Project profile — FEMPOWER

• Pakistan (100.00%)

• Democratic participation and civil society:
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (15.00%)
Legislatures and political parties (15152) (37.00%)
Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (48.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Disability (significant objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)

The project aims to increase the political empowerment and enjoyment of rights by women, particularly young women, marginalized groups, and those at risk. The project also seeks to empower the poor and marginalized, especially women to articulate their concerns, exercise political choice and hold decision makers and policy makers to account. The project defines political empowerment as the capacity to participate more effectively in all public spheres, including but not limited to the electoral process. Project activities include: (1) providing technical assistance to women legislators for (a) improved legislative drafting, oversight, and post legislative scrutiny; and (b) on gender responsive budgets and obligations; (2) providing technical training to journalists from 4 provincial capitals and 11 districts on gender sensitive reporting; (3) providing leadership training to community women, women councillors and men allies in 11 districts; (4) providing training to grassroots women and men allies on Personal Status Laws, gender-based violence, education and health services; and (5) providing technical training to women, youth, minority and peasant/labor councillors on provincial local government systems, planning and budgets.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) reinforce the demands of women and civil society organizations for gender equality and inclusive democracy at various levels through awareness raising, capacity building, networking and conducting evidence based advocacy campaigns; (2) extend technical support to elected and executive branches of government to promote and institutionalize gender equitable laws, policies & budgets; (3) women and youth are provided with opportunities for self-expression and engagement in public debates around gender; (4) strengthened women and women councillors to adopt rights-seeking behavior and assume leadership roles; and (5) ensure greater access of women to gender-sensitized state actors, non-state actors and media personnel. The combined impact of these interventions increases the political empowerment of women and help to reduce poverty in Pakistan.

Results achieved at the end of the project (March 2024) include: (1) supported 202 civil society organizations to actively participate in project-led campaigns for gender equality and inclusive governance; (2) trained 234 media personnel (48 women, 185 men and 1 transgender person) on gender-sensitive reporting; (3) supported 89 local civil society organizations to launch 1,205 Social Accountability Action Plans, and successfully implemented 717; (4) engaged 9,886 women in public events, forums and platforms designed to increase women’s political empowerment; (5) supported 28,390 people (22,320 women, 1,042 men and 5,028 transgender persons) to obtain their official identity documents and register as voters; and (6) supported women’s rights activists in drafting 12 Charters of Demands (7 district-level, 4 provincial and 1 national) presented to parliamentarians and decision-makers. By the end of the project, these actions helped approximately 5.8 million people to be better informed of the rights of women and girls, and the value of an inclusive democracy.

• Proactive disclosure