the analysis, MPA Uzma Kardar said, “It will help us in legislative oversight & examining expenditures of…

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Gender Responsive Budgeting – A Reference Guide

The Foundation published a Reference Guide on Gender Responsive Budgeting. It has two sections. The first relates to the context of public finance management. It provides basic information on a government budget and its components. It gives details of the budget process/cycle, drawing attention to different entry points for promoting gender-responsive public finance decisions. The second section focuses on GRB, giving its definition, explaining its multiple benefits: inclusive democracy, effective governance and fair public finance…

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CSO Training in Budget Advocacy with IBP

On 30 November 2021, the Foundation and the International Budget Partnership completed a series of three on-line training sessions on budget advocacy. Eight leading CSOs in Pakistan attended the training. Eight leading CSOs in Pakistan attended the training. In 2022, two in-person training events are planned to further develop skills in budget assessment.

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Leadership Training

In the second half of 2021, the Foundation developed leadership and communication skills of nearly 3,000 women and 600 men from local communities in 5 KP districts. The trained leaders became more familiar with gender equality, human & constitutional rights. They also learnt communication and advocacy skills. The trained leaders will help their communities become more socially inclusive and reject all forms of discrimination. These efforts are part of Fempower-Pakistan.

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High Caliber, Committed Staff Required

Omar Asghar Khan Foundation is offering a full time position as Mobilization Office, based in its Abbottabad office, for its Aawaz-II Programme. Ideal candidates will be motivated, willing to extensively travel within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and able to work collaboratively in a team-oriented environment. For detailed TORs please visit our website: www.oakdf.org.pk Dynamic individuals with a passion to contribute to making society more fair and inclusive are requested to send their applications with a complete CV…

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Social Accountability Updates

Government actions on 321 public demands by local CSOs trained by the Foundation improve the delivery of public services to some of the poorest communities in 5 KP districts (Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Mardan & Nowshera). The largest number of demands (78) related to water & sanitation, followed by local government (75) and education (63).

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Aawaz-II Consultation on Child Protection in KP

Emphasizing the need for public backing for effective implementation of laws, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, KP’s Secretary Social Welfare & Women’s Development, said “Aawaz-II is strategically placed to provide this support through its tiered presence and interventions at the district and sub-district levels.” He was speaking at the Aawaz-II Provincial Consultation on Child Protection. More than 100 civil society activists, journalists and  academics from 11 KP districts including merged areas actively interacted with government officials,…

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Meeting of Haripur’s Area Support Network

At a meeting of Haripur’s ASN, members discussed ways in which local women, especially the more vulnerable, may be assisted in accessing citizenship documents like CNIC, birth registration, etc. and services to improve their conditions and well-being.

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Aawaz-II Provincial Forum’s 6th Meeting

The Provincial Forum reviewed its past year’s work and achievements. This included: (a) bringing all key government and non-government stakeholders together on a platform; (b) creating understanding & visibility of Aawaz-II: its objectives, strategy & institutional structure from villages to the province; and, (c) specific interventions in Aawaz-II themes: GBV, early/forced marriage & child protection as well as cross-cutting focus on vulnerable groups. The meeting also defined key interventions to be taken including follow up…

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