Dastak organized a series of activities to celebrate International Women’s Day in 2024. Each year Dastak marks this day with thoughtfully designed and planned events that are collaborative and in line with the theme and spirit of IWD.
Dastak featured in the 2024 winter edition of Legal Women UK magazine. Legal Women is a UK publication for all women working in law or planning to do so. It addresses equality, diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and practical initiatives for change. In the article, our Executive Director talks about the impact of Dastak’s work and its future plans.
Dastak’s senior representatives including Hina Jilani, Saba Shaikh and Sabahat Riaz held a meeting with the Inspector General Punjab police Usman Anwar to address certain pertinent matters related to women protection, security given to private and public emergency shelters and rights of political prisoners.
IG Punjab was very responsive to the concerns highlighted in the meeting and assured his full cooperation with Dastak. He assigned focal persons from his team to follow-up on the various issues. He also gave the team a personal tour of the Central Police Station and the changes made in the building to improve the working environment and morale of the officers. Hina Jilani was presented a souvenir as a token of appreciation for her team’s visit and service to human rights.
Dastak in Collaboration with Punjab Women Protection Authority, Social Welfare Department and Lahore University of Management Sciences organised a two-day legal experts consultation on the implementation of the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act 2016 on 5-6 June 2023. The consultation took place at LUMS and was attended by nearly 30 legal experts from Punjab and Sindh.
January 23-25, Lahore: In a second round of collaboration with JICA, Dastak conducted a training workshop for staff of Darul Amans in Punjab, Human Rights Centres and Violence against Women Centre. The participants included the Superintendents, Wardens, Law Officers and Psychologists from these institutions.
The workshop consisted of 11 technical sessions spread over three days including group exercises, role plays, Q&A sessions and discussions. The workshop was structured around the following thematic areas:
- Effective communication skills, its types and importance of communication in planning and service delivery;
- Mediation guidelines and skills of mediator;
- Importance of proper documentation and recording of mediation process;
- Institutionalizing a strategy and developing resettlement plans (revision)
This training was a part of JICA’s initiative for promoting Survivor Centered Approach for protection, rehabilitation and economic empowerment of survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Dastak’s overall objective to create a cadre of well trained human resource in the field of women protection and GBV response.
In September 2022, Dastak was engaged by JICA to carry out training workshops for staff of Darul Amans across Punjab. The workshops focused on gender sensitization, GBV Legislation and case management in Lahore, Vehari and Faisalabad. Each workshop was spread over three days and was attended by participants from different districts of Punjab. In total, 62 participants from 19 districts of Punjab received training under this initiative.
Dastak carried out a series of activities as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence Campaign 2022. It carried out art workshops for women from Dastak shelter, Lahore Darul Aman and Darul-Falah as well organised a meetup with government representatives from the Punjab Assembly and Chief Ministers Office to give an opportunity to women survivors to discuss their concerns directly with policy makers.
Qila Gujjar Sindh police Station, Lahore:
Dastak Charitable Trust entered into an MOU with the Anti-Harassment Gender Crime Cell and Victims Support Centre, Punjab Police created under the Capital City Police, Investigation Wing to strengthen the rule of law and legal protection in sexual, domestic and GBV cases. The objective of the collaboration was to mutually assist each other in the provision of essential services to women and child survivors of abuse and violence including legal aid, shelter and psycho-social counseling. In addition, Dastak will also provide necessary capacity building support to the staff of Anti Harassment Cell. This MOU is also expected to enhance police cooperation with Dastak on matters of safety and security of women and children seeking support from its crisis centre and shelter. SSP Police Investigations Lahore Imran Kishwar was representing the Police whereas Dastak’s Executive Director Saba Shaikh signed the MOU on behalf of the organisation. While giving remarks after the signing of the MOU, Imran Kishwar said that such Cells were the need of the hour and such collaborations are essential to cater to the vulnerable segments of the society and share the load of the Police. Inspector Fizza Mumtaz was designated as the focal person for the Centre and will be coordinating with NGOs for referrals, training and other related matters.
In 2022, Dastak launched a campaign among beauticians and small beauty parlor workers in Lahore to raise awareness about the women’s rights related to marriage as well as existing Prevention, Protection, Response (PPR) services in Punjab. During an introductory meeting on 4th January 2022, various materials, including posters and pamphlets were shared with participants to be displayed at their establishments.
Beauty salons are some of the few spaces frequented by housewives and other women regularly. Salons provide a safe space for women to talk among each other about their issues. The salon workers are also in a unique position to identify signs of abuse in their co-workers and their clients. The campaign aims to sensitize salon workers with regards to gender and abuse, and to provide them with resources to guide and refer survivors to existing PPR services.
Dastak designed a module on Muslim family laws related to divorce, maintenance of wife and children, khula and divorce, custody of children etc. Using community contacts, social activists were selected from Lahore and Multan to undergo a rigorous three day training on the module. The training equipped them with relevant knowledge related to local laws and how to engage with public and private women protection systems. The community network was organised as a means to spread awareness about avenues of redressal. The first round of trainings in Lahore and Multan were completed in November and December 2021.