Disaster Resilience Inclusive DRR & Climate Change
Disaster Resilience Inclusive DRR & Climate Change Donor: HelpAge International, Cordaid International District/s: (Jacobabad). Duration: 10 Months Major Activities: Hazard, Vulnerability, and capacity analysis.Revival and establishment of Village Disaster Management Committees (VDMCs).Knowledge, Attitude and Practice-KAP survey.Training of VDMCs on inclusive DRM planning and development of VDRM plans.Inclusive Early Warning System-IEWS.Focus group discussions with the community for Stockpile and provision of equipment.Conducting drills for plan implementation.Survey on climate change and its impact on livelihood and agriculture.Conduct training for 16 farmers’ associations on ways to build agricultural resilience and increase production.Introduction of three plantation schemes to reduce canal side erosion and salination of agricultural fields.Group Maturity Index-GMI survey.Survey on climate change and its impact on livelihood and agriculture.Training of stakeholders on VDRM plan consolidation and contingency planning.2 days of training of 16 communities on diversification of their livelihood and savings.Networking with financial institutes, social safety nets, and ongoing livelihood programs through meetings and 3 one day workshops. 12 Villages in Kashmore-Kandhkot, 18 Villages in Jacobabad, 13 Villages in Shikarpur. The said Project package support comprises of following interventions: Two-room houses, Each House is to have a Hand Pump, Latrine, and solar light, Each village to have sanitation drains and Brick paved streets, Every five houses share one biogas plant. Back Village Completion Report Back
Community Investment Fund and People’s Women Empowerment Programme
Community Investment Fund and People’s Women Empowerment Program Donor: Women Development Department, Government of Sindh Major Activities: Community Investment Fund & Interest-Free Loan to destitute women identified through Poverty Scorecard. Organizing marginalized women groups in Community Organizations; Undertaking a prior identification assessment and tailoring credit need accordingly; Making the loan package more flexible; Providing business support (input identification and procurement, marketing support); Promoting savings, as internal funds generation leads to financial independence; Providing right-based training to beneficiaries for: Building their productive assets;Increasing and diversifying their incomes; Decreasing their risks by ensuring access to the safety nets – Health Insurance etc. proving their entrepreneurship and management skills. Each House is to have a Hand Pump and Latrine. Back Project Completion Report Back
Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program (Government of Sindh)
Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program (Government of Sindh) Donor: Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program (Government of Sindh) Districts: (Shikarpur), (Jacobabad), (Kashmore @ Kandhkot), (Qambar @ Shahdadkot), (Ghotki), (Khairpur). Major Activities SRSO – Institute of Management and Skills Development with the partnership of BBSYDP has launched the project for 2039 (pax) for both men and women in the following trades: Through this project, Skill for Life of Northern Sindh (Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore @ Kandhkot, Qambar @ Shahdadkot, Ghotki, Khairpur) will be targeted by providing Vocational training facilities at the local level. Vocational training enhances the knowledge and skills of potential women and enables them to earn a livelihood while residing at their local places. The project aims to enhance their capacity and skills, create more opportunities, improve their livelihoods, and develop linkages at potential markets. Back
Social Mobilization III (District Ghotki)
Social Mobilization III (District Ghotki) Donor: Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) Districts: (Ghotki). Major Activities: The project will cover 35 UCs of the district Ghotki and creat a three-tier Social Mobilization Organization. To organize the Community Organizations (COs) of the poor and their federations will be managing their development through transparent, equitable, inclusive, accountable, and community demand-driven processes. Formation of Community Organizations (COs); Formation of Village Organizations (VOs); Formation of Local Support Organizations (LSOs); Community Capacity Building / Training. Back
Promoting Child Rights in Cotton Farming Areas of Sindh
Promoting Child Rights in Cotton Farming Areas of Sindh Donor: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Partner: Rural Support Program Network (RSPN) Districts: 110 villages in 9 Union Councils of District Ghotki Duration: September, 2014 to August, 2015 (one year) Major Activities: There are 25 million children in Pakistan between the ages of 5 to 16, who are not in school. When a child does not go to school, he or she is vulnerable to all sorts of abuse and exploitation. They are also more likely to be involved in child labor, depriving them of their childhood, their health, and their education and condemning them to a life of poverty. With the number of child abuse cases rising each year in Pakistan, there is an urgent need to protect these children and ensure that they have opportunities for a better life. The Pakistani agricultural sector has low rates of mechanization and the use of low-wage labor is rampant; cotton pickers are paid as little as 50-80 rupees (USD 0.5-0.8) per day. To meet day-to-day expenses, people from these families often take out loans in advance against their expected income from picking cotton but are not always able to repay these loans, which means they get trapped in a vicious circle of debt. To repay loans, these families also engage their children in cotton picking. In addition, the belief that soft hands are ideal for picking cotton encourages the use of young women and children as cotton pickers. As a result, children drop out of school to work in cotton fields and risk exposure to various forms of violence and abuse. RSPN has partnered with the Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) to promote awareness for the rights of children in cotton-picking areas of Sindh and to discourage families from sending their children to work in cotton fields.Awareness will be raised among people regarding the rights of children and the negative impact of child labor.By setting up a social fund and offering poor women income-generating grants, rural communities will be allowed to earn a better livelihood and stop engaging their children in labor.To Conduct training of 540 selected Incom Generation Grant(IGG) beneficiaries on Livestock Management Training.Social Fund allocation to selected villages(50) for social development schemes.Multifunctional community centers are also being set up to provide adult literacy classes, skills training for women, and so on, to help people develop marketable skills that they can use to earn a better living.Identification and training of Community Resource Persons(CRPs). Back
Provision of Reproductive Health Services through Social Marketing
Provision of Reproductive Health Services through Social Marketing Donor: Department for International Development. UKaid, Population Services International (PSI). Partner: Rural Support Programs Network (RSPN) Districts: (Sukkur), (Sanghar), (Naushehro Feroze), (Larkana), (Ghotki), (Jacobabad), (Shikarpur). Duration: July 2016 – July 2017 Major Activities: RSPN and SRSO are implementing a project titled, “Provision of Reproductive Health Services through Social Marketing” in 7 districts of Sindh i.e. Sukkur, Sanghar, Naushehroferoz, Larkana, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Shikarpur. Population Services International funds this project. It is a one-year year project, initiated in July 2016. The project aims to improve the quality of life of women and children in Pakistan by Increasing the availability of quality reproductive health products/services with a focus on rural areas.Using RSP’s proven model of social mobilization through Community Resource Persons, demand is being created for reproductive health products.Selection of community resource persons through village health committees.Capacity building of community resource persons for social mobilization activities.Registration of target communities (married women of reproductive age and their spouses, extended family members, youth, and religious leaders).Developing and printing of information, education, and communication material.Demand creation for birth spacing through group meetings and household visits.Formation of community health committees and federation of Village Health Committees at the union council level.Procurement of contraceptives and equipment for the provision of birth spacing services.Business in a box for CRP’s sustainability and continuity of services.Utilization of Greenstar Social Marketing Helpline for management of side effects and counseling on reproductive health.Engaging the public sector (Department of Health & Population Welfare Department) at UC/District level.The communities will be supported in accessing the birth spacing services through mobile camps at their doorsteps to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate in the project areas.Men’s involvement will be maximized in project activities to minimize the social barrier to accessing birth spacing services.An uncovered population of 1500,000 will benefit through a group of trained cadre of community resource persons in 7 districts with a special focus on married women of reproductive age. Back Success Stories Back
Community Activism for Improved Access to Quality Education and Local Accountability (Article 25-A)
Community Activism for Improved Access to Quality Education and Local Accountability (Article 25-A) Donor: Foundation Open Society Institute – Pakistan (FOSIP) Partners: Rural Support Program Network (RSPN) Districts: (Kashmore-Kandhkot) and (Jacobabad) Major Activities: Community Activism for Improved Access to Quality Education and Local Accountability’ is a 12-month initiative to empower communities to raise voices for improving access to quality education, accelerate the process of community-led accountability for improvement in school conditions and learning outcomes, and support community actions for enrolment of out-of-school children. The project will focus on political advocacy as a tool to invoke accountability of the responsible in the education sector.The constitution through Article 25-A obligates the state to provide free and compulsory quality education to all children between five to sixteen years of age. In addendum to its own Constitution, Pakistan being a signatory to several international commitments and treaties to achieve global development targets under education is committed to providing inclusive and equitable quality education for all by the year 2030. The dismal state of education despite commitments needs a vibrant civil society and proactive right holders at the grassroots levels.The three-tiered social mobilisation approach of the Rural Support Programs (RSPs) – involving community institutions from the household to union council level (COs, VOs, and LSOs) – would work for social accountability through establishing ‘Parent Ittehads’ at the district level.These Ittehads would mainly work at two levels, a) they will take stock of the stakeholders i.e. grass tops to influence the education scenario of the identified supply side issues for improvement, and b) they will take stock of the education issues of the target union councils to develop ‘Charter of Demand’ (CoD). The CoD of each district will be developed based on data collected by LSOs in their respective union councils.Media (print, electronic, and social) will be engaged to highlight the identified issues. Text messages to the authorities especially District Education Officers, Deputy Commissioner Offices, and relevant Parliamentarians to seek attention towards pressing education issues in the constituency will be a regular feature of the project Back Project Completion Report Back
Emergency Relief to Flood affected people in Sindh
Emergency Relief to Flood affected people in Sindh Donor: Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Housing Cell (SBBHC) Govt. of Sindh Districts: (Shikarpur) and (Jacobabad) Major Activities: Construction of 510 low-cost houses in Shikarpur and Jacobabad districts. Selection of beneficiaries in selected districts that are below the poverty line and especially those that are houseless, with special emphasis on women. Back Project Completion Report Back
Health System Strengthening Project
Health System Strengthening Project Donor: United States Agency for International Development (USAID), John Snow International (JSI-Lead Consortium) Partner: Rural Support Programs Network (RSPN) Districts: (Jacobabad) & (Kashmore) (LHWs uncovered area) Duration: 15th April 2014 to 31st March 2017 Major Activities: Increased Accountability & Transparency of Health System Mapping of private health facilities & NGOsSelection of UCs & clustering villages.Revitalization & formation of Village Health Committees (VHCs) consisting of male and female members of the community who meet once every three months to discuss health issues being faced in their areas. Each VHC has been given information about health facilities and services available nearby.Formation of Union Council Health Committees(UCHC).District Health Networking (DHN).Improving health services at community institutions. Improved management capacity of health & PWD Field staff training.Mapping of LHWs covered & non-covered areas.Formation of community institutions.Awareness regarding routine immunization.Registration of new births.Coordination with EPI at BHU & community level.Coverage of defaulters & dropout cases. Outcomes Increased awareness among communities about public & private sector facilities. Communities can take action to approach health management for improvement in service delivery. Community voices are heard & responded to by DHPMT Increased awareness among communities about the importance of routine immunization. Coverage of defaulters/dropout cases for routine vaccine. Registration of new births in the UC birth register. Back
Empowering Older People to Improve Lives
Empowering Older People to Improve Lives Donor: Big Lottery Fund (BLF) Partner: HelpAge International, Age International Districts: (Jacobabad) and (Shikarpur). Duration : 3 Years (November 2014 to September 2017) Major Activities: Development of a network of Older People Associations. Capacity building of Older People Associations(OPAs) and District government officials.Formation of a Federation of OPAs at the District level.To increase participation of older people in district and provincial level decision-making and planning processes through membership of OPAs to engage with and influence local authorities, and financial and social protection institutes.Information campaigns for older people on how to access existing social protection, microfinance, and wider livelihoods support programs.Paralegal support for older people.Advocacy with Stakeholders for inclusion of Older People and PWD in their policies.Advocacy with Social protection departments/institutes for the inclusion of Older People and PWDs in their programs and policies Training on livelihood activities and provision of livelihood inputs.Seed funding for microcredit of older people’s livelihood development. Back