May 2003
In the rural areas of the province of Punjab, the largest in Pakistan, barely 25% of women are literate; 65% of the population lives in rural areas (72 million individuals).
The NGO Bunyad (meaning "foundation") Literacy Community Council (BLCC) in Lahore, Pakistan, believes in gender equity and feels that the 'first step to development is literacy'. Very few girls and women in the region over the age of 12 years old were literate. They were totally dependant on others, particularly on male family members or older women of the family. This high level of illiteracy was accompanied by an extremely high birthrate, the highest in South Asia. These factors combine to create an environment of poverty.
In a disadvantaged district, Bunyad worked with 50 villages to help them understand the benefits of literacy. Domestic violence and crime against women in the district were rampant as women had no access to money and police protection. Visiting each of the 50 villages, dialogues were conducted with community members. In particular, the orthodox community members (e.g. the clergy) were included in the discussions and it was explained that religion should not bar women from education. Their daughters were also recruited to the movement.
Centers were opened in areas considered to be extremely 'difficult'. Communities slowly observed the benefits that women from farming families could gain by improving their own lives and those of their families and their community, if equipped with learning.
Special tools were developed for these women and girls relating to horticulture, livestock, fish-farming, health, clean water, etc. This specialized training was combined with basic literacy training. After five years, some women in the programme were provided with micro-credit. This served to reinforce the belief that lives could be improved when armed with knowledge.
The programme began with one hundred women. Eight years later, several hundred thousand have participated: traversing from darkness into light and improving their rural lives.
The Bunyad Literacy Community Council is an NGO that works at Provincial level with the objectives of improving literacy, especially among women, in order to improve the quality of life of the downtrodden, particularly women and children. Bunyad as an NGO has extensive experience with literacy programmes, and has also expanded its operational activities in other fields.
The poor quality of education in Pakistan has led to the underdevelopment of the country, resulting in widespread illiteracy and poverty. To overcome this situation it is imperative that the issue of education be addressed as a priority. Since its inception, the BLCC has focused on reducing illiteracy in rural areas, particularly among women and children, the most neglected segment of society.
Improving the quality of life through literacy and economic empowerment is the main objective of the BLCC. Bunyad focuses its literacy activities on formal education which includes the Bunyad School System, UTC and Universal Primary Education (UPE) with a new component ECCD (Early Childhood Care Development) to meet the Education for all EFA Goals. Non-formal education includes programmes supported by different donors for the establishment of Non-formal Education Centers.
Bunyad also works for social development and awareness-raising of communities through multi-sectorial approaches which include: the establishment of community learning centers/BERTI, organizing teacher-training, the establishment of the Institute Community Education (ICE), development of materials, the distribution of Bunya's Newsletters, the establishment of libraries in learning centers, the implementation of sanitation programmes, training of pit latrine construction etc. Women's empowerment is one of the major concerns of Bunyad, as women are the most marginalized group; widespread illiteracy results in extreme poverty and lack of acknowledgement of women's contribution to society.
To address the need for poverty alleviation, Bunyad introduced programmes for skills development/ improvement followed by micro-financing and linkages development for marketing for the women's groups established in more than 1000 villages of 14 districts in the Punjab.
Bunyad also organizes programmes for capacity building among women. The organization has developped material for their specific learning needs, which are designed to assist women in improving their learning skills and enabling them to utilize these skills in order to improve their economic conditions.
The organization places special emphasis on promoting child rights through awareness raising programmes. The objective is to eliminate hazardous child labour with the help of NFE centers for working children; Bunyad is running various projects for eliminating child labour from several industries present locally ( manufacturers of soccer balls, surgical equipment and carpets). More than 75 percent of children involved in the labour in these industries were female.
Bunyad focuses on quality education through innovative teaching methodologies, supplementary materials and training programmes which include teacher training, material development training, capacity building training, awareness raising, skill enhancement training, etc.
Bunyad plans to promote literacy to achieve EFA Goals by targeting the poorest of the poor and marginalized groups, especially women and children. Bunyad's mission is to empower rural women through literacy, skill enhancement and micro-credit. It has has ensured literacy for 100,000 children and adults (including 25,000 females aged 14 and over), through the establishment of 3000 literacy centers in 2000 villages of 14 districts of Punjab with the help of its network of NGOs and CBOs.
The achievements of BLCC regarding non-formal education have been recognized at both the national and international levels. It is probably the only NGO in the world, which has received two UNESCO awards for outstanding work in the field of literacy and non -formal education. BLCC's Director and founder Shaheen Atteeq ur Rehman was awarded the Commenius Medal in 1998 and recently Bunyad was presented the UNESCO International Prize 1966-2002 (King Sejong Literacy Prize) for exceptional work in non-formal education. The programme aims to help women & children working in Carpet and Soccer industries to become more independent and increase their social security protection.
Most South Asians earn their living from agriculture. Women's labour and knowledge of the agri-economic system plays a key role in almost every aspect of agriculture, barring only those that utilize machinery and sophisticated technologies. Women's involvement in agriculture is extensive both in terms of labour input and farm management decisions. 66.4 percent of Pakistani women in the labour force earn a living in the rural economy.
The already heavy workload of women in the agriculture sector is increasing as women become responsible to a greater degree for agricultural production in addition to household work. Rural women participate in farming crops, livestock husbandry and off-farm activities. Seasonal and long-term migration of working age males leave women responsible for much of the labour input necessary to meet subsistence needs. Unfortunately, most of their work is not recognized.
A complex set of conditions interact to exclude most women from the benefits accruing from rural economics. Even in the rarer cases where they till and cultivate land tenants on their account, women are not counted as agricultural workers. Patriarchal social structures determine that men control female labour. Without a legal share in ownership of the means of production, women are excluded from decision-making on the allocation of material and economic resources.
More women are undertaking paid employment in the agricultural sector. Women spend a great amount of time looking after livestock. Most of the work is related to rearing and protecting animals, finding and carrying fodder and water, milking, collecting eggs, and ensuring the health of animals and poultry, etc.
Functional Literacy & Integrated Farming System (IFS) Development for Women Empowerment
|
