Peace & Justice Network

Aawaz II - Knowledge HUB Punjab

Aawaz II has been working with local communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to promote the rights of children, women, youth and other marginalised groups to strengthen and facilitate development of these sections of society. The British Council is leading on the delivery of the Aawaz II community engagement component, which aims to create awareness and behaviour change and increase citizen-state engagement in a bid to inculcate change in the harmful practices of child marriage, gender-based violence (GBV), exclusion, exploitation and intolerance.

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.
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.

Change Pathways

The Aawaz II theory of change posits that issues faced in target communities stem from the limited voice and choice of the marginalised groups, such as women, youth, children, religious minorities, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and transgender persons. This increases their vulnerability to discrimination and exploitation while systemic inequalities and harmful socio-cultural practices perpetuate intolerance.

The programme has two interlinked change pathways, i.e., behaviour change and citizen-state engagement. Increased awareness, changed attitudes and behaviours supported under the first pathway create conditions for more effective citizen-state interaction under the second. Increased referrals and services arising from the second pathway grant legitimacy to forums and support changing attitudes and behaviours under the first change pathway. This is achieved by building capacities of communities, amplifying voices for change, shifting attitudes, providing information referrals, and encouraging communities and duty bearers to work together to improve access to services.