Aawaz II - Knowledge HUB Punjab
Program Vision: A more inclusive, tolerant and peaceful Pakistan, with less exclusion and exploitation
Aawaz II works with local communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab provinces to promote the rights of children, women, youth, religious minorities, persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups, to facilitate and strengthen their development. The programme is managed by the British Council. Aawaz II works with the district level downstream partners (DSPs) and two provincial partner organisations to implement the community-based interventions in KP and Punjab. The community component focuses on providing information referrals, facilitate citizen-state engagement for uptake of services and enhance capacities of local communities for behaviour change to reduce community acceptance of child marriage, gender-based violence (GBV) and intolerance. Peace and Justice Network (PJN) is the provincial partner of Aawaz II in Punjab province.
Aawaz II Programme Guide:
Key Interventions
- Establishing community forums and providing capacity building and institutional support to forum members, which eventually generates ownership and empowers them to address behaviour change, reduce harmful practices, and adopt appropriate means of pre-empting community conflict without infringing on the rights of the vulnerable.
- Strengthening citizen engagement to effectively raise informed and focused demands. This is critical when engaging government duty bearers and elected representatives, when advocating for service provision, budgetary allocations, efficient and timely use of resources, or the protection of vulnerable groups’ rights. (Aawaz Aagahi Centre Booklet in URDU and English)
- Training and development of Aawaz II Change Agents, who engage with communities through Social Action Projects (SAPs).
- Developing and disseminating behaviour change messages using interpersonal, print, radio and digital media.