In 1999 DOST started rights protection and social rehabilitation programmes for women, children and juvenile prisoners in Peshawar, Haripur and Mardan Districts. Self- help therapeutic communities providing psychosocial, awareness, legal aid, healthcare and vocational skills training were developed in Central Prisons of Peshawar, Haripur and Mardan.
DOST GULOONA DAY CARE CENTRE & OUT REACH SERVICES
DONOR: Dost Welfare Foundation/ Dost UK
Street Children programmes were also started for the children living and /or working on the streets of Peshawar. ‘Street wise’ as early as four, these children spend their days scavenging rubbish tips or industrial waste sites, beg or take on menial jobs. Be it economic or social factors, the majority of street children leave their homes between the age of 8 and 14 for an uncertain future expecting to fend for themselves or their families doing different jobs; but after arriving in the city, they discover that the streets are not paved with gold.
Once on the streets, they are extremely prone to all forms of hazards. When refused job opportunities, some fall back on begging or pick-pocketing for their day-to-day survival, while others end up as victims of sexual abuse or as drug addicts, as they are often paid in drugs for their “drug couriering” services.
While most children go home for the night after spending most of their day on the streets, increasing numbers return to the dangerous streets of Peshawar each evening to eke out a living and to provide food for their family. Our request for a night shelter focuses particularly on these children living on the streets. Many of them are homeless and are displaced from their homes in the remote war ravaged regions of the frontier regions of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Without family members to turn to, these children struggle for survival and at the highest risk of molestation, exploitation, radicalization and coercion.
Dost Welfare Foundation established a children’s Day Care Center named Guloona (“Flower” in Pashto) in September 2009 at Haji Camp in Peshawar. Haji camp is a high risk area for street children, with the largest bus terminal where travelers converge from all over Pakistan, Afghanistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas where the war on terror is on-going as well as a social conflict between the ideology of the locals and the Taliban. Haji Camp is a congested area of Peshawar city with major street hubs where street children work and live.
The Guloona DCC at Haji Camp provides a wide range of needs based and rights based services to the street children.
- The Reach-Out Mobile Team conducts daily visits to previously identified and mapped street hubs in the Haji Camp area where street children live and work, to identify and register the high risk cases.
- Identification and assessment of street children who have no or very little contact with their families. These children are identified through the mobile team and other DOST partners (Social Welfare Department, Drop-in Centers, local youth help-lines, partner organizations and community members) and assessed as high risk, registered and admitted to the shelter.
- Family tracing of destitute children (runaways, orphans, abandoned, separated, unaccompanied, sexually abused, displaced children, etc) will commence. Each child is assigned to a counselor upon his arrival at the residential facility. The facility will provide temporary shelter to these children to take them off the streets until they are reunited with their families. The family will be traced with the help of the outreach team and partner organizations.
- Family Reunification: After the initial contact with the child’s family, the assigned counselor will devise a thorough family assessment plan. The family support will be evaluated by conducting home visits, arranging counselor-family sessions at the DCC and telephonic sessions with families.
- Family Counseling: Parents and guardians of street children will be sensitized, counseled and guided about their responsibility in the development of their children through family programmes at the DCC and through community home visits.
- Family mobilization: Families of street children will be mobilized for their role in the protection and social reintegration process. These families will be further supported and involved in the process of education, skill development, and social reintegration of their children.
- Reintegration: After assessing the family support for a child, a complete future plan for each child will be devised by the assigned counselor with the family. Various factors will be taken into account while developing the future plan such as family’s socio-economic status, child’s history, family’s participation and child’s interests/ skills etc. The child may be referred for schooling and/or vocational skills training after being reunified with the family.
- Formal schooling: After registration the children are given non-formal education comprised of a one-month basic literacy course to prepare them for school. With the consent of their families they are then admitted into schools in their own locality with all expenses arranged by DOST. (Admission fee, tuition fee, books, uniform).
- Follow-up: Children who have been reintegrated with their families will be followed up for a year.
| Progress Indicators | 2019-2020 |
|---|---|
| No. of street visits done | 259 |
| No. of clients registered | 283 |
| No. of clients given formal education | 180 |
| No. of clients given non formal education | 119 |
| No. of clients referred for drug treatment | 85 |
| No. of children reunified with families | 56 |
| No. of children given awareness on street | 1041 |
| No. of children given awareness in DCC | 226 |
| No. of children attended psychosocial classes | 260 |
| No. of individual counselling sessions done | 866 |
| No. of family counselling sessions done | 89 |
PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN CONFLICT WITH LAW.
DONOR: Dost Welfare Foundation
Background:
The Central Prison in Peshawar has the largest prison population in KP and the largest number of women prisoners with minor children. On any day 22 to 33 children are held in this prison. Some children stay for weeks or months while others may stay for years. In any given year the number of children incarcerated Central Prison Peshawar is about 100-150. 40% of these are with convicted mothers and are held up to 7 years. The other 60% accompany under-trial mothers and stay in prison for shorter periods.
Specific Objectives:
- Protection and promotion of health of children in prison.
- Established a child care programme for the proper growth and development of children.
- Provided a facility for life skills based non-formal and formal education for the children.
- Non formal education- NFE.
- Provided vocational skills training for female prisoners.
| Progress Indicators | 2019-2020 |
|---|---|
| Total number of children registered for non-formal education | 136 |
| Total no. of females | 989 |
| Total no. of awareness sessions | 286 |
| No. of prisoners attended skills trainings | 246 |
| Total no. of female referred for services | 336 |
Prevention of COVID-19 in 21 Prisons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
DONOR: Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI)
Background:
The project was an extension of DOST’s ongoing response to the Government of Pakistan call to fight novel Coronavirus, COVID-19 crisis with the financial assistance of the Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) in the 21 operating prisons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The emergency response was initiated in the mid of April 2020, with strong endorsement and demand for support from the office of the Inspector General Prisons, KP. Prevention items have already been supplied to five prisons of KP. The project also focuses on building an adequate linkage with the stakeholders of CJS, including Health System for addressing other risk factors to prevent an epidemic of infections in the future. Subsequently, all these will contribute to improve the overall conditions of vulnerable groups in the CJS.
People in detention where physical distancing is not an option are likely to be more vulnerable to outbreak than the general population. The prison environment is highly conducive to the transmission of infections due to a number systemic problems exists within the system of KP, including overcrowding and inadequate health services, in some prisons. Prison overcrowding in most of the prisons is one of the major challenges in providing safe and healthy environment.
| Progress Indicators | 2019-2020 |
|---|---|
| PPEs Kits distributed among prison medical/ staff are working in vulnerable positions. | 125 |
| Hygiene kits (surgical mask, surgical gloves, soaps and sanitizer) have been distributed in 21 prisons of KP. | 1360 |
| PPEs kits (gown, face shield, surgical mask and surgical gloves) have been distributed in the target prisons. | 4731 |
| Thermal guns have also been distributed in the target prisons. | 306 |
| Spray machines with 80 jars (35 liters each) of chlorine and 259 dozen of Dettol (Chloroxylenol) were distributed in the target prisons of KP. | 51 |
| Cases were identified in 6 prisons for direct free legal aid services. | 160 |
Prevention of COVID-19 in the Transgender Community in five Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
DONOR: Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI)
Background:
The proposed project was an extension of DOST’s ongoing response to the Government of Pakistan call to fight novel Coronavirus, COVID-19 crisis with the financial assistance of the Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) for the most marginalized community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The proposed project reached out to the transgender population living in rented buildings ‘Dera’ in five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi.
According to the Pakistan Census 2017, the total transgender people reported are 10,418 in the country. Punjab with the highest population of 6,709 transgender people registered in the category, followed by Sindh with 2,527. Whereas, KP houses 913 transgender people.
Contrary to the figures reported in the census, the organizations working for the rights of Transgenders claim that the count significantly underestimates the size of the population in the country. There is a significant gap between the available figures, as some experts suggest that there are 300,000 to 500,000 transgender across Pakistan. They also suggest that the main reason for not disclosing their status is to avoid discrimination. Similarly, in case of KP there are estimated 8000 transgender people compared to the 913 registered census figure in KP. The majority estimated population live in rented building ‘Dera’ in the proposed five districts of KP.
The proposed project focus was on reaching the transgender community living in rented building ‘Dera’ in five districts including Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera and Swabi to prevent them from the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.
| Progress Indicators | 2019-2020 |
|---|---|
| Field visits in five districts for initial assessment, coordination, distribution of Food packages “Ration” and Hygiene Kits. | 21 |
| Sensitization meetings were conducted with the concerned GO’s of KP | 04 |
| Stakeholders participated in the Provincial level Consultative workshop on “Social Support Mechanism for Transgender Persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”. | 50 |
| Awareness sessions conducted through trained peer educators from the target community to promote good health and hygiene practices reaching almost 1000 transgender persons in target districts. | 100 |
| Protective/ hygiene items, including surgical masks, gloves, soaps and sanitizers were distributed among the target population in the target districts. | 1800 |
| Food Packages ‘Ration’ including cooking oil, pulses, milk, sugar, tea etc were distributed in the deserving transgenders in the target districts. | 600 |