Activist from Kalash Valley wins award for inspiring and empowering women
March 17: (PR) Gul Nazar, a community resource person of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), from Kalasha Valley, Chitral won the Dawood Global Foundation Ladies Fund’s Idol Award 2017. The Award recognizes the efforts of individuals who work to inspire and empower women in the less affluent areas. The award was presented by Governor Sindh, Mr. Muhammad Zubair at the Governor House, Karachi.
Gul Nazar’s contribution under PPAF’s Program for Poverty Reduction in areas of nutrition, disease prevention, water sanitation, hygiene and mother and child healthcare in Chitral was highly praised at the ceremony. Her dedication reflects in the reduced susceptibility of numerous diseases especially among women and children in the Kalasha valley.
Having graduated with a masters’ degree, Gul Nazar highly regards the importance of education and believes it is the foundation of growth and success. “More opportunities for higher education should be created to educate young adults, especially girls in the Northern Areas of Pakistan”, she discussed while receiving the award. “It empowers them to make a difference in the society.”
Besides being an active community resource person, Nazar is also the Chairperson for Kalasha People Development Network and an active member of Kalasha Culture Saving Society. She has also served as a volunteer teacher at Government Middle School in Kalasha valley.
The Programme for Poverty Reduction (PPR) is financed by the Government of Italy through the Directorate General for Development Cooperation, and is supervised by the World Bank. PPAF is implementing the Programme through its partner organizations in 38 union councils existing in 14 districts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces as well as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).The Programme aims to transform the lives of poor and marginalized communities by establishing a social and productive infrastructure system supported by sustainable social safety nets.
Using the community driven development approach, PPAF has developed more than 350 Community Resource Persons (CRPs) in community engagement, financial and procurement management and development of union council plans. CRPs with PPAF partner organizations facilitate communities to identify and address the key development issues to build healthier societies. So far, 287 Village Development Plans have been designed that laid the foundation of need based integrated programming that allow development of villages through Community Physical Infrastructure ,Education, Health & Nutrition (EHN), Disaster Preparedness & Management and Livelihood, Employment & Enterprise Development.
