Building partnerships for scaling access to justice for survivors of sexual violence in Pakistan
This project is part of a larger, multi-donor initiative which is scaling up access to justice for survivors of sexual violence in Pakistan through a partnership between IDRC, Foundation Open Society Initiative Pakistan (FOSIP), and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission for the Status of Women (KPCSW). Other donors such as USAID will also be contributing directly to the KP Commission for the implementation of the initiative. The initiative builds on the findings of previous IDRC projects indicating that laws and justice sector practices contain inbuilt biases against women seeking remedy for sexual and gender-based violence which could be transformed through better feminist practices.
The initiative will take forward IDRC-supported work on police, medical and forensic protocols for the victims of sexual and gender-based violence. It will undertake research studies in four areas (medico-legal systems, police protocols, the criminal justice system, and the right to information), and it will hold an international conference of experts. The project will also design and implement a pilot project in one district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This pilot project will help to provide systematic evidence on how police protocols, legal mechanisms and medical practices need to be revamped to ensure the dignity of the survivor as well as fair and just outcomes. It will also feed into more effective practices and policies.
The Foundation Open Society Initiative, Pakistan (FOSIP) is supporting five key workshops in Pakistan on health systems, police procedures, evidence gathering, knowledge gaps, and legal practices. IDRC will provide technical and financial support for the four background research studies based on the findings of these workshops. With IDRC support, Rural Support Programs Network (RSPN) will design the pilot program based on the research findings, focusing on the problem areas identified in each research study. RSPN will also be responsible for bringing together the experience, including results and the outcomes of the pilot, at a regional conference attended by experts in the four identified areas. Using the project insights, FOSIP and KPCSW will scale up the pilot project and implement the initiative in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with support from USAID through a grant from the UK’s Department for International Development.
Project ID
108743
Project Status
Active
Duration
24 months
IDRC Officer
Ramata Thioune
Total Funding
CA$ 250,000.00
Location
Pakistan
Programs
Governance and Justice
Institution Country
Pakistan
Project Leader
Hina Jilani
Institution
Trustees of the Dastak Charitable Trust
Institution Website
Institution Country
Pakistan
Project Leader
Shandana Khan
Institution
Rural Support Programmes Network
Institution Website
Outputs
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Community paralegal manual : monitoring and protecting the legal rights of women and girls and improving their access to jutice Training Materials
This module is designed to train community workers as paralegals to aid and assist survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to recognize themselves as right-holders and access appropriate response services to mitigate and recover from the harm suffered by them. Unlike conventional paralegals, the principal role of community paralegals is not to assist lawyers, but rather to work directly with the communities they serve and act as knowledge banks navigating help seekers to vital response services. As community workers possess a deep understanding of the social issues and everyday challenges faced by women and girls in their community, they are uniquely positioned to promote empowerment by fostering legal awareness in the community and creating linkages with relevant services. Author(s): Dastak Charitable Trust Language: English |
Monitoring and case observations in gender based violence court Study
This report sets out to monitor the protocols established for the GBV Court in Lahore via a series of court observations and study of selected judgements. The aim of this exercise was to not only monitor and assess the implementation of the specialized protocols designed for the functioning of the Court but to also evaluate the performance of the Court and propose recommendations for its improved operations. Dastak monitored proceedings in the GBV Court to mark trends in the application of the human rights-based approach and gender sensitivity in the prosecution of GBV cases. This monitoring also included eliciting feedback from judges, prosecutors and other relevant actors present within the Court. Judicial decisions of the GBV court were also collected for an evidence-based study of trends such as rate of convictions and acquittal and the time taken to decide a case etc. These observations and monitoring will be used for advocacy on legislative and/or procedural reform. Author(s): Dastak Language: English |
Building partnerships for scaling access to justice for survivors of sexual violence in Pakistan Report
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a prevalent issue faced by vulnerable segments of the population and disproportionately impacts women in Pakistan. While legislative and policy reforms have been endorsed at the state level to protect women their activation and implementation remains in a limbo. Focus on legislation and policy reform remains greater than enforcement of such laws and the establishment of protection mechanisms contained within. This and other factors including lack of resources, lack of awareness and inter-departmental coordination and under trained staff directly contribute to the weak response and underreporting of GBV. Having a strong understanding of the key challenges and hurdles in survivors’ access to justice and protection through Dastak’s extensive work in the field, this project was designed to focus on promoting the activation and/or usage of existing services within the Punjab Women Protection System (PWPS), increase interplay between Dastak’s work and state mechanisms, develop tools that to aid responders in the field to use WPS more effectively and improve the quality of response given to survivors of GBV. Author(s): Fawad, Mahnoor, Jilani, Hina, Shaikh, Saba Naveed Language: English |
Building public support for and awareness on PPR Services with a human rights approach : community awareness campaign Study
Beauty salons serve as safe community spaces where those who come to avail services often discuss/share their personal stories and domestic concerns. Having developed outreach in communities through its paralegals, Dastak saw this as an opportunity to improve knowledge on marriage rights and outreach of its services by providing basic training and information material to beauticians/salon owners and to enable them to guide their female clients as well as their employees to resources and knowledge concerning matters related to marriage and domestic violence. Author(s): Dastak Language: English |
Data management system and crisis management analysis report Study
Dastak’s Crisis Management Center served as the first line of contact for all new arrivals, managed the daily running and decision making in the shelter, provided legal assistance and advice as well as maintaining all resident data. During the project period, one of Dastak’s primary goals was to improve service delivery through a coordinated and collective response and bringing crisis management and shelter practices in line with the human rights-based approach. In this regard, various practices were changed, certain operations streamlined and improved, and new systems put in place to improve data management systems and active engagement with state run services. This report outlines a detailed analysis of the interventions made during the period, drawing from the data recorded in a customized shelter database. The learnings from analysis of the practices and interventions also led to improvement in interagency relations and internal practices. Author(s): Dastak Language: English |
Emergency protocols for safety of incoming GBV survivors, existing residents and shelter staff amidst COVID-19 pandemic Brief
The document lists the Covid-19 response protocols for all new and existing residents in shelters for gender-based violence survivors. Author(s): IDRC Language: English |
Building partnerships for scaling access to justice for survivors of sexual violence in Pakistan : case studies Study
While women came to Dastak with common concerns such as domestic violence or abuse, each story is different and offered insights which could potentially help improve our understanding of women’s lived experience within a deeply patriarchal society. Dastak becomes a temporary home to hundreds of women every year and each of these women had a unique background and experiences. A need was felt to document not just these women’s biographical data but also the story of their journey to Dastak, their emotions and feelings, their experience of the women protection system in the country as well as their plans and hopes for the future. Dastak started in depth interviews with its residents after gaining their explicit written consent and created anonymous case studies so that Dastak’s work could be humanized and the survivor’s stories could be highlighted. The case studies also helped document insights and key learnings about the women protection system which could potentially benefit Dastak in future cases. Following are a few case studies of Dastak residents who were residing at the shelter between May 2020 and February 2022. Author(s): Language: English |
Access to justice for GBV survivors : improving protection, prevention and response (PPR) services Brief
The one-page brief explains the rationale, proposed approach, and expected outcomes of the project. Author(s): Dastak Charitable Trust Language: English |
Building partnerships for scaling access to justice for survivors of sexual violence in Pakistan Report
This is the closing report for the project “Building Partnerships for Scaling Access to Justice for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Pakistan”. The project aimed to provide systematic evidence on how police protocols, legal mechanisms and medical practices need to be revamped to ensure the dignity and just outcomes for survivors of sexual violence (SV), and feed into more effective practices and policies. Author(s): Rural Support Programmes Network Language: English |
Gender based violence practitioners manual : a practical resource to guide and prepare those working in gender based violence (GBV) prevention and response in the Punjab Training Materials
This manual has been designed to help train and increase the capacity of practitioners to provide services to victims and survivors of gender-based violence in Punjab. It is meant to be used as a guide for trainers and for practitioners. It should ideally be supplemented with workshops and refresher courses as it contains activities and assessments to be implemented during such training. This manual is for all practitioners—including first responders, law enforcement, welfare officers, lawyers, prosecutors, court officials—who are part of the larger system of aiding victims and survivors of GBV. While this document will focus on Punjab, it can be adopted and used by practitioners across Pakistan. Author(s): Dastak Language: English |