MADADGAR PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION TO MADADGAR PROJECT....................................................................3

GENDER JUSTICE & PROTECTION PROJECT:...................................................................5

BACKGROUND:.............................................................................................................6

OBJECTIVES OF MADADGAR PROJECT:.........................................................................7

FORM OF THE PROJECT:...............................................................................................7

DATA BASE COLLECTION:..............................................................................................7

UPDATING THE RECORDS:............................................................................................8

BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT:..........................................................................................8

ACHIEVEMENTS OF MADADGAR PROJECT:...................................................................8

MADADGAR SERVICES:.................................................................................................8

FUNCTIONS OF MADADGAAR PROJECT:.......................................................................8

EVOLVING MADADGAR PROJECT:.................................................................................8

CONCLUSION :..............................................................................................................8

REFERENCES:................................................................................................................8

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INTRODUCTION TO MADADGAR PROJECT

NAME OF PROJECT : Madadgar - Karachi

TITLE OF GJP SUB-PROJECT :

Establishing a Helpline for Women Survivors of Violence, Abuse and Exploitation in Interior
Sindh.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT:

This project mainly focuses on establishing help lines for women survivors of violence, abuse
and exploitation in interior Sindh. The Help lines will be established in three cities of Sindh and
will focus on legal aid, awareness raising and advocacy at different levels.

PROJECT DURATION: 3 YEARS

GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE OF THE PROJECT: Madadgar project will be covering

interior Sindh.

MAIN OUTPUTS OF THE PROJECT :

Set up Helpline Services in interior Sindh province to provide following services to women
survivors of violence:
• Reception and response to crisis calls and cases;
• Provision of telephonic and walk-in counseling/guidance to the women survivors;
• Developing a network of available services in the selected areas and build the capacity of
service providers;
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• Development of three directories of network partners in each city to provide referral services;
• Provision of legal aid and advice/follow-up calls on cases until final resolution;
• Coordination with police and other authorities for the provision of required support to
victims, document all calls and record cases of provided services to the victims;
• Conduct jail, police station, court and hospital visits to help victims according to need;
• Issuance of periodic press releases to raise awareness on court situation of VAW; and
• Advocacy for development and implementation of effective laws and policies to reduce VAW.

ANTICIPATED BENEFICIARIES/ TARGET POPULATION OF THE PROJECT:

Women victims of violence such as Karo-Kari (Honor Killing), illegal confinement, domestic
violence, trafficking, sexual and physical abuse, murder, kidnapping etc will be the main
beneficiaries. The other stakeholders will include community leaders and members, police and
other relevant departments, NGOs, CBOs and representatives of City Government.

GENDER JUSTICE & PROTECTION PROJECT:

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MADADGAR Project is a sub project of Gender Justice & Protection project ( A component of
gender support program ). GJP is the main financier of MADADGAR project.

Violence Against Women (VAW) is pervasive across class, religion, ethnicity and urban/rural
divide in Pakistan. Violence and the threat of it contribute to the low social indicators for
women’s development in the country. The Gender Justice and Protection Project (GJP) is a key
initiative of UNDP’s Gender Support Program funded by the UK’s Department for International
Development (DFID) and implemented by United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
The five year project has been initiated to contribute to sustainable reduction in violence
against women (VAW) in accordance with the government’s policy commitments. The project
has established a fund to support promising initiatives from the Government and Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs) to combat the prevalence of violence, abuse, discrimination and social
exclusion against women.

The funding is for innovative and catalytic initiatives for a maximum of three years’ duration
ranging from £10,000 to £60,000, in the areas of Capacity building; Advocacy and awareness
raising; Action-oriented Research and Documentation; Legal Aid; and Up-scaling promising
practices.

GJP advertises Request for Proposals (RFP) in major Urdu and English national newspapers, key
regional language newspapers, UNDP website and FM radio stations among others. Proposals
are received from  all over Pakistan including Northern Areas and AJK.  All the proposals are
scrutinized in detail and assessed according to a set criterion as given in the RFP. Field
verification is carried out by the project staff of all organizations whose proposals are short-
listed,. Thereafter, the Fund Management Committee of the GJP project meets to review and
approve funding for the proposals.   

BACKGROUND:

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MADADGAAR is Pakistan's first Helpline for children and women. It responds to distress calls by
offering immediate assistance and linking them to long-term rehabilitation. MADADGAAR
Project is a sub project of Gender Justice & Protection project (A component of gender support
program). GJP is the main financier of MADADGAAR project.

This Non-Government Organization (NGO)* was created to serve as the first point of contact for
victims of violence, abuse and exploitation through guidance and referrals to 230 partners
(including shelters, hospitals, lawyers, law enforcement agencies, media etc) in all 18 towns of
Karachi, MADADGAAR supports children and women with immediate assistance in pre, during
and post crisis situations.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) make it incumbent upon the state and
civil society to ensure prevention, redress and rehabilitation of children and women, who are
the most depressed class of society. It is they who suffer most due to violation of their rights
and exploitation and abuse - sexual and/or physical.

As MADADGAAR plays its role to support the women and children of Pakistan, there are some
unmistakable signs pointing to a positive change in making the Civil Society groups are now
playing an increasingly effective role for creating an enabling legal and policy environment.
Positively, the government has taken some proactive measures and promulgated the Juvenile
Justice System Ordinance 2000, which provides for the protection of Juveniles involved in
criminal litigation; it has also drafted a National Policy and Plan of Action against Sexual Abuse
& Exploitation of Children (SAEC) in collaboration with civil society organizations. LHRLA is part
of the Core Group, assisting the National Commission of Child Welfare and Development
(NCCWD). It has been in the frontline of civil society organizations and accoreded international
recognition for its important role.

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OBJECTIVES OF MADADGAR PROJECT:

MADADGAR is an Urdu word which means 'Helper'. This is the name of the protection services
centre for children and women established by LHRLA in collaboration with UNICEF, to facilitate
the victims of torture and abuse - both sexual and physical.

The objective is to support the government and civil society in the process of implementing the
CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child) and the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women). It reviews policy, enforcement, monitoring and evaluation
procedures and hopes to raise awareness and report on progress.

FORM OF THE PROJECT:

MADADGAR project is a brown field project because there are several other NGO’s who are
working for the same cause that is the protection of the women and children rights.
MADADGAR project is an expansion to other NGO programs.

DATA BASE COLLECTION:

The research and publication center documents all the cases published in newspapers or are
otherwise acknowledged, to collect information regarding the violations of human rights,
especially against women and children, in the country.

UPDATING THE RECORDS:

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 To up-date the records staff members of MADADGAAR are monitoring twenty- six
newspapers daily in Urdu, English and Sindhi languages. With the help of this database
MADADGAAR attempts to keep the public informed about the incidents of violence
against women and children through media.
 75 Thematic issues manual files.

 18 computerized data categories.

BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT:

 It Provide guidance and referral services to victims of abuse, violence and exploitation.
 To raise awareness for issues related to protection of children and women.

 It Supports capacity building of other institutions to replicate MADADGAAR services in

other parts of the country.

 It Supports for advocacy efforts among decision makers.

 Center for Missing Children, a project of LHRLA.

 It is a known fact that the survival of any organization is duly dependant on the
resources available.

 Non profit organizations initiated by the government of Pakistan and the fundraising
function of an NGO is similar to that of a marketing department in the corporate sector.

 Build the capacity of its partners and government agencies with printed and audio visual
material, conferences, seminars and workshops.

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ACHIEVEMENTS OF MADADGAR PROJECT:

 Comprehensive documentation

 Availability of data on the magnitude of violence against children and women

 To raise mass awareness amongst peoples through print and electronic media

 Prominent display of database reports in Newspapers

 Use of database reports in various national research on violence

 Involvement and intervention on policy level through legislation.

MADADGAR SERVICES:
MADADGAR project renders the following services:

 Telephonic counseling to children and women calling into the helpline and counseling
also to walk in survivors.
 Referral service to more than 200 other agencies/organizations.

 Documentation of cases of abuse against children and women for database.

 Awareness raising campaigns about child abuse/domestic and sexual violence.

 Education of children about the Convention on Rights of the Child.

 Education of women about their rights as enshrined in CEDAW.

 Empowerment of children and adults through education on human rights.

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 Capacity building of partners.

 Special desk on missing children.

FUNCTIONS OF MADADGAAR PROJECT:

MADADGAAR tirelessly works towards helping the distressed and oppressed. The Helpline
broadly focuses its effort into the following Categories:

1. Missing Children
2. Street Children

3. Child beggary

4. Violence & abuse

5. Human trafficking

6. Juvenile Justice

7. Child Bondage

8. Custodial Abuse

9. Honor Killings

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EVOLVING MADADGAR PROJECT:

MADADGAR project is a joint project of the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid and
UNICEF. Children abduction cases are common on areas such as parks, zoo, markets etc. In
order to control this increasing problem public address systems would be installed at selected
parks, zoo, etc, from where announcements could be made in case a child went missing.

The equipment would be installed by the government, while MADADGAR would provide the
person and other assistance to operate it. People are encouraged to help and aid the
government for making this project a success by giving generous donations.

A theatre group is in the pipeline of upcoming programs as a part of the MADADGAR project to
highlight the injustices society committed on weaker sections, particularly women and children.

The government is also planning to involve the electronic media to develop their drama series
highlighting injustices such as child labor, forced labor, domestic violence, kidnapping, sexual
harassment at work place, etc.

Victimization of women and children is rampant in the rural areas where a majority of the
population lives. Efforts are being made to start organizations similar to MADADGAR in the rural
areas also, so that the population there could also have access to help in time of need.

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The organization monitors over 22 newspapers and collects data regarding sexual harassment,
kidnapping, Karo- kari, domestic violence, rape, suicide, sodomy, etc. Some data is also given to
highlight the gravity of the issues. A vast majority of the incidents are not been reported in the
press at all.

MADADGAR project is also provides assistance to the victims, free legal aid to the needy,
referred shelters if required, etc.

CONCLUSION :

MADADGAAR is Pakistan's first Helpline for children and women. It responds to distress calls by
offering immediate assistance and linking them to long-term rehabilitation.

MADADGAR project is to raise awareness for issues related to protection of children and
women. It Provides guidance and referral services to victims of abuse, violence and
exploitation. It supports for advocacy efforts among decision makers. It is a non profit
organization and the objective is to help and support the women and children who need aid for
their protection and shelter by the government. The organization is taking every possible action
that can lead to the reduction of the violence and creating awareness so that people can seek
help in time of need. It provides the counseling assistance, documents the cases of abuse
against children and women and Education of women and children.

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REFERENCES:

 www.gjp.org.pk
 http://www.madadgaar.org/Services.html

 http://undp.org.pk/gender-justice-and-protection.html

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