ISLAMABAD : The first-ever National Transgender Fellowship Programme has been launched for the transgender community in 33 flood-affected districts,.
The programme, the first-ever in Pakistan, aims at empowering and mainstreaming the transgender community and to ensure their inclusion in flood relief and response.
The three-month fellowship programme
aims at an inclusive humanitarian response.
The fellowship is part of a national programme that PJN is implementing in all four provinces and federal level titled “Bridging the Barriers – Inclusion of Transgender Community in Flood Relief and Response” in collaboration with NCHR with the support of the Concern Worldwide and USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).
The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) is an independent statutory body created to look into matters pertaining to all forms of violations of human rights within the territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan by virtue of NCHR Act of 2012 headed by Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha.
According to Syed Raza Ali, PJN’s CEO and the Convener National Transgender Taskforce on Floods Relief & Response,
the commission is working for the empowerment of the most vulnerable communities and part of its mission is to support the vulnerable groups such as the transgender community in the aftermath of natural disasters.
The findings of needs assessment on transgender protection and humanitarian response conducted during the current flood relief and response by Peace & Justice Network has informed that the transgender community has been excluded at all levels.
It will also help in establishing district transgender protection and an inclusive humanitarian response system by enabling transgender fellows after comprehensive training to play a proactive and leading role during disasters as well as to equip them so that they can effectively coordinate with government and humanitarian organizations to address the needs of the transgender community.
Under this programme, the Peace and Justice Network (PJN) and National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) will enhance the capacity and skills of the transgender community in humanitarian disaster relief response, inclusion, flood relief efforts, and protection through residential training and also through three months of district engagement of the selected Transgender Fellows.
Ali Raza stated that the transgender community in Pakistan is a highly marginalized group and has been further marginalized by the devastating flooding that has displaced over 33 million people and left millions deprived of basic needs. This Fellowship programme, first of its kind in Pakistan, will provide a great opportunity for the transgender community to play a mainstream role and it will also help them ensure their inclusion with dignity.
Mujeeba Batool, National Programme Manager, was of the view that there was no official data available on how many transgender community members have been affected due to recent floods, so this means they are not actually the priority of the government.
Advocate Faiza Farooq, Director PJN, said that I believe transgender people are extraordinary, strong, intelligent, and skillful by all means, and through this programme, the trans community will get a boost from the grass root level to become part of mainstream society.
Many transgenders community members have lost their homes in recent floods. The floods have taken away their livelihood.
