Summary of Achievements in 2013

| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |

2013

Under the ‘Women’s Human Rights and Governance’ Programme

  • TWO PROVINCIAL GENDER EQUALITY POLICY FRAMEWORKS ENDORSED — UN Women’s technical expertise and advocacy resulted in the formulation and passage of two provincial Policy Frameworks on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment endorsed in line with international and national commitments in Balochistan (2 May 2013) and Sindh (9 May 2013)
  • FOUR PROVINCIAL WOMEN MACHINERIES STRENGTHENED/NOTIFIED — (i) Establishment of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Legislative Caucus on Women (26 February 2013); (ii) Approval of the Ordinance for Pakistan Administered Kashmir’s State Commission on Status of Women (19 March 2013); (iii) Draft Bill developed for Balochistan’s Provincial Commission on the Status of Women; (iv) Strengthened Women Development Department in Pakistan Administered Kashmir
  • WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 2013 INCREASED — (i) 38 per cent increase in the number of registered women voters eligible to cast their ballot in the 2013 General Elections [source: Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) Final Electoral Rolls March 2013]; (ii) 55 per cent voter turnout rate (per cent of votes polled) in the 2013 Elections [source: ECP May 2013]; (iii) 73 per cent increase in CNIC registration in 2013 (from the last elections), of which 41.08 million are women CNIC holders compared to 20.8 million women in 2008 [source: NADRA May 2013]
  • NINE GENDER-RESPONSIVE ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS/MECHANISMS ADOPTED — The Election Commission of Pakistan (i) Adopted five gendered electoral Codes of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates, Observers, Media, Polling Personnel and Security Personnel; (ii) Endorsement of a Gender Mainstreaming Strategy; (iii) Adoption of a gender responsive Voter Education and Outreach Handbook, supported with election and polling staff training material and (iv) Implementation of Results Management System (for sex disaggregated voter turnout data)
  • SEX-DISAGGREGATED VOTER TURNOUT DATA COLLECTED — During the 2013 General Elections sex-disaggregated voter turnout data was collected from many individual polling stations, a first in Pakistan’s electoral history

Under the ‘Women’s Economic Empowerment’ Programme

  • HOME BASED WORKER POLICY FOR PUNJAB PROVINCE APPROVED — UN Women’s continued commitment for laws and policies that address women HBW’s recognition and empowerment as well as their social protection mechanisms resulted in the approval and adoption of a Home-Based Worker Policy by the Home-Based Workers Provincial Council in the Province of Punjab on 11 March 2013. This follows announcement by the Provincial Chief Minister on 8 March 2012 of a provincial HBW Policy as part of a Women’s Empowerment Package for the women of Punjab
  • HOME BASED WORKER POLICY FOR SINDH PROVINCE FINALIZED — A HBW Policy for Sindh has been finalized and approved by the HBW Provincial Taskforce on 21 May 2013, and adoption is expected early 2014

Under the ‘Ending Violence Against Women’ Programme

  • DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL (SINDH) PASSED — Advocacy and lobbying efforts with national/provincial women machineries, parliamentarians, the EVAWG Alliance, GE advocates and other key partners for legislation to respond to and prevent VAWG realized with unanimous passing of the provincial Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2013 by the Government of Sindh on International Women’s Day, 8 March. Tabling of this new pro-women bill has been a struggle of over five years for all concerned stakeholders, especially Sindh’s Women Development Department and provincial Ministers which continued to be supported with technical expertise by UN Women
  • IMPLEMENTATION PLANS FOR THE ANTI-SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACT DRAFTED — UN Women facilitated two Women Development Departments in drafting implementation plans for the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act - Balochistan and Pakistan Administered Kashmir. Additionally, the Provincial Assembly Secretariat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa issued a Notification under section-3 of Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act (2010) for constitution of a 3-member Committee on Sexual Harassment on 1 January
  • “A PROMISE IS A PROMISE: TIME FOR ACTION TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN" LAUNCHED — UN Women launches the 2013 theme for International Women’s Day “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women" with the United Nations Inter-Agency Group on Gender Equality (IAGonGE) on 8 March. In collaboration with the Islamabad College of Girls, a panel dialogue was organized with college and university students and faculty members from Islamabad and Rawalpindi to take action in raising awareness of and solidarity for girls and women’s empowerment through education as a tool to end crimes of violence against women and girls
  • PAKISTAN PRESENTS ITS 1st ‘NATIONAL STATEMENT ON THE ELIMINATION AND PREVENTION OF ALL FORMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS’ — For the first time in Pakistan’s history a National Statement on the Elimination and Prevention of all forms of Violence Against Women and Girls was developed jointly by the Government of Pakistan and Civil Society and supported by UN Women. The Government and People of Pakistan through this National Statement, presented at the 57th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Session in NY by Ms. Khawar Mumtaz, Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women, has put forward a ’12-point plan’ on the way forward to jointly address challenges in the implementation of laws towards EVAWG
  • UN WOMEN PAKISTAN’S VIRTUAL KNOWLEDGE HUB LAUNCHED — A Knowledge Hub developed by the UN Women Pakistan Country Office was launched and uploaded to the UN Women Asia Pacific Website in May, with the purpose to gather information, advocacy material, data and publication and make it available at one location. The information compiled by UN Women Pakistan, presents content information from civil society as well as government sources. This initiative was the part of a project funded by UK Aid in 2012. Along with the other studies and publications two major studies completed by UN Women are also part of this Hub (i) a Country Scan on Women Specific Legislation in Pakistan 2008 – 2012 and (ii) Discussion Paper on Data Collection on Violence against Women: Analysis and Standardization
  • USING SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS TOOLS FOR ENDING VAWG — The ‘Tashadud Na Manzur’ advocacy campaign used social media and its tools to spread key information and messages on women’s rights and how to deal with situations that infringes on these rights. While community building through regular dissemination of key messaging, based on information provided by UN Women and civil society partners continued on all social streams, podcasts based on a series of interviews with influential and experts in the various areas of women’s rights and crimes of violence, were added. In 2013 five podcasts were developed and released covering ‘Swara and Vanni’ (types of honour crimes), ‘Mens Engagement and Rights’, ‘Educating Women’, ‘HIV and its Awareness’, and ‘Family Laws’. The campaign, which concluded in April 2013, reached over 1.2 million people through Facebook, Twitter, the Podcasts, and the website (www.tnmpakistan.com)

Under the ‘Women and Peace’ Programme

  • THREE-YEAR NATIONAL GENDER AND CHILD CELL FRAMEWORK ENDORSED — UN Women’s successful partnership with national, provincial and regional Disaster Management Authorities (DMAs) to accelerate gender equality within the humanitarian response in Pakistan resulted in formulation and approval of a National Gender and Child Cell Framework for the three years (2014-2017) endorsed by all DMAs on 29 March
  • INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF TWO GENDER AND CHILD CELLS — Conversion and operationalization of two Gender and Child Cells within the DMAs of KP (6 August) and FATA (6 June), which are a conversion of the Women Desks established 2011 and 2012 respectively to keep it in line with the national and other provincial gender and child cell structures
  • GENDER STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES ENDORSED — Endorsement of Gender Standard Operating Procedures by Provincial DMA KP to promote and integrate gender within disaster risk reduction and management, and humanitarian responses
  • ENDORSEMENT OF TWO SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS REPORTS ON DISASTERS — The DMAs of Balochistan and Pakistan Administered Kashmir endorsed their respective Situational Analysis Reports for use as evidence-based advocacy in promoting gender equality and inclusion of women’s rights in disaster related policies and plans
  • GENDER MAINSTREAMED WITHIN FOUR MONSOON CONTINGENCY PLANS — UN Women’s support and technical expertise to provincial and local DMAs to develop and implement a humanitarian response that promotes gender equality has resulted in gender being mainstreamed within four Monsoon Contingency Plans for the provinces of Balochistan, KP, Punjab and Pakistan Administered Kashmir. In promoting gender equality and addressing women’s needs and opportunities during disasters, these contingency plans, have identified women issues from findings and lessons learnt from previous disasters and have mainstreamed them within the plans. The Monsoon Contingency Plan developed by the Government of Balochistan has a chapter specifically on ‘Gender Aspects and Preparedness’ and highlights provincial mechanisms and structures in place