Women Empowerment / Gender Equality

From the last 11 years, HFO has been working for women empowerment in the remote areas of Kasur District. In Pakistan majority of women is uneducated, unskilled and considered as a burden on the family. The work of women that is being performed at home is not acknowledged by the men dominated society. The unfortunate feature of violence against women is its acceptance by majority of women as a regular part of their life. When HFO started this project, five villages were selected initially as targeted areas and we worked in 25 villages so far. In this program three types of groups have been established;

1. Women group
2. Community members group
3. Leaders’ group which comprises of political leaders, religious leaders and CSO’s.

Meetings with these groups have been arranged to achieve our goals such as gender equality, human rights knowledge, socio economic empowerment of women and freedom for women so they would be able to make their own decisions. HFO with the help of Group members and volunteers worked on a grass root level to raise awareness among women regarding women rights. Different activities were arranged such as seminars, theatres, dialogues, training of CSO’s and Trainings of Political and religious leaders in order to build the capacities of men and women of the targeted areas in close coordination with all the stakeholders. The members of the community in general are being capacitated with knowledge about women rights, human rights, women empowerment and violence against women through seminars and theatres. women & men are taking active part in all activities and have taken ownership for the program.

HFO has trained activists, teachers, social & political leaders and enhanced their capacity about women empowerment. This year HFO has started a new project, which is about peaceful coexistence in the Kasur District and with the help of existing groups we established new groups and working with them for peace promotion. We organized various activities like, trainings on conflict resolution, dialogues and sessions on human and women rights.

HFO will continue its efforts to sensitize the communities at large in realizing the importance of women for creating a just society.