Development Enhancement & Effectiveness Partners - DEEP

INCREASING RESILIENCE & CAPACITY BUILDING OF DISABLES FOR BETTER HEALTH AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY (PILOT PHASE)

DEEP Hyderabad is implementing the project “INCREASING RESILIENCE & CAPACITY BUILDING OF DISABLES FOR BETTER HEALTH AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY (PILOT PHASE of 12 months Oct 14, Sep 15)” in facilitation with DEEP Head office in Rawalpindi. This project has been funded by the ABILIS Foundation, Finland.

This project is unique in its objectives and the related issues are really challenging but in collaboration and guidance of DEEP Head office in Rawalpindi, DEEP Hyderabad doing its level best and the neglected, disappointed and poor disable youth is being empowered. It is hoped that once they are trained, they will be able to create opportunities to earn for themselves, for their families and will be useful citizens of the society as they will be contributing in sustainable development.

Project Activities

• The identification and enlisting process started in September 2014. The project team at DEEP Hyderabad identified 50 PWDs belonging to different areas, faiths, having different disabilities.

• Launching ceremony of the project took place on September 26, 2014.

• Awareness seminars and celebration of international day of PWDs were conducted.

• Vocational trainings are being conducted in collaboration with available institutions / workshops etc and the trainees and monthly stipend Rs.1000.- is being paid to each trainee regularly.

• Upon the successful completion, 15 trainees will be given loan for starting their own business at small scale.

• Meetings with different departments / institutions and civil society organizations are being conducted by the project team and head office as well for linkages building for future interventions.

• Monitoring of the activities is also being conducted by project team of DEEP Hyderabad and one monitoring was conducted by a team of DEEP head office in December 2014.

The project is in its 9th month and the team working hard to make it a success facing all the challenges. We thank ABILIS FOUNDATION Finland for joining hands with DEEP for the neglected segments of society.

As many as 1.5 million children in Pakistan are on the street and the country has not yet achieved 50 percent literacy ration even after 65 years of independence. The ratio of child labour and street children in Pakistan has increased against other countries in the region. "The government's lack of seriousness on the issue of child labour can be gauged from the fact that no data is available since 1996," As per unofficial statistics, there were 10.2 million children involved in child labour in Pakistan.

"The government has already declared education as a fundamental right of every individual under Article 25-A of the Constitution," and it was essential to sensitize people of the importance to the right to education. Urging the government to take immediate steps to increase the education ratio in the country, he said that under the 18th amendment, child rights fell under the domain of provinces.

"The government should increase the minimum age of employment under the Employment of Children Act, 1991, from 14 to 16 years, allowing children to avail their fundamental right to education. Furthermore, enforcement of policy and legislative initiatives at the grassroots level could be ensured by establishing a strong implementation regime. "The Employment of Children Act 1991 is not being enforced comprehensively, owing to inadequate administrative structure."

Problem statementAbout 1.2 million to 1.5 million children roam the streets of Pakistan, meaning that we have one of the largest street children populations in the world. There are an estimated 100 million street children in the world today, who are exposed to the worst kinds of labor and hardships.

A large portion of these children are ‘run away’, who are forced from their homes on to the streets because of poverty, corporal punishment, ignorance of families, step parents, peer pressure, natural disasters or militancy attacks. A big chunk of these children, shunned by society, also become a part of juvenile crimes, taking their misery as a misguided means to earn back their rights.

According to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) survey, 72% of working children do not have contact with their families and 10% have no knowledge of their families. Statistics bode ill for this nation where more than 40% of the population is under 15, 48 million people live below the poverty line and earn less than US.00 a day. Nine out of 100 children die before they reach their first birthday. Half the population is illiterate.

"Street wise" as early as four, these children beg and scavenge around rubbish dumps or industrial waste sites or take on menial jobs as cart pushers or dish washers, working 12-15 hours a day to earn around 75 rupees or US.25- enough to buy a meal if they are fortunate. Most survive by prostituting themselves, stealing or smuggling, making them vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Jaundice and liver or kidney disorders. A large proportion sniffs cheap, readily available solvents to starve off hunger, loneliness and fear.

Child 'rental' for begging is a new and increasingly popular phenomenon among poor households. Parents 'rent' their children out to an individual or group and both parties share the child's earnings. The inhumane treatment drives children to drugs and into the arms of criminal gangs who promise protection, food and a better life.

Situation of Street Children in Lahore & Rawalpindi-Islamabad

The twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and Lahore are becoming multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural areas as people all over Pakistan and a great number of Afghan Refugees having diverse ethnic backgrounds reside in these cities and in adjoining areas as well. The great volume of people has impacted the very core of these cities and problem are mounting adding fuel to the fire is the lack of adequate opportunities for social development and other aspects. Different crisis have played vital role in keeping the majority of the people under poverty line and children are the major victims of these tragedies.

Most street children came from large families which had recently moved to the city in search of economic opportunities. Their parents have low education levels and are either unemployed or employed in unskilled occupations. Poverty clearly is an important factor. The majority of the children moved to the street to augment family income. Most of the children were males (81%) and the average age at beginning life on the street is under 10 years. The majority is working 8-12 h daily with an average income of Rs. 40-60 per day. Important issues were parental exploitation, police harassment, abuse, and the impact of other street peers in their lives.

DEEP Intiative for Street Children

Having conducted need assessment in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore, DEEP plans to start Street children Protection and Rehabilitation Program initially in 3 cities. Later on assessing the success indicators it will be implemented in other areas as well. 

For this purpose DEEP Invites all the civiil society organizations, government departments, media and corporate sector to join hands to save the vulnerable children from physical, mental, sexual and social violence.

Dear Friends,

The recent tragedy in Lahore (Pakistan) has left more than two hundred Christian families in acute need of support and help to start the normal life from a straw. There are different organizations intervening to provide the support to the victims at this crucial time.

Getting the news on Saturday evening (March 9,2013) Development Enhancement & Effectiveness Partners (DEEP), a Pakistan based small scale organization with its limited resources has set up a fund for supporting these victims. DEEP, supported 2862 vulnerable families during Sindh flood 2011 in 7 districts of Sindh Province using local resources and now DEEP is in process to mobilize resources for the victims of Lahore. The fund has been named as “ Support Fund for Victims of Joseph Colony Lahore”

Initially, within two days, Rs.35,000.00 have been collected from our like minded friends and the campaign is going on.

Steps to be taken

• DEEP Head office in Rawalpindi has received initial report from Lahore about the situation. Emergency Response Department is busy in designing comprehensive need assessment format. The need assessment will provide the concrete information and required needs to be focused. It will also provide the information of other organization working in the affected area and their nature of work. Upon findings, DEEP would prefer to focus on women and children needs.

• The need assessment survey will be conducted on March 16-17, 2013. After comprehensive assessment, the project proposal will focus on immediate needs and the longer term needs and will be shared with different partners.

• Whatever the resources will be received by DEEP, will be utilized keeping in mind the low cost high impact rule.

• Each and every contributor will be intimated about the utilization of the funds and the audit report will also be shared.

Initial Response

Another organization reported the following needs which are required most urgently.

We have just returned from Badami Bagh the enormity of the damage is beyond comprehension. Absolute devastation, everything completely destroyed, burnt down to ashes.

They need any and every thing:

Water / Juices / Milk

Biscuits / Rusks / Chips (dry foods) etc

Mosquito Repellents

Clothes (Men, Women, Children, Babies)

Slippers (Men, Women, Children, Babies)

Buckets, mugs etc

Sheets, pillows, blankets, tents

School books, copies, uniform, and other related material for restarting the education,

Medicines

DEEP requests to all the friends to join hands and lets support the victims to start their normal life to some extent. Please feel free to contact for information and contribution.

Response Conducted

Total funds recieved were Rs. 50,000.00 and 2 membered DEEP Head office assessed the situation and avoiding dubplication with other organizations, as per demand and need of the community, 140 school Children were provided stationery items such as school bags, copies, pencils, color pencils etc on March 17, 2013. 

A well wisher of DEEP who has become citizen of UK, donated 50 Pound Sterlings for DEEP. This is the first drop and the respective wellwisher is assured for transperant utilization of this amount for establishing of Computer literacy center and skill development center for rural females. The project location is at village Hari Singh wala district Faisalabad(Lyallpur) Pakistan.

Each and every penny that is donated to DEEP is valuable contribution and the expenses and progress would be shared with the respective donors and also at DEEP website and other social networks.

Every person who donates has a right to track down the donated money's utilization. As per the policies DEEP is very much committed to ensure transperancy.

for comments and feed back plz contact:- [email protected]

As per decisions made during strategic planning meeting held on February 15,2012, Mr. Nadeem Yousaf has been appointed asHead of Networking & Fundraising. This decision was taken in consultation with heads of DEEP Karachi, DEEP Quetta and DEEP Bahawalpur. The chairperson DEEP was also present.

The chairperson welcomed him for his new responsibilities and assured him every possible cooperation.

Severe rainsand flood in the area have caused a severe shortage of drinking water Monday,Geo News reported. The life of residents has been severely affected and theyare left searching for drinking water.

With water wells in the district inundated, residents are left with no choicebut to drink the dirty rainwater.

“Diseases are spreading because we have no option but to drink the rain water”said a local resident.

Several feet of water has accumulated in Badin and residents are searching forhigher ground, clinging to what is left of their belongings.

Meanwhile rescue operations continue in Badin which was declaredcalamity-stricken by the Sindh Government on Saturday.

DEEP Response:

DEEP Hyderabad is planing assessment of the situation and then on priority basis the actions would be taken withing this weekend.

News Letter for Civil Society Organizations

Development Enhancement & Effectiveness Partners (DEEP) is planning to start publishing a news letter for civil society organizations. Initially it will be available in English only later on it will be in different languages as per need. The objective of this initiative is to provide valuable information about development activities, funding opportunities, capacity building initiatives, challenges and Lessons learning from each other.

We here by request all the civil society organizations and individuals to provide us your valuable suggestions and comments and also what else u people suggest to be part of this news letter.

Your feed back and comments as well as suggestions are keenly awaited and would be highly appreciated.

Plz contact:-

H # 1002, Mughalabad Road, Tench Bhatta Rawalpindi Cantt. Pakistan

Ph: + 92 51 257 3266

+ 92 51 819 5931

Fax: + 92 51 551 8529

Email: [email protected]

Postal Address:-

P.o Box 428, GPO

Rawalpindi, Pakistan

The monsoon season is alwaysawaited in Pakistan,as this not only fills the dams’ reservoirs but also waters the fields where innormal conditions water is scant. But some times when it prolongs with heavyand continuous downpour, it plays havoc with life and property without anydistinction.    

The worst floods in memory in Pakistan have devastated the lives of more than 3 million people an still it is devastating. The catastrophe, which started last week of July 2010, and has killed more than 1,400 people, is likely to deepen as more rains are expected and a breakout of water-borne diseases such as cholera could create a health crisis.

Pakistani authorities are struggling to help flood victims, many of whom have lost everything and say they received no warnings that raging waters were heading their way. Anger was palpable in towns such as Charssada. A Reuters reporter saw people attacking trucks distributing relief items. Police then charged at them with batons.

Waters have spread from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Pakistan's Punjab heartland, the major food-producing province, as well as the Sindh region.To add to the people's misery, food prices are also rising sharply as agriculture has been wiped out.

the miseries are mounting becuase of lack of resources and destruction of infrastructures as the main bridges, roads, shortage of releif goods and less capacity of civil society organizations due to greater magnitude. At the moment it is impossibleto assess the extent of damage. The flooding may have damaged hundreds ofhouses and life loss can be more as search-and-rescue work progressed. Due tothe heavy rains affected population especially poor people who were in housesmade by mud bricks have lost every thing of their daily use and majority ofthem are stranded helplessly.

Greatest damage is loss of crops and animals which are basic for livelihood and provide raw material for differnt industries.

All the people of the world are requested to lend hand in releif and rehabilitation. The dire consequences can be extreme poverty, mass scale casualities due to diseases and hunger, and surviving youth falling prey to differnt militant outfits.

Dear Friends,

It is matter of great pleasure that after years of contemplation, learning, networking and planing, at last DEEP is taking birth as an organization. First of all it is going to be functional in Pakistan, and then it is crossing borders round the globe.

Ground work in underway rapidly in Pakistan's cities such as Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Quetta, Hyderabad, Karachi. Soon you will be reading about the formal launch.

Ground work also going on in some other countries as well. Please pray for the people who are busy in making this dream a reality and also give your critical feed back.

Sincerely

DEEP International