The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) here on Friday celebrated International Women's Day by presenting the Amtul Raqeeb Award to six outstanding women, who worked for women's empowerment in remote areas of Sindh, KP and Balochistan. The organisation also exhibited artworks titled "What Makes Me Happy" by schoolchildren from PPAF-supported communities. Dr Haroona Jatoi, Advisor to Ministry of Education, was the chief guest on the occasion.
The Amtul Raqeeb Award is annually conferred on outstanding individuals especially women for exhibiting courage in the face of adversity and becoming role models for their families and communities. PPAF instituted this award in recognition of the courage and sacrifice of Amtul Raqeeb, a programme officer in Balochistan Rural Support Programme, Quetta who was shot dead along with two other colleagues on January 24, 2011. Her immense contribution in capacity building of local traditional birth attendants resulted in a significant reduction of the mother-child mortality rate in inaccessible regions of Balochistan. This year the award was given to Hakim Zaidi, Zuhra, Maryam, Laljan, Nasreen Bibi and Zulekha Samejo. The six women have been with local community organisations and played pivotal roles in motivating the women of their areas. They have worked for women's empowerment in remote parts of Sindh, KP and Balochistan. The award recognises their contribution in difficult conditions.
Samia Liaquat Ali Khan, Group Head Compliance and Quality Assurance at PPAF, spoke about the gender mainstreaming efforts at PPAF. She said, "PPAF ensures that our policies and practices within the organisation as well as across all operations truly reflect the spirit of gender equity. We believe this is one reason why we were presented with IFAD's Gender Award (for Asia and Pacific Region) in 2014.
PPAF showcased some artworks from a competition held among schoolchildren, between the ages of 7 and 12 years in PPAF-supported schools to explore creative skills and abilities of kids. Approximately 150 children expressed their creativity through drawings from six schools in Qilla Saifullah, Narowal, Swabi, Islamabad and Karachi. While most of the children drew caricatures of popular cartoons' characters, some of the entries were very original. The 12 best submissions were selected for the PPAF calendar 2015 on the basis of relevance to the theme "What Makes Me Happy", selection of colours and the drawing.
Dr Haroona Jatoi showed a brief video showing the many successful aspects of women in Pakistan from prime minister to air force pilot, from author to singer. She said, "Women in Pakistan have tremendous achievements to their credit and women like the recipients of the award today are beacons of light that show us the potential and hope of the future. I am grateful that PPAF is facilitating the empowerment of such women."
Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO of PPAF said that we all are responsible as individuals for ensuring that women have the space and opportunity to participate in the social, economic and political life of our country. It is unfortunate that Pakistan is the second last country on the Global Gender Gap index. It has been proven that you cannot develop as a nation by leaving half your population out of the process. We at PPAF are passionate about, and committed to ensuring that women play an equal role in this development process.
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