Monthly Update: July, 2007
PAKISTAN
Women's Rights: ActionAid Women's rights portfolio in collaboration with Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (SAAG) organized a National Assembly for Women Farmers to link up the campaign on womens right to land with Hunger Free Campaign. Women farmers from all provinces participated in the event and discussed the land ownership patterns in their respective areas and highlighted the problems faced by women farmers such as lack of access and control over income and agricultural resources etc.ActionAid also collected case studies from across Pakistan in collaboration with DA partners and a bilingual case study booklet was launched at the National Assembly. The recommendations of women farmers were recorded to incorporate in draft legislative bill on women's land rights.
Under the Empowering Home Based Workers Project ActionAid launched a media campaign to highlight the socio-economic problems of home based women workers. During the campaign several articles were published in major English and Urdu newspapers to highlight the issue at national level. Furthermore a 45 minutes programme was aired at FM- 99 Radio and promos were aired from the same channel for one week.
Sindh Provincial consultation on the status of home based women workers in Pakistan in collaboration with Labour Education Foundation; Karachi was also conducted in accordance with the Home Based Workers theme. Home based women workers, representative of civil society organizations, trade unions and government departments participated in the consultation. The status of home based workers, working conditions; ILO Convention-C-177 was discussed and the draft of social protection bill was shared with the participants by highlighting social protection need of home based workers.
Flood: Flood has played havoc in the lives of poor villagers in Sindh. Shadadkot (ActionAid DA) is amongst the worst hit areas where around 1228 villages have submerged, and an estimated 132,394 people are reported to be homeless.
ActionAid, Karachi office, being the hub for flood emergency activities sent its program officers for preliminary assessment of the flood situation in its respective DAs i.e. DA--9, 14, 20, 24 and 26, which are directly or indirectly affected by the flood water and heavy rains. The first phase of relief work began soon after the reports poured in by our partners. Food packages along with necessary medicines and drinking water were distributed to the affected population in initial stages.
Food: Seed Bank offers new hope for a family
People living in the villages of Johi, Sindh suffered a seven years drought spell (1996-2002). The major source of income of these people is agriculture. But the famine forced the people to migrate in search of food and water. ActionAid entered into the area of Johi, in district Dadu (Sindh) during the year 2000, to join hands with Village Shadabad, a local organization working for the welfare of deprived communities.
In the year 2006 the intensity and scale of rains was high in the coastal districts of Thatta and Badin and the land of Kaccho, Johi, which remained thirsty for so long received a good percentage of rain. It gave hope to the farmers of the area to cultivate their lands. There was also a great need of seed distribution as most of the farmers were unable purchase the expensive seeds. A survey conducted by the VSA indicated that the high prices of seeds were out of the reach of these farmers. ActionAid along with VSA established a Seed Bank to help the poor farmers.
"My children do not have enough to eat. And they only eat one type of food. The children say to me, "Why not you buy us bread? Why not you buy us meat? Why not you buy us peas? When they say this, I feel sorry." Says Sharifan 32, who is struggling to provide food for her family of 10 members. Her husband has only one hectare of land, which is not enough to feed the children. "The earth was bare. Nothing grew.
There were no rains. Our animals had no shelter because there was no grass left. Their bellies were empty. A lot of elderly people died, as well as children who could not get milk. I want to plant some vegetables. And I wanted to sell them so I could buy what the children need. But the drought conditions made the situation worse," said Sharifan while wiping her eyes full of tears.
"I do weaving, rope making and sometimes I do daily labor," she says. If ActionAid wasn't here, I would have had to go elsewhere to find a job. My children would have suffered very much."
Sharifan's son, Rahim, is 7 and is sponsored by ActionAid. More than 1100 children in this community are sponsored by ActionAid, and together this is providing help to around 50,000 people. "Children were the worst affected because they could not understand why they had to go hungry," said Sharifan. Things started to improve for the family when ActionAid facilitated the male and female farmers through Seed Support Program.
Sharifan says "I feel very proud of my seedlings, and it motivates me to do more in the future," she says. "Guar and Juar were brought here to this region many years ago, but we could not grow them due to long spells of drought.
"Our priority is food," she says. "Then, my house is getting old and I would like to build my family a new one. This will cost much. I want my children to complete their education, so they can be whatever they want to be. I also wish for a kindergarten for the children in this village, and some factory for people to work in so they don't have to go far away for a job."
A much better future is possible for Sharifan and the whole family, because of the support of ActionAid. "I would like to say thanks to my children's sponsors for extending their generosity to help little children." Sharifan is thankful to ActionAid for what she terms as "real help" that has bolstered her family's living standard. Both Sharifan and her husband said, "We have realized immense achievements not only in the lives of our children and family but also the whole community".
