By: Sajida Manzoor
QUETTA, Pakistan, July, 2015 – “It is heartening to see that women and children in Balochistan have become more aware about their health and hygiene and have adapted good practices that have resulted in improving the overall health indicators in the province,” says Ms. Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia. “We are grateful to the Government of Balochistan (GoB), donors and other partners for their support to UNICEF programmes and look forward to continuing this relationship in the coming years as we need to expand our activities to reach remote communities in the province.”
UNICEF Regional Director Karin Hulshof along with UNICEF Representative in Pakistan, Angela Kearney recently travelled to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to visit some of the ongoing UNICEF-supported projects for the wellbeing of women and children.
Improved water, sanitation and hygiene conditions In order to provide safe drinking water to the residents of village Kili Kateer in Quetta district, UNICEF has rehabilitated a water filtration plant as part of its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme.
Women of village Kili Kateer have taken the lead in ending open defecation from their village by constructing latrines within their houses. Under UNICEF’s Polio Plus initiative which is funded by the Government of Canada, a number of activities that compliment eradication of the polio virus are being carried out in urban and rural communities of Balochistan. These include door-to-door awareness raising campaigns and integrated messaging on polio, typhoid and diarrhoea. These activities have drawn active participation of the communities, especially women and children. For example, each household in village Kili Kateer now has a latrine and community members have become conscious about their health and hygiene.
“I am very happy with the progress we have made so far through our women sanitation committee,” says Bibi Palwasha (24), a resident of village Kili Kateer in Quetta district and a member of the sanitation committee. “I think this should continue and with UNICEF’s support we should also establish vocational training centres for young girls who cannot go out of their villages to work due to cultural barriers.”
Talking about their achievements and further needs, community women and members of the sanitation committee informed Ms. Karin Hulshof that there is the need for a proper mechanism for solid waste management and also a vocational training centre for girls so that they could become income generating members of their families.
Appreciating their increased awareness about needs, Ms. Hulshof said, ''We will talk to the government, our partners and donors about the positive stories as well as the needs. We will continue to work closely with our partners and communities to ensure the provision of improved water and sanitation facilities, as well as health and nutrition support to make sure that people have access to all basic services.”
Paving the way for improved health services for children
UNICEF with funding from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is constructing eight warehouses in Balochistan for better vaccine stockpiling and supply management in order to improve routine immunization services especially in the far-flung districts of Balochistan. Ms. Hulshof inaugurated one of these warehouses in Quetta district.
Ms. Hulshof also visited the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for polio eradication in Quetta and reflected on the importance of partnerships in the efforts to eradicate polio from Pakistan. She said, “Tripartite partnership between the GoB, GAVI and UNICEF is enhancing the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) for reduction in preventable diseases. Empowerment of frontline polio workers is important for consistency so that no child is missed during anti-polio campaigns.” She also acknowledged the partnerships with World Health Organisation, Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation, Centres for DiseaseControl and Prevention and Rotary International.
UNICEF’s Accelerated Learning Programme Centres
UNICEF has supported the Education Department of the GoB to establish 188 centres under an Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP). Through this programme, which is being funded by the Government of the Netherlands, nearly 11,000 children between the ages of 9 to 13 years have been enrolled in schools. These are children who had either dropped out or were never enrolled in a school ever before.
“Mathematics is my favourite subject,” says Amanullah (10), a student at one of the UNICEF-supported ALP centres in village Killi Nasirabad. “When the teacher comes to our classroom, we say Good Morning Teacher; and when we need to drink water, we ask for it in English. This is what I like the most as very few people in our community can speak English. I can!”
Most of the children benefitting from UNICEF’s educational initiative of establishing ALPs attend a madrassa (religious seminary) in the morning and come to the ALP in the afternoon. What they learn at the ALP is also helping them in acquiring religious education in the madrassa as their reading and writing skills have improved immensely. At the same time, introduction to science subjects and the English language in ALP is broadening their vision about the world and enhancing their interest in acquiring knowledge.
At an ALP in village Malezai Nasran, nine-year-old Khushal Khan is fascinated about becoming a teacher. He says, “I want to become a teacher myself because the teacher knows everything and I want to know everything as well.” Khushal Khan has 12 brothers and 3 sisters. He belongs to an Afghan family that migrated to Pakistan many years ago. His father is disabled while his elder brothers do labouring jobs to earn livelihood cash for the family. His father could not afford to pay for his education in a private school but he is very happy about Khushal getting an education at the UNICEF-supported ALP.
Provincial government’s commitment for improved basic services
While in Balochistan, Ms. Hulshof had a detailed meeting with the Chief Minister of the province, Dr. Abdul Malik during which the two leaders reiterated their commitment to improving health, nutrition, education and sanitation services in the province. A Memorandum of Understanding for increased collaboration and plugging the gaps that exist in provision of services was signed by the UNICEF Representative in Pakistan, Angela Kearney and the representative of the GoB.
Highlighting the need to decrease child and maternal mortality, Ms. Kearney said, “Much has been done to save lives and prevent illness but much more needs to be done especially putting proper mechanisms in place for provision of improved services so that precious lives of mothers and children could be saved.”