Islamabad 12 January 2018: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) signed Annual Work Plan with the UNFPA- Pakistan, with NDMA on January 12th, 2018 to envisage cooperation between the two organizations for Gender Mainstreaming, specifically in humanitarian crises to cater the needs and concerns of vulnerable groups in the entire DRM spectrum. The work plan is part of the Multi-Year Agreement (2018-22) signed between the two organizations in December 2017 to address issues of GBV and protection of women during pre and post disasters.
Chairman NDMA, Lt. Gen Omar Mehmood Hayat and Country Representative UNFPA-Pakistan, Dr. Hassan Mohtashmi signed the document.
Interventions/activities in the work plan are focused on the preparedness, response and resilience in sexual reproductive health and Gender Based Violence including the development of an Minimum Initial Service Package (MSIP) tool to pilot the gender component of Pakistan School Safety Framework in schools across Pakistan. The workplan will support research, knowledge management and capacity building in areas of women resilience in disasters; in order to formulate informed interventions and protocols/SOPs to strengthen the multi-sectoral coordination mechanism among public institutions for prevention and response to gender issues in humanitarian and development settings.
Chairman NDMA stressed that work plan will strengthen capacity building of key government departments to generate evidence for prevention and response to Gender Based Violence during disasters. He further said that engaging the government machinery will ensure design, implementation and strengthening of systems and policies that are gender transformative.
Country Representative UNFPA-Pakistan, while speaking on the occasion, said that the programme will address root causes of gender inequality, women empowerment, girl child protection, in particular social norms and practices which pose structural obstacles and prevent women from making informed decisions on their sexual and reproductive health and rights.