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Democracy and Human Rights Program
Human Rights
Defenders Project
PODA has started a project to identify,
organize and build the capacity of Human Rights Defenders in 7 districts of
the Potohar Region (Attock, Chakwal, Islamabad, Jehlum, Khushab, Mianwali
and Rawalpindi). The project collects data about human rights violations in
rural areas, provides trainings to rural defenders on international human
rights standards and links the defenders work with local government line
departments in orders to ensure promotion and protection of human rights at
all levels.
Building the Capacity of
Rural Communities through Democracy Education (Chakwal, Mardan, Rawalpindi)
 This program creates
awareness about the constitutional rights of citizens and educates duty
bearers and rights holders about universal human rights standards. This
program also builds the capacity of rural communities to organize themselves
and learn to articulate their needs and priorities and facilitating villagers especially rural women to learn about the importance of their legal identity
and vital documents such as the Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs).
To facilitate this PODA works with National Database & Registration
Authority (NADRA) by identifying the villagers especially rural women who do
not have a CNIC so that NADRA mobile teams can visit the villages to provide
CNICs. The Rural Women Councilors Network facilitated by PODA then works
with the villagers to promote the importance of voter registration and the
right to vote so that rural communities can get registered as voters to
participate in the democratic processes.
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Program Implementation Updates
8 September 2011 (Multan, South Punjab)
 The
Potohar Organization for development Advocacy (PODA) organized an
awareness session on the Importance of Education on the occasion of
World Literacy Day on 8 September with the rural community and
children of Tibi Hayat Union Council Shershah District Multan. About
60 people including 35 women, teachers and Union council officials
participated in the session. The aim of session was to create
awareness about the importance of education. It was shared with the
participants that education is an important step towards development.
Unfortunately in Pakistan the literacy rate is too low, according to
the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2010-11 the overall literacy rate in
Pakistan is 57.7 percent - 69.5 percent for males and 45.3 percent for
females. (Although in rural areas the literacy rates for women are
even lower than this). According to article 25A of the Constitution of
Pakistan this is the responsibility of the state to provide basic free
primary education to all children aged five to sixteen years. The
community shared that they are illiterate and want to send their
children to the schools but there are no schools in the villages and
if the schools are available then teachers are not available.
At the end of the session all the participants demanded that there
should be implementation of article 25 A of Constitution of Pakistan
at the grass-root level.
PODA also established 10 Child Protection Centers in two Union
Councils of Multan Lutafabad and Shershah, where PODA is not only
providing informal education to the children but also engaging them in
other recreational activities.
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CNICs,
CMCs distributed among flood affectees in Mardan |
ASMA GHANI
Satruday, July 23, 2011
MARDAN - A
distribution ceremony of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs),
Computerised Marriage Certificates (CMCs) and Computerised Birth
Certificates (CBCs) was held here on Friday.
Potohar
Organisation for Development and Advocacy (PODA) that has facilitated flood
affectees of Mardan to get their CNIC and set up child friendly spaces and
women friendly spaces for the affectees arranged a one day media visit of
Mardan so that they can highlight the issues of flood affectees who are
still in need of attention.
PODA.
Regional Coordinator KE, Mohammad Tahir Safi, speaking on the event said
considerable number of Sood affectees remained deprived of the compensation
and other schemes including Benazir Income Support Programme (CNIC) and
Watan Card due to the non-availability of CNIC.
He informed
that organisation had facilitated 563 flood affectees of district to get
their CNIC in three months so that they could get benefit from the various
schemes initiated to compensate the flood affectees. He said PODA has helped
over 300 affectees get computerised marriage certificates.
He said the
residents of these areas along with other belongings have also lost their
CNIC and marriage certificates thus they were not eligible to get any
compensation till they have CNIC and considered Afghan citizens.
Therefore,
PODA negotiated with NADRA to send its mobile vans in affected areas and
made the ID cards of flood affectees on concessional rates. Especially women
were hesitant to visit NADRA office to get their CNIC but due to
collaboration between NADRA and PODA mobile vans are sent to the areas
identified by the PODA, he added.
A visit of
women friendly spaces set up by PODA in remote areas of Ragnaree and Samar
Bagh was also arranged Programme Coordinator Najma told the media persons
that women are being taught different skills to make handmade crafts so
that they can earn for themselves by selling them out.
But during
the visit with the discussion of women affectees it was observed that no
highly refined skills are taught due to unavailability of material and lack
of proper coordination and mechanism. And there are no outlets or facilities
arranged by the organization to exhibit or sell out the work to earn some
profit.
Rabia from
Samar Bagh women friendly centre said "the skills they teach have no use for
women like us. Most of the rural women already know such skills.
But we have
no money to purchase raw material to make such crafts and if we make
different crafts where we would sell them as we are not allowed to work
outside".
Facilitator
of the other women friendly centre in Ragnaree said he knows dough-making
skiBs but don't have the material to teach the women and women don't have
the resources to buy themselves.
Though, the
centres have been doing somehow a good work as they have provided women a
platform to enhance their skills but raw material should also be provided to
them by PODA or be arranged for' them from other sources, as they cannot buy
themselves.
A mechanism
should also be evolved or set up some out lets to establish a link between
them and the market so that their work can be sold out to make a difference
in the lives of women affectees.
It was also
noticed that quite a number of women were sitting on the floor In a jam
packed room full of women and children without any light and fans in hot
days of summer that needs to be improved also and the spaces should be made
really women friendly spaces by providing basic facilities so that women can
spend some good time there.
http://www.thenations.com.pk
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PODA informs Rural Teachers about ICCPR
CHAKWAL,
June 23: PODA Chakwal Office team organized teacher training on ICCPR
(International Convent on Civil and Political Rights) on Thursday
(June 23) at AEO Office, Balkasar in Chakwal city. This important
convention was ratified by the government of Pakistan in April, 2010.
In this activity, 17 teachers from Elementary and High Schools of
Balkasar Center were participated in the training. PODA team gave
introduction of PODA programs and recent activities of Chakwal and
other areas. After introduction of participants, Ms. Fauzia Naz,
Program Coordinator explained articles of UDHR (Universal Declaration
on Human Rights). They also discussed about current situation of the
country and importance of peace for development of Pakistan.
During session,
teachers admitted that they
are facing many problems due to political instability in the country.
Teachers shared that authorities of Education Dept. force many
policies which are impractical on grass-root level. One example was,
they agreed on importance of birth, CNIC and registration in election
process to facilitate rural women who do not have ID cards.
 After discussion, teachers resolved to work for helping children as
peace makers. After that group work was done on following topics:
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Use of Human Rights in Universal treaties in real situation in our
society
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Role of teachers in peace building in the society
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How can children play role for Peaceful society with the support of
teachers?
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How teachers can resolve
their problems in a peaceful way?
At the end of training, Assistant Education Officer Ms. Farrukh Malik,
Balkasar and teachers requested PODA to organize teachers’ assembly on
district level so that they can highlight their problems to their
authorities. PODA will facilitate this work through rural women
teachers’ network.
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PODA joins media sit-in on killing of Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD, June 15: Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA)
joined journalists sit in outside the Parliament House on killing of
journalist Saleem Shahzad.
A
large number of civil society activists including PODA under the
banner of Insani Haqooq Ittehad (IHI) also joined the protest. They
demanded justice for Saleem Shahzad and vowed to join the journalists
throughout their movement.
Human Rights activists from PODA condemned recent human rights
violations in Pakistan. They demanded that the government should take
immediate action and arrest the killers of Saleem Shahzad and we are
here to demand a fair judicial inquiry into the murder.
Hundreds of journalists from across the country marched on the
Constitution Avenue in Islamabad on Wednesday (June 15) before staging
a 24-hour sit-in next to the Parliament House, demanding that the
government form a judicial commission headed by a Supreme Court judge
to probe the killing of Saleem Shahzad.
The call for the protest was made by the Pakistan Federal Union of
Journalists (PFUJ) after journalists rejected the government’s
appointment of the chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court as the
head of the commission probing the journalist’s death.
Journalists planned to continue their protest till Thursday (June 16)
evening but called it off following the minister’s announcement about
appointment of Justice Saqib Nisar of inquiry commission.
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PODA Facilitates CNICs for Rural Women in Mardan
 MARDAN
19th March, 2011: 83 women received Computerized National
Identity Cards (CNIC) with facilitation of Potohar Organization for
Development Advocacy (PODA) for the first time in their lives on 19 March,
in Samarbagh, District Mardan.
Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) mobilized and
facilitated 83 rural women for the registration of CNICs. CNIC is the pre
requisite to exercise the right to vote and is also a basic document to
avail government facilitation in many ways like applying for job,
registration and transfer of land and for higher education. Most rural women
do not have their ID cards due to socio-cultural, economic obstacles. PODA
started this campaign in 2008 and mobilized local communities’ especially
rural women for CNIC registration. The goal is to achieve the target of 100
percent CNIC registration in PODA project locations through creating
awareness among the people in the rural areas by using PODA help. PODA has
also singed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NADRA regional office,
Mardan to work together in the future.
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PODA condemns
murder of Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti,
Federal Minister
for Minorities’ Affairs, Pakistan
 Vowing
to continue its struggle for human rights regardless of cast,
creed or religion, PODA joined the civil society activists, Christian
community representatives and political workers at a candle light vigil in
memory of Federal Minister for Minorities’ Affairs Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti who
was brutally murdered at his residence on 2nd March, 2011.
The same evening, PODA staff joined over
100 protesters in Islamabad. They held placards inscribed with slogans
against religious intolerance. They termed the incident as a grave violation
of human rights and demanded the government to arrest the killers and
provide security to all those who are on the target list of religious
extremists. PODA reiterated that minorities are equal citizens of Pakistan
and should be provided all rights and protections. The next day, a PODA
delegation also visited the residence of the late Minister Bhatti in I-8 and
condoled with his family and joined a collective prayer at his home. On
Friday 4th March, a four member delegation from PODA also
participated in the funeral of Mr. Bhatti held at Fatima Church in
Islamabad.
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Formation of Women
Teachers Groups
 International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
is the most important
international human rights treaty, providing a range of protections for
civil and political rights. Pakistan has ratified this
covenant in 2010. Being a human rights organization, PODA developed a
project ‘Promoting Democracy in Rural Pakistan’ in support of ICCPR. The
project activities are being implemented through the financial support of
National Endowment for Democracy (NED). One of the major components of this
project is to train rural women teachers on ICCPR. The activities are
planned to be implemented through collaborating line departments.
As a start up, PODA has formed women
teachers groups in Chakwal, Mardan and Rawalpindi. The teachers will be
concientized through a series of training sessions, who in turn will educate
the community. The first training session was held in Dhudial, District
Chakwal in collaboration with District Education Department on Thursday, 24
February, 2011. A group comprising 20 women teachers participated in this
training.
Article 24 of ICCPR deals with child
birth registration. It is noted that most of the parents in rural areas do
not register the birth of their children. The lack of proper documentation
leads to problems in their educational career. The training session was
planned to highlight and emphasize the importance of child birth
registration.
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