Call for Nominations: Orientation workshop on PRSPs, UNFPA Pakistan

UNFPA Pakistan is pleased to announce an orientation workshop on Pakistan Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) . The workshop is being organized to familiarize relevant stakeholders with the PRSP of Pakistan and draw attention of policy makers towards poverty issues faced by young people, given that youth development a priority in the national development plans and goals. Youth Dividend & UNFPA will be launching an e-course for young people in Pakistan on PRSPs Deadline 10th April, 2011

Nominations are invited from
·         Young people (age 18-25) from youth organizations/networks across Pakistan
·         Officials from Govt. departments and ministries (Grade17-19)
·         Members of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and INGOs personnel working at  
          managerial   level on policy advocacy.

A copy of CV along with a short letter of intent explaining interest in the workshop is required along with the nominations by 10th April, 2011. Kindly send your application to Ms. Sadia Atta Mehmood, National Programme Officer at mehmood@unfpa.org. For details regarding the workshop please contact Ms. Hira Hafeez ur Rehman, Coordinator, Youth Advisory Panel, UNFPA at hirahur@gmail.com.

Workshop details can be found in the announcement below, please circulate widely.


http://youthdividend.weebly.com/announcements.html

Education Emergency - Pakistan

Education is Pakistan’s most critical emergency. No country will enjoy security or robust economic growth without quality education. We simply cannot afford to wait.


The campaign has been launched by the Pakistan Education Task Force which brings together representatives from the federal and provincial governments, with leaders from civil society. Anyone, however is welcome to join the campaign.

No country can thrive in the modern world without educating its children.

But Pakistan faces an education emergency that has disastrous social and economic consequences, and threatens the security of the country.

We believe it is now time to end this emergency.

Under the 18th amendment, which received Presidential assent on 19 April 2010, education is no longer a privilege, but a fundamental right for all up to the age of sixteen.

Provinces, meanwhile, now have full responsibility for developing plans to ensure that every child is able to go to a decent school.

That is why we ask you to help us make March the month that Pakistan talks about only two things: education and cricket.

We want to start a debate about the how the country can unite across political, religious, and ethnic divides – dedicating itself to a cause that will determine its future.

Please join  in the March for Education. http://educationemergency.com.pk/

Pakistan court OKs third sex for identity cards

Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered authorities on Wednesday to allow transvestites and eunuchs to identify themselves as a distinct gender as part of a move to ensure their rights, a lawyer said.

Known by the term "hijra" in conservative Muslim Pakistan, transvestites, eunuchs and hermaphrodites are generally shunned by society.

They often live together in slum communities and survive by begging and dancing at carnivals and weddings. Some are also involved in prostitution.

Iftikhar Chaudhry, chief justice of Pakistan, ordered the government to give national identity cards to members of the community showing their distinct gender and to take steps to ensure that they were not harassed.

"The government's registration authority has been directed to include a separate column in national identity cards showing them as hijras," Mohammad Aslam Khaki, a lawyer for hijras told Reuters.

"By doing so, they think they will get a distinct identity and it will help them get their rights."

A hijra association welcomed Chaudhry's order, saying it would ease their suffering.

"It's the first time in the 62-year history of Pakistan that such steps are being taken for our welfare," the association's president, who goes by the name Almas Bobby, told Reuters.

"It's a major step toward giving us respect and identity in society. We are slowly getting respect in society. Now people recognize that we are also human beings."

Khaki said the court also ordered the government to evolve a mechanism to ensure that hijras are not harassed and also take steps to ensure their inheritance rights.

Hijras are often denied places in schools or admittance to hospitals and landlords often refuse to rent or sell property to them. Their families often deny them their fair share of inherited property.

Hijras are both feared and pitied in Pakistan. They are feared for their supposed ability to put curses on people while they are pitied as they are widely viewed as the outcast children of Allah.

The number of hijras in Pakistan is not known but community leaders estimate there are about 300,000 of them.

In June, the Supreme Court ordered the government to set up a commission to conduct a census of hijras.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/worl...#ixzz0cKafjmRh