The present cohort of youth is currently the largest in the history of Pakistan and the next one will be even larger. This group will constitute the future decision makers of the country yet they are denied access to vital information. It is of utmost importance that these young people should be brought into the main stream of development initiatives to lend their support to the various causes. Young boys and men are the main focus of this campaign with more emphasis on boys.
Adolescence is the age when mild interventions can mould young brains changing their negative beliefs, guiding them to challenge the norms of the society and take a step forward towards a peaceful society free of violence and discrimination. If our youth is educated today on women rights we can ensure equality, equity and justice for all in our society. Therefore, WRC-Pakistan launched its Youth Awareness Program for educational institutions in Punjab to promote a positive change within the youth of this country.
WRC-Pakistan strategically involved students in every aspect of the campaign whether it was designing posters and banners or introducing the campaign in their institutions. Presently more than 1000 students have joined WRC as volunteers. These students provided logistic support in organizing various events of WRC-Pakistan and acted as spokespersons for the campaign and mobilized others to join in. Working with the students gave them a sense of ownership of the campaign and paved a way for getting our campaign institutionalized. Such activities have also proved useful in training our youth volunteers to plan similar activities on VAW in future without any external help.
Different activities to mobilize youth were executed with substantial results. Although further financial resources are required to take the initiative further and utilize the volunteer network in achieving MDG 3. It is a huge initiative and needs volunteers everywhere who can take the message of WRC-Pakistan to every corner of Pakistan. To achieve this target we plan to open new chapters in other districts and initiate youth clubs at the grass-root level to expand the process of sensitization.
WRC-Pakistan considers it very important to train at least a group of 20 - 25 young people who can carry out the activities of the campaign in various districts. Therefore, Youth Leadership Program has been planned that will commence in August 2007. Training workshops will be arranged involving National and International Gender experts to train a selected group of young people from all over Punjab on gender issues and teach them ways and means to communicate the concept of WRC to the men and boys in their educational institutions and local communities. Special training modules are being prepared for such trainings and we are getting assistance from international White Ribbon Campaigns in their development. All the modules will be translated in Urdu and later on in the local languages of the other provinces when we take this campaign to other parts of Pakistan in the next phase.