Shirkat Gah Womens Resource Centre
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : h*****a@s**h.o*g.pk
Mission Statement
Vision: A just, democratic and gender equal society using resources sustainably Mission: Assisting women and marginalized communities across Pakistan and beyond to be more resilient, better informed, vocal, visible, and organized for inclusive and democratic societies in which everyone is free from violence, enjoys dignity, rights, and quality services. Areas of Focus - Adopting an integrated gender-aware approach the focus of our work spans the micro (family) to meso and macro levels (national, regional and international around: -Bodily Integrity: Combat all forms of gender-based violence, including child, early-age and forced marriages; promote decision-making, especially with regards to reproductive health and personal status law -Representational Government: Multiply & amplify voices for gender equality at all levels; enhance women’s participation and decision-making in political & public processes -Conducive Gender-Equality Policy Environment: Promote appropriate national laws/policies and compliance with selected international human rights and development commitments -Feminist Agenda Setting: Deepen feminist analysis; promote insights in national and transnational discourses as well as agenda-setting arenas
About This Cause
Shirkat Gah – Women’s Resource Centre (SG), Pakistan’s first feminist organization, kicked off in 1975, the International year of the Woman, as a small voluntary women’s collective. It registered under the Societies Act in 1976. Since the start, SG has firmly believed that rights and development are two sides of the same coin; all interventions are committed to empowering women and other marginalised sections of society with the motto: women’s empowerment for social justice and social justice for women’s empowerment. SG has evolved from working out of homes and a borrowed office, to a leading women’s rights organization, operating out of offices in all four provincial capitals, including its own facility in Lahore. SG has evolved as summarized in Diagram 2, and now work in 5-year cycles. Shirkat Gah’s uniqueness lies in its cyclical processes to leverage sustainable change. We think globally and act locally; use the lessons of grounded work to enrich interventions at the national, regional and global levels; bring the new thinking, analyses and challenges identified in national, regional and international arenas to the grassroots. We anchor our community work in conceptual understanding, empirical research and participatory approaches of co-creation and ownership, working with not for women (Shirkat Gah means a place of participation). We use grounded experience to introduce new dimensions to existing discourses and practices from the local to the international arenas. We create links with social movements and media, both to reach a wider audience and as key actors in promoting an enabling environment for women’s rights and voices. SG’s research confirms that empowerment can be catalysed by any activity but always entails a cycle of reflection, analysis and decision for action. Hence, SG builds women’s capacity to exercise their rights, make informed choices and be included in decision-making. SG generates new knowledge through its renowned quality research, carried out locally, nationally and internationally in collaboration with academia and other actors. Lessons, knowledge and information are processed, repackaged and shared with a variety of audiences from the grassroots to national policy-makers and international forums. SG builds capacity and awareness, undertakes evidence-based advocacy, creates and strengthens civil society alliances, partnerships and networks; engages in continuous institutional development. Shirkat Gah enjoys UN ECOSOC consultative status. Gender equality and social justice is the core of our work and permeates all aspects of the organization. We have developed a Leadership Training compendium of modules on gender, state-citizen relations, prejudices and oppressions, political processes, communication and advocacy which is adapted to various interventions and is continuously developed further. Core competencies -Advocating the formulation and implementation of gender-responsive laws, policies, and practices -Building the knowledge base, skills & capacities of women/girls to claim their entitlement to rights, quality services & resources -Generating cutting-edge knowledge to advance women’s rights and democratic governance -Strengthening grassroots organizing, local-to-global solidarity and actions to tackle social exclusion, discrimination & vulnerability -Engaging governments, male allies, media, researchers, rights organizations and others to be responsive to a feminist change agenda -Creating innovative approaches to increase women’s participation and decision-making in families, communities and governance systems -Supporting the government of Pakistan to meet national & international obligations Bodily integrity: Projects to reduce VAWG & change gendered norms/practices in this regard have had concrete outcomes. This includes the recently completed UNTF-supported Drivers of Change in which an external evaluation verified behavioral change at the individual level, especially amongst women and girls, improved local prevention of/response to VAWG. Similarly, the external evaluation of EU-supported SAFE project (2018-21) confirmed positive changes and led to a 2nd UNTF grant building on both the above (currently underway). Under SAFE, SG developed a telephone app Humqadam https://shirkatgah.org/humqadam/ as a resource for women and gender-equality human rights defenders as well as survivors that provides information, step-by-step guidance to navigate the systems, and links to support services. In 2023, the Punjab Police acknowledged it had used the App to improve the official police helpline. The App is being upgraded to incorporate further feedback under the current UNTF grant. An intervention-research, Humsathi, seeking to make girls their own advocates to end child early age marriages (CEAM), led to 79% project-engaged girls acting to stop CEAM, including their own marriages – 85% of project-engaged mothers/older women and 69% of project engaged male youth did the same (supported by IDRC). The success rate was a striking 91%. Representational Government & Conducive Gender-Equality Policy Environment: We have worked for decades to ensure laws and policies are gender inclusive and responsive, successfully changing laws, and having the rules of business as well as SOPs and mechanisms instituted for effective implementation. An earlier PEHL project with councilors (EU supported) focused on making women local councilors effective players was so successful that EU dispensed with an external evaluation. Under our current Fempower Pakistan project, working with women legislators and male allies in assemblies, we have ensured gender responsive budgets for the first time ever in one provincial assembly (1 Billion in FY2021-22 and 3.3 Billion in FY 2022-23); and ensured the enactment of several laws and rules in others. (work with local councilors was disrupted by the continuous delay in holding elections.) Feminist voices and agenda-setting We have run Feminist Institutes (10-day residential training mutual learning events with experts) to increase gender-equality voices by deepening the understanding of activists and strengthening their networking and skills for advocacy. After the last Feminist Institute (2022) under Fempower Pakistan, 10 graduates started their own hubs involving 150 more activists and reaching hundreds more. This includes an e-publication Unbound Unchained - Shirkat Gah populated by young women and a few male gender equality advocates. The Institute focuses on young women (including trans-women) who are provided mentorship and support as required. Too often activists are isolated and hampered by not having a community they identify with to enhance their engagements. There is an urgent need for this and given the demand, we are running a second institute in September 2023. In tandem we are running a networking project to bring local individuals who are or desire to be activists together in the Bol Utho (Speak up) project supported by Women’s Fund Asia, which however does not have sufficient resources to run institutes. This is the focus of the current proposal. Organization profile and capacity SG Collective/GB elects a Board, appoints auditors, sets direction, reviews performances and co-develops five year Strategic Plans with staff and ensures these are aligned with SG’s values and objectives. The Board approves audits, appoints the Executive Director (ED) & meets quarterly to review financial and programmatic progress and institutional matters, e.g. policies. ED steers SG ensuring alignment with mission/strategic objectives, full compliance with the law & constitutive documents. ED & Program Directors oversee programs & budgets, mentor/supervise teams. Finance & planning teams are led by Managers for Finance, Planning & Operations. Monthly meetings let program & operations staff discuss issues, share innovations across projects & propose solutions. Project Management Committees for larger interventions/multi-partner projects have key project staff, admin & accounts & may incl. external experts. All major research has a steering/technical advisory committee to steer activities, provide feedback & ensure the project is on course to deliver outputs. A customized FIS ensures effective financial management supported by Procurement, Finance, Admin & HR Manuals. An external company of good repute carries out Annual Audits (attached) and any donor-required specific audit. Shirkat Gah’s commitment to gender equality & human rights is reflected in all internal policies and procedures. The HR policy includes measures to preclude discrimination based on sex or other identities in hiring, allocation of resources and benefits & access to services. SG understands that for policies to be gender sensitive it is essential to be sensitive to the roles, responsibilities, needs, interests and capacities of women, men and non-binary identities as well as religious minorities and other marginalized groups – identifies that compound discrimination and vulnerability. SG enforces a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment and intimidation which is subject to immediate termination. Complaints against staff can be from fellow colleagues as well as from implementation and field partners and communities we work with, supported by SGs Whistle-blower policy. SG policies define harassment to be intimidation, repeated unwelcome comments of a sexual nature, actions, suggestions or physical contact aimed at gender, race or personal characteristics. SG's HR Complaints Committee is the mechanism for reporting/addressing any sexual misconduct allegations. The procedures are spelled out in the HR manual.