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Two weeks US/Pakistan: Disability Leadership Exchange Program – Eugene Oregon May 14 – 28, 2013

Khadim Hussain Chief Executive GRACE Association was invited by Mobility International USA to participate in a two weeks US/Pakistan: Disability Leadership Exchange Program to Eugene Oregon during May 14 – 28, 2013.

Mr. Hussain participated in the program with a dynamic group of men and women professionals with and without disabilities from throughout Pakistan. The delegation included twenty professionals working in fields related to policy and legislation, education, employment, health, disaster relief, emergency response, gender inclusion, advocacy, youth leadership and community development.

The program helped improve knowledge and building leadership skills to strengthen organizations working to empower people with disabilities in Pakistan. The opportunities provided were good to develop new ideas and plans to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in civil society and political leadership; and the program definitely promoted mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States of America and Pakistan. Many American people had a different view before meeting the delegates but after discussion they learned that Pakistanis are same people as others and they have same understanding, respect for others. The delegates also learned about American Disability Act, and implementation of the act in letter and spirits that type of culture and commitment is yet invisible in Pakistan

During the 14-day program, the delegates had opportunities to experience of physical exercise at Gym, biking, enjoyed the visit to Oregon Coast. The delegates met with U.S. professionals with and without disabilities, including disability rights advocates, educators, community service providers, government officials and international development specialists. All of them were eager to share their expertise and experiences with the delegates. All program activities, workshops and site visits were interactive, practical, and “hands-on” with an opportunity for individual participation and group interaction.

Mr. Hussain appreciates the enthusiasm in the service of human beings especially for people with disabilities and professional expertise and commitments in their jobs.

GRACE Association Pakistan in collaborations with Australian High Commission Islamabad
Our project is teachers training, learning hall and latrine block construction and the old school building renovation

Government investments in health, education, infrastructure and economic development of disadvantaged communities in remote and rural areas have sharply decreased over the last years. Today, an increasing number of people live in severe poverty. These developments have inevitable negative implications on the most vulnerable and underprivileged groups of society such as women and children in rural areas.

The northern region of Pakistan has been particularly hit by the aforementioned consequences. Rural communities and particularly girls lack essential primary education. Thanks to the efforts of community-led schools, a small percentage of children receive primary education and have access to basic schooling facilities in some rural villages. Nevertheless, a quarter of children cannot complete their primary education and around 35 per cent of children do not attend school at all. Unfortunately, without proper educational and professional guidance, children do not receive the essential analytical tools that would help them realize their full potential in life. More importantly, lack of good quality primary education contributes to the cycle of poverty in Pakistan, which worsens the long-term problems of poverty and illiteracy. But, we at GRACE Association believe that the aforementioned problems can be tackled by helping community led primary schools.

GRACE Association Pakistan in collaborations with Australian High Commission Islamabad is helping the Al-Zahra Girls School to increase enrolment, retention and improve learning outcomes. The school has been established in 1992 as the first girl school when it was considered a sin by parents to send their girl to school. The school is running by the village community based organization, called WAFA in Kwardu Skardu.

Our project is constructing a learning hall, latrine block for the school. The existing old school building is renovated and teachers training conducted for Al-Zahra and neighboring school teachers.

This project will have long-term benefits for the whole community. The student will obtain an improved educational quality and physical environment. With the improvements and rehabilitation of the premises, drop-out rates will significantly be decrease as more parents will send their daughters to school, which will result in higher enrolment rates among girls. The provision of sanitary latrines and upgrading sanitary services and providing sanitary education will help minimizing the risk of infectious/disease among children and their families.

Millions US dollars pledged for new Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) commitment to action for girls education

The GRACE Association Pakistan joined today a broad coalition committed to getting more girls around the world to go to school and learn at higher levels of achievement than ever before.

The commitment to action, “Girls CHARGE”, was unveiled today at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia and Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education. It is a CGI Commitment to Action by the Brookings Institution and 30 partner organizations.

Through “Girls CHARGE”, non-governmental organiza tions, foundations, governments and others are committing to work in the coming five years on fundamental girls’ education issues: helping girls attend and complete primary and secondary school, making schools safer, improving the quality of learning for girls, supporting their entry into higher education and employment, and helping local leaders to champion this work at the grassroots level. Supporting partners pledged several hundred million dollars collectively toward programs that will reach millions of girls across the globe.

In the past seven years, the GRACE Association in partnership with its supporters have helped approximately 7,000 girls enroll in and graduate from primary school in the remote northern regions of Pakistan. A recent study by GRACE found that maximum 80% of girls complete primary school. However, only 7% of girls from the survey villages complete secondary school. The rest drop out, despite poverty often because of a lack of secondary education opportunities in their villages, and many get married at an early age. By collaborating with international organizations on education sector plans that prioritize girls’ education in both primary and secondary school, the GRACE Association expects to increase the secondary completion rate of girls in the least developed rural villages in Pakistan from 7% to 50% between 2015 and 2018, translating into 17,000 more girls completing primary and secondary schools.

To do this, GRACE will work to expand access to quality learning opportunities for girls and children with disabilities at both the primary and secondary levels. GRACE Association will transform 30 existing exclusive primary schools for boys into inclusive primary schools including girls and children with disabilities, 10 new girl primary schools will be established in villages where so far no schooling opportunities for girls have been provided, and 10 existing girl/inclusive schools will be upgraded into secondary/higher secondary schools in collaborations with organizations interested to support this mutual cause by December 2018. GRACE Association will collect more and better education data, including data about girls’ access to quality education, their learning outcomes, and promising practices for scaling up learning interventions for girls. The availability of such data will significantly improve education planning and execution in the least developed rural villages in Pakistan .

The Clinton Global Initiative was established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton. It convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 180 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date members of the CGI community have made more than 2,900 commitments, which are already improving the lives of more than 430 million people in over 180 countries.