Contact Information
- Where – Pakistan (Asia)
- Website – www.awaregirls.org
- Contact Person – Gulalai Ismail
- Email – aware_girls@yahoo.com
- Address – House #7, Sudais Villas, Jumma Khan Road, Tehkal bala, Behind Grand Hotel, Peshawar, Pakistan
- Other – Facebook
Areas of Expertise
Aware Girls has expertise in a range of areas, including:
Main Aims and Objectives
Aware Girls is a young women-led organisation working for women empowerment, gender equality, and peace in Pakistan. Aware Girls works to strengthen the leadership capacity of young women enabling them to act as agents of social change and women empowerment in their communities.
Vision – envision a world where women rights are equally respected as Human Rights, women have control over their own lives and have equal access to Education, Employment, Governance, Justice, Legal Support, Financial Resources, Recreation, Health specifically Sexual and Reproductive Health and Social Services.
Mission – to empower young women, advocate for equal rights of young women, and to strengthen their capacity enabling them to act as agents of women empowerment and Social Change.
Objectives:
- To promote and protect young women’s rights and responsibilities to enable them to have equal access to Decision making, education , health, recreation, Financial Resources and other Social Services
- To promote Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Young Women and to strengthen the capacity of Community Based Organizations in Sexual and Reproductive Health.
- To advocate for 50/50 opportunities for women in Employment and Governance
- To organize and strengthen the Capacity of young women Groups enabling them to actively contribute towards sustainable development, Social Change, Women Empowerment, and Peace
- To promote equity, justice, equality, peace, Non violence and tolerance in the Society through Peer Education and Dialogue
Values:
- Women’s rights are human rights.
- Human rights are universal, indivisible, and interrelated.
- “Aware Girls” affirms that full and equal enjoyment of human rights is due to all women and girls.
- Aware Girls maintains that a prerequisite to securing these rights is the universal ratification and implementation without reservation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
- Peace, Tolerance and Pluralism are the basic pillars of Human Rights
Focus:
- Human Rights of Young Women
- Gender Base Violence
- Political Empowerment of Young Women and Strengthening Democracy & Governance
- Economic Empowerment of Young Women
- Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Young Women including HIV/AIDS
- Peace, non-violence, tolerance and Pluralism
Upholding the Principles of Conflict Transformation
Growing militancy and terrorism around the world needs to be addressed through specific contexts, such as the North West of Pakistan, which has become a centre to militancy and religious fundamentalism. Aware Girls analyses the root causes of conflict, such as religious extremism promoted by the State and its international allies in the Cold War era. Addressing the issue of growing militancy among young people is a long-term, gradual and complex process, requiring sustained engagement and interaction.
Aware Girls uses approaches and philosophies of non-violence, tolerance and pluralism to prevent young people from joining extremist groups. Young people have been influenced by militant groups through culture, media, and an education system which fosters religious intolerance and violence, making them prone to extremism. The people of the North West Frontier Province and Tribal areas have a strong love for their religion. Islamic Militant Groups/Taliban take advantage of their affiliation to their religion and mobilize young people to join their ranks for promoting Islam. These young people are used by militants to promote their agenda through terror, such as suicide bombing, torching schools, institutes, and slaughtering people. The level of tolerance has been significantly reduced among young people, leading to bigger issues in the country.
Where and with Whom?
Geographic Coverage:
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan
- FATA – Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan
- Baluchistan Province of Pakistan
- Afghanistan (Qundoos, Jalalabad, Kabul)
Main counterparts:
- Young Boys and Girls
- Political Parties
- Government
- NGOs/CBOs
- Bar Associations
Main Activities in the Field of Conflict Transformation
Young Women Political Leadership Program
Aware Girls has launched an intensive three years program in District Peshawar, Swabi, and Mardan to increase the political participation of young women by capacity building trainings of young women activists in political leadership for good governance, through community attitude transformation activities such as meetings and media events; through developing citizens committees of both males and females in each district who will develop citizens charter of demand for increased political participation, and will advocate with the political parties for increased political participation.
HIV Prevention among Young Women
Aims to empower young women by promoting HIV prevention among young women and to reduce the stigma and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS. Will educate 5,000 young women of Schools and Colleges of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan enabling them to prevent themselves from HIV. Will also establish 100 AIDS Discussion Clubs in girls’ Schools and Colleges of North West Frontier Pakistan volunteering at least 2,00 young women for promoting HIV awareness among young women and to reduce the stigma and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS.
Healing trauma among young women
Aims to help trauma victims especially women and children to interpret and heal from their experience, and to provide couselling to Trauma Affected women for mainstreaming them in the society.
Engendering Humanitarian Response
Advocate for the gender mainstreaming of the humanitarian response and National Plan of Action for Disaster Management in Pakistan. Work to gain understanding of how the conflict has affected women of affected areas through research among women of conflicted areas, and to prepare recommendation for gender mainstreaming of humanitarian response and Disaster Management. Also advocate for gender mainstreaming of humanitarian response and disaster management
Internally Displaced Women and their Issues
Address the gender specific needs of Internally Displaced Women through advocacy, education, and service provision. Advocate for integrating gender issues in the humanitarian response and in National Plan of Action for Disaster Management, and work to improve the health of Internally Displaced Women by providing them on Health and Hygiene Education. Also provide health and hygiene kits to Internally Displaced Young Women , specifically adapted to the needs of young women
Seeds of Peace
Promoting activism and leadership among young people of North West Frontier Province for building peace in the North West of Pakistan. Strengthen the leadership skills and peer education skills of 25 young peace activists per year, enabling them to promote peace and non-violence in their communities. Also prevent young people from indulging in militancy by promoting values of tolerance, non-violence, humanism, equity among young people and helping them understand the complex realities behind the Islamic Militancy in Pakistan.
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