GCAP Pakistan - Learning Brief 2009

GCAP Pakistan

Approximately one-third of the 165 millions of Pakistani population lives below the poverty line.  The incidence of poverty in this South Asian country is even greater in rural areas.  There is limited social public investment in health care, education, sanitation and water systems.  The majority of workers are self-employed and many of them are in the informal sector, so they do not have regular income and are excluded of the benefits of social security.  Women, children and non-Muslim minorities are especially vulnerable to poverty, discrimination, exploitation and violence.  They are exposed for example to child and forced labour and ‘honour killings’ mainly against women.  Recently, due to violent conflict related to growing extremism and military operation in the North West Pakistan, approximately more than two and a half million people have been displaced from their homes, losing everything and currently facing difficult life conditions in camps and local community houses.  This is the biggest displacement in the last 15 years, after Rwanda, in the world.

In response to the worldwide call against poverty, the Pakistani GCAP Coalition was formed in October 2004 by civil society organizations involved in campaign and advocacy.  A successful Rights Action Week was developed in December of that year, with actions like signature campaign, an awareness raising program and the distribution of campaign material urging the state to fulfil its commitment regarding the MDG as well as minimizing national expenditure in security and military. 

In March 2005 a national strategy planning meeting was held to share and learn about our recent actions, to identify key challenges and to develop a mobilization strategy and plan for that year.  Several campaigners from human rights groups, media representatives, women groups, INGO representatives and community development/education/advocacy organizations coming from several geographical location of the country participated in the meeting and in the execution of the strategy.  Three action weeks took place in the context of the three White Band Days (25-30 June in the context of G8 Summit, 14-16 September in the context of the UN Summit and 4-9 December on the occasion of WTO meeting).   The focus of the activities was to create a mass awareness and mobilization, through the use of electronic media, street theatre and puppets, 4km long banner of half million signatures worldwide, street theatre train journey, rallies and walks in different parts of the country.  After evaluating our work we identified we had to improve coordination among campaigners, linkages and coordination by National Focal Point and involvement of different strata of society.  This helped us to plan our activities and redefine our campaign structure for 2006, establishing regional focal points in addition to the national one, and Support Groups for both levels.

In 2006 mobilizations took place in the context of the International Day against Poverty and the Human Rights Day.  In September an interesting initiative took place.  In solidarity with the Global Call to Action against Poverty and the Millennium Campaign, and in order to celebrate their commitment to stand up for their rights, the indigenous peoples of The Indus river, namely the Kihals and Mors, and some GCAP campaigners gathered for a day-long 'Story Telling & Craft-Expression' at Thala Baloo Raam on riverside on 16th October 2006.  They reflected about poverty, MDG and their link with the indigenous people’s struggle for their right to land, fish, water and forests.  They also reflected about the importance of craft in their livelihoods.

In 2007 the core action was a nation-wide banner of 10 Km with the MDG printed in it and surrounded by more than one million signatures from people from 106 districts, mainly poor people.  The banner was supported by Stand Up Speak Out actions, mobilizing 4.3 million people.  In addition, some activities like seminars and conferences took place with youth people and women in different dates.  A strong media strategy was also developed.

In the middle of 2008 change in the Coalition’s focal point occurred democratically and Mohammad Zia-ur-Rehman took over as National Coordinator on behalf of AwazCDS-Pakistan and resultantly AwazCDS-Pakistan declared as the National Secretariat for GCAP Coalition in Pakistan in October 11, 2008. Organizing Stand up & Take Action Campaign was challenging for the new focal point however with the support of Coalition members SUTA campaign was organized all over Pakistan during October 17-19, 2008. The Campaign involved 73 CSOs and networks in which 389,259 people stood up against poverty and food insecurity in 122 SUTA events all across the country.[1] An impressive press and electronic media coverage gave recognition to GCAP-Pakistan in common masses and government institutions as well as wider civil society. Thousands of posters and leaflets were published and disseminated in masses against poverty and food insecurity. GCAP-Pakistan’s official web www.gcappak.net was launched during the campaign to share Coalition’s efforts across the world.

As a matter of fact, the overall impact of these campaigns on GCAP is very positive. The networking of GCAP improved significantly and the close collaborative helped in broadening its base. Several hundred thousands people who directly participated in the campaigns and activities learnt about GCAP and Pakistan’s commitments such as MDGs which it has made internationally on their behalf. People are taking interest and participating in events, which are of their interests and have political outlook, understanding link between poverty and democracy, social justice and public accountability. In all these efforts and campaigns, the youth has been in forefront who later also demonstrated against General Musharraf upon unconstitutionally sacking the chief justice of Pakistan. The mobilized communities, CSOs and youth are now ready to initiate any campaign that would be in the interests of poor and marginalised segment of the society.

Very recently after a focused membership drive the total membership of the coalition has reached to 213 CSOs, community based organizations, networks and movements. The national secretariat and the core team have put in many efforts in democratizing operational and decentralize planning and campaigning mechanisms of the coalition we have formed four provincial level coordinators. The new membership and decentralized structures are now fully functional and contributing to the GCAP national planning.

Peoples’ Voice for Rights (2009-2011) Campaign was conceptualized and prepared with the support of Coalition member organizations and experts and submitted to supporting partners in February 2009. UNMC has granted support for some key events around health, education and poverty days and for follow up of budgetary allocations etc. One of the key members from Balochistan’s Provincial Chapter has attended a workshop on behalf of GCAP-Pakistan held at Bangkok, on budget tracking and accountability in February 2009. The process of formulation and finalization of National Educational Policy 2009 was also followed up by GCAP Coalition members by mobilizing teachers associations and students across the country. Press briefings were organized and letters were written to National Assembly’s Standing Committee Members on Education for communicating key demands of Peoples’ Voice for Rights Campaign on education.

We have recently organized 5 pre-budget seminars at all the four provincial headquarters that gave CSOs, journalists, farmers, tenants, government servants, students, teachers associations and people from different walks of life, an opportunity to voice their views on national budget especially focusing on health and education. The demands of people were highlighted by the national press across the country and a letter was written to all the members of provincial and national assembly members as well as members of senate of Pakistan.

Further a quick survey was carried out to ascertain the situation of IDPs of Swat and Bunair and shared with all the stakeholders at national and international levels to highlight their issues and mobilize agencies and governments to step forward for their support. A regular update on IDPs situations also being shared with stakeholders on weekly basis and is also uploaded at website of GCAP-Pakistan.

Earlier, when we took over the GCAP Coalition with the consent of members as  National Secretariat, we were clear of our volunteer role and our foremost priority was to build the trust among the Coalition members. We have gained their trust as now they are participating fully in the activities of GCAP-Pakistan. National level experts like Dr. A. H. Nayyar, Sadiqa Salahuddin, Dr. Ghaffar Billo, Dr Umair, Irfan Mufti, Rana Riaz Saeed and others alike are now part of our Policy Review and Reforms group. Several local organizations and farmers, fisher folk, peasants, workers, teachers, youth, journalists and women rights organizations and associations are now part of GCAP Coalitions at provincial and national levels. Other key support groups including SAP-Pakistan, HANDs, NGORC, Shirkat Gah, PILER and others are part of GCAP-Pakistan core group. International Organizations like VSO, OxfamGB-Pakistan, Concern World Wide, Care International, Plan Pakistan and World Population Foundation Pakistan are also supporting in different campaigns. We have also formed Mobilization Group by inviting grassroots organizations and networks, youth organizations for implementation of campaign. Soon we will form communication and media group to raise peoples’ voices for rights and campaigns through media.

TORs of Coalition members are already circulated and shared with all stakeholders and are also uploaded at the Website of GCAP-Pakistan.  These and several other initiatives are taken during the last one year to give the coalition and its campaigning actions some impetus and soon we will show positive results.

The confidence that we have built among the coalition members requires their regular engagements in different activities of GCAP Campaigns and this can only be possible if the national secretariat maintains it continuously. To ensure this support for the proposed Campaigns are imperative.

Finally, we would like to draw your attention towards the fact that civil society groups in Pakistan are isolated because of the absence/ weakening of national level networks / forums like Pakistan NGO Forum and Pakistan Social Forum. The evolution of GCAP Coalition has been filling up this gap and people as well as CSOs are gradually taking interest in this process. Therefore this opportunity must be given due attentions to further strengthening this process.

The challenges of growing poverty and extremism, the present crisis in energy and agriculture sectors, the war against terrorism and increase in number of IDPs are also demanding greater attention of governments and civil societies to play their greater role to bring poor people in the mainstream to make sure that their voices are being heard. We will have to act quickly and your timely support will help Coalition’s National Secretariat to act more quickly and effectively.

For more information about GCAP Pakistan please contact:

 Organization: Awaz Foundation Pakistan: Centre for Development Services (AwazCDS-

Pakistan)

Contact person: Mohammad Zia-ur-Rehman (National Coordinator and Chief Executive AwazCDS-Pakistan)

Telephone:  +92-061-4784606 / 4577409 / Fax:  +92-61-4584909

Address: H.No. 2440/N/8A, D-Block,

Shamasabad Colony, Multan – Pakistan

P.O. Box No. 141, 60000

Email: zia[at]gcappakistan.net, info[at]gcappakistan.net, zia[at]awazcds.org.pk

Website: www.gcappakistan.net