Daily Times

In response to the issues of Gender-Based Violence and gender disparity in education, Rozan, in collaboration with the Elementary and Secondary Education Department, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and SPO, launched a comprehensive project titled ‘Gender Mainstreaming and GBV for Human capital investment project (KP-HCIP)’ to mitigate GBV and violence against children in 1000 schools in 13 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A seminar on ‘Transforming Education, Emerging Issues of Gender-Based Violence and Child Protection’ was held here Friday to create a safe learning environment for children and to reach 1000 schools, conducting comprehensive training sessions with school teachers, representatives of Parent Teacher Councils (PTCs), Village Network Forums (VNFs), and Village Education Committees (VECs). Representatives from different Government departments, civil society, the local community, school management and students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad attended the event.

These sessions will mainly focus on addressing issues of Gender Based Violence, Violence Against Children, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse with sensitivity and efficiency. The training will empower the 1000 GBV Focal Persons to effectively address GBV, VAC, SH and SEA, ensuring the Implementation of the code of conduct, Grievance and Referral Mechanism.

While addressing the seminar, the Chief Guest of the event, Ms. Nilofar Bakhtiar, Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), said, “Let’s begin by recognizing the context we are addressing the widespread gender disparities and the issues of gender-based violence and child protection. Statistics are alarming; according to International and national reports, every third woman faces violence, and a child is abused every two hours. This is also a fact that reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg. The project is a direct response to these challenges”.

She further said that the collaboration between the government, education department, CSOs like Rozan, SPO, and the World Bank signals a commitment to a multi-faceted approach. This approach aims to not only address gender disparities and GBV but also to integrate solutions within our educational institutions, aiming to mitigate issues of violence against children and gender mainstreaming in 1000 schools in 13 districts of KP.

She expressed that the seminar was pertinent to engaging the relevant stakeholders and seeking their input and commitments to provide a safer environment for children in school settings. She said that key stakeholders’ expertise in promoting gender equality and violence prevention brought a critical perspective to the project, and their strengths in social mobilization were adding insight into creating a sustainable change. Further, the involvement of international organizations underscored the global importance of this initiative and recognized education as a critical driver of progress.