e-news letter July-September 2011

Bargad Youth Mela for Peace - Commemorating
International Youth Day

Amidst torrential rains Youth Mela for Peace successfully marked an end to the International Youth Year (2010-11) on International Youth Day, August 12, 2011 at Alham Hall # 1, Lahore. The festival was a joint initiative of Bargad - Organization for Youth Development, UNFPEA and Ministry of Information, Culture and Youth Affairs, Government of Punjab. Other partners include US Consulate Lahore, HBS, SFCG and VSO. Bargad first celebrated the Youth Day in 2001. Bargad takes pride in establishing the practice of commemorating International Youth Day in Pakistan. It is one of the few organizations who pioneered this trend and made the local young folks realize about the responsibility and commitment youth need to demonstrate.
The proceedings were commenced with recitation from the Holy Quran that followed National Antham ceremony and welcome note address by Mr. Mohayyudin Wani Secretary Ministry of Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Government of Punjab.
Around 1200 youth from all over the country, youth groups and civil society organizations, public interest groups participated in the event which also included two delegations from Youth Affairs Department Sindh and University of Baluchistan respectively. Different youth and civil society organizations set up 40 stalls outside the Hall to aware the visitors through their publications and work which received warm reception by the attendees. Among other, local games session has been a quite interesting and unique feature of the Youth festival.

Mr. Hamza Shahbaz Sharif Member of National Assembly graced the event as Chief Guest. He was accompanied by Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ue-Rehman Minister of Education Government of Punjab. A visual presentation of Bargad was also screened which was appreciated.

US Counsel General Lahore Consulate Ms Camilla Conroy was another distinguished guest of the festivity. She was accompanied by Jennifer Larson Public Affairs Officer. She presented souvenirs to the youngsters from across the country. Active and Responsible Youth Award was given to Nad-e-Ali and Muhammad Shahzad Khan, while Youth High Achiever Award was given to Arfa Karim Randhawa and Asif Raza.

BARGAD participated in Young Leaders Conference:
Usman Rasheed, Volunteer Management Officer, attended Young Leader Conference 2011. “On 1st -7th July 2011, he participated in Young Leaders conference where he happened to interact with youth from across the globe. The forum is a gathering of youth that offers unique opportunities of learning and skills development.

Consultative Meeting on Punjab Youth Policy Draft
Bargad and UNFPA in collaboration with Information, Culture and Youth Department, Govt. of Punjab started a series of consultative meetings to hold discussions on Punjab Youth Policy draft. The first meeting in this regard was held on on 25th August 2011. The IC & YA department has prepared a draft youth policy in the wake of 18th amendment when Youth Affairs among many other subjects have been devolved to provinces. BARGAD has been playing a facilitators’ role to get input, feedback and recommendations on the draft prepared by IC 7 YA department through these consultative meetings with youth, youth organizations, public interest leaders, government officials, public representatives and national and international development organizations.

Training of Trainers on Sexual Health
BARGAD was represented by Ms Bushra Sadiq in a TOT on sexual health organized by Ahung on 4-8 July 2011 in Karachi. Sexual and reproductive health rights and issues have been a growing concern for youth and many organizations are working in this arena to ensure a safe and healthy life of youth in society. Such trainings are further disseminated at grass root levels while the execution of different projects is being in place.

Capacity building workshop for identification of Victims of Trafficking
International Organization for Migration (IOM) works for combating human trafficking with the help of government agencies and civil society organizations. IOM held workshop on 20-21 July 2011 for the capacity building of civil society organizations on identification of victims of human trafficking and support to care givers. The workshop was attended by Ms Bushra Sadiq Senior Programme Officer.

Participation at District Youth Assembly Gujranwala on July25, 2011
BARGAD was represented by Ms Bushra Sadiq in a meeting organized by Sangat Foundation on 25th July 2011.

Workshop on Branding, Marking and Communication
A workshop on branding, Marking and Communication was held at Lahore organized Gender Equity Program of Aurat Foundation on 17-18 Aug 2011. Saiqa Rani and Sarmad Raza participated in the workshop representing the organization.

Talent Hunt Campaign by Sarmad Raza Nayak
BARGAD launched a talent hunt programme to find the rural youth with some special talent. The campaign was launched in the backdrop of celebrating International Youth Day on 12th Aug 2011. Sarmad Raza from the organization extensively travelled to search young talent in music, performing arts or local/.traditional sports. The youth demonstrated their talent on International Youth Day.

	Editorial: In this issue, we emphasize the women leadership development that has become a sine qua non for human development at large and without mainstreaming girls and women in the overall developmental process nations remain unable to achieve successes in their individual and collective role. BARGAD has been a staunch proponent of women leadership since its inception and has successfully executed many projects which have significantly impacted the lives of hundreds of women within district Gujranwala as well as at national level. The increasing enrollment of girls in higher education is great sign of expected future change in the Pakistani society. By the end of 2010, girls were 47 percent of all enrollments of 64 public universities and degree awarding institutions. In general education category they were leading with ratios of 51 percent against 49 percent for boys. The statistics of degree colleges (classes XI-XIV) indicate a radical change in demography of Pakistani campuses with 60.8 percent girls studying at this level as against 39.20 percent boys. This compelling situation calls for serious attention and initiatives by civil society, public and private sector. Continuing its role, BARGAD is implementing a project titled “Youth for Women Leadership on Campuses” in public sector universities of Pakistan. The project envisions creating leadership spaces for growing number of girls in educational institutions and to transform female mass for instituting pro-peace, women friendly and student centered campuses in Pakistan. BAGAD continued its strides for youth development in the period Jul-Sep 2011. The hallmarks of the period other than launching of women leadership project have been celebration of International Youth Day with around 1000 youth from across the country, working on draft youth policy Punjab in the province with collaboration of Government of Punjab.
		Bargad Youth Mela for Peace - Commemorating International Youth Day	>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
	Amidst torrential rains Youth Mela for Peace successfully marked an end to the International Youth Year (2010-11) on International Youth Day, August 12, 2011 at Alham Hall # 1, Lahore. The festival was a joint initiative of Bargad - Organization for Youth Development, UNFPEA and Ministry of Information, Culture and Youth Affairs, Government of Punjab. Other partners include US Consulate Lahore, HBS, SFCG and VSO. Bargad first celebrated the Youth Day in 2001. Bargad takes pride in establishing the practice of commemorating International Youth Day in Pakistan. It is one of the few organizations who pioneered this trend and made the local young folks realize about the responsibility and commitment youth need to demonstrate. The proceedings were commenced with recitation from the Holy Quran that followed National Antham ceremony and welcome note address by Mr. Mohayyudin Wani Secretary Ministry of Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Government of Punjab. Around 1200 youth from all over the country, youth groups and civil society organizations, public interest groups participated in the event which also included two delegations from Youth Affairs Department Sindh and University of Baluchistan respectively. Different youth and civil society organizations set up 40 stalls outside the Hall to aware the visitors through their publications and work which received warm reception by the attendees. Among other, local games session has been a quite interesting and unique feature of the Youth festival.

	Mr. Hamza Shahbaz Sharif Member of National Assembly graced the event as Chief Guest. He was accompanied by Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ue-Rehman Minister of Education Government of Punjab. A visual presentation of Bargad was also screened which was appreciated.
	US Counsel General Lahore Consulate Ms Camilla Conroy was another distinguished guest of the festivity. She was accompanied by Jennifer Larson Public Affairs Officer. She presented souvenirs to the youngsters from across the country. Active and Responsible Youth Award was given to Nad-e-Ali and Muhammad Shahzad Khan, while Youth High Achiever Award was given to Arfa Karim Randhawa and Asif Raza. Final Competitions of Documentary, Urdu and English speeches and theatrical performances were also held and winners were awarded with prizes and souvenirs. In celebrity appearance segment renowned singers Ali Sher, Waris Baig and trendy comedy actor Iftikhar Thakur interacted with the youth participants and distributed awards. Youth Mela was formally concluded on vote of thanks by Sabiha Shaheen Executive Director Bargad. City FM89 was the exclusive media partner. It is worth-mentioning here that the Youth festival has highlighted and promoted Youth Volunteerism on a significant scale as more than 50 volunteers from across the country were part of the core organizing team of the festival. It is also pertinent to mention that 1802 people confirmed their participation and May be Attending status was of 302 people out of 5285 youth invited to participated in the event.


	The festival was reported in the Express Tribune on 13th August, and it can be reached at: http://tribune.com.pk/story/230363/youth-mela-young-achievers-recognised/

	BARGAD participated in Young Leaders Conference: Usman Rasheed, Volunteer Management Officer, attended Young Leader Conference 2011. “On 1st -7th July 2011, he participated in Young Leaders conference where he happened to interact with youth from across the globe. The forum is a gathering of youth that offers unique opportunities of learning and skills development. Bargad Program Officer won e-course grant from UNFPA BARGAD program officer Dr. Shahbaz Khan won e-grant from UNFPA for a short project on poverty reduction program. National Consultation “The Challenge of growing radicalization & extremism in Pakistan On 15 July, 2011, Bargad participated in National Consultation “The challenge of growing radicalization & extremism in Pakistan” Organized by Peace Network Pakistan (PNP) held in Islamabad. BARGAD invites youth to sign Petition for pro-peace, women friendly and student centered Unions: URL: bpetition.bargad.org.pk This petition is not to revive the old ghosts of violent, anti-girl and irrelevant student politics. We are opposed to both unchecked unionism of students and the unlimited authority of the campus administration. Our aim is to bridge the gap among students, teachers and the administration. We invite students from across the country to sign the petition which calls for Student Unions with a difference. We urge our students in Pakistan to join hands and raise the demand of Student Unions with a set code of conduct and start the UNION process again. Training Course by SAARC Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC) on Combating Child Trafficking Bargad advocate, Mr. Fazal-ur-rehman attended Training Course by SHRDC on Combating Child Trafficking: Unraveling the Push and Pull Factors in the SAARC Region (18 – 23, July 2011). It is a BARGAD tradition to send over the volunteers and members of the organization to different forums for their capacity building, awareness and more informed and proactive role for youth development. Orientation Meeting and Launching Ceremony of Bargad Jawan Core Group Multan BARGAD launched its core group in Multan on 30th July at Shelton Tower Hotel. The organization was represented by Ms Bushra Sadiq and Mr. Usman Safeer. The ceremony had the following objectives: • Formation of Bargad Jawan Core Group Multan • To present an introduction of Bargad, its philosophy, vision and mission. • To organize orientation session for the International Youth Day The main aim was to launch the Core Group in Multan to provide a platform for youth. The facilitator Bushra Sadiq started meeting with questions: What are your expectations from this session and Bargad? Do you know what this session will be beneficial for you? She distributed flash cards and asked participants to write their answer on it. All the participants gave their answers. Some common answers are as under: “We are here because of that we want to be part of social work. We extremely want to know about Bargad’s working. To be part of Bargad, will decide it after the session, we also want to learn that how we should deal with community and how we will be able to facilitate community with better skills. We hope that after the session it would help us to work with Bargad in a better way. They said that we are here because of friends. Some of them said that we are here to interact with new people and share experiences with them. They also showed their interest to attend the mega event tiled International Youth Day”. After that Facilitator started formally introduction of Bargad with history and background of the Bargad. Second Session was regarding the launching ceremony of Bargad Jawan Core Group Multan. Facilitator inaugurated Bargad Jawan Core Group Multan and introduced the Azeem Siddiqui as coordinator of group. In the end Usman Rasheed shared the details of International Youth Day with distribution of poster, debate and documentary forms and forms for participation. All the participants were excited to attend it. They filled the Voluntary Participation Form to participate in this event. After the presentation feedback was taken from all the participants. Some feed back which was similar are as under They said that session was Informative. It helped us to know about Bargad. We are happy to be part of Bargad Jawan Core Group Multan. Facilitator was good communicator. They appreciated Bargad’s workings and admitted that Bargad is also taking action steps along with discussion.

Consultative Meeting on Punjab Youth Policy Draft Bargad and UNFPA in collaboration with Information, Culture and Youth Department, Govt. of Punjab started a series of consultative meetings to hold discussions on Punjab Youth Policy draft. The first meeting in this regard was held on on 25th August 2011. The IC & YA department has prepared a draft youth policy in the wake of 18th amendment when Youth Affairs among many other subjects have been devolved to provinces. BARGAD has been playing a facilitators’ role to get input, feedback and recommendations on the draft prepared by IC 7 YA department through these consultative meetings with youth, youth organizations, public interest leaders, government officials, public representatives and national and international development organizations. Training of Trainers on Sexual Health BARGAD was represented by Ms Bushra Sadiq in a TOT on sexual health organized by Ahung on 4-8 July 2011 in Karachi. Sexual and reproductive health rights and issues have been a growing concern for youth and many organizations are working in this arena to ensure a safe and healthy life of youth in society. Such trainings are further disseminated at grass root levels while the execution of different projects is being in place. Capacity building workshop for identification of Victims of Trafficking International Organization for Migration (IOM) works for combating human trafficking with the help of government agencies and civil society organizations. IOM held workshop on 20-21 July 2011 for the capacity building of civil society organizations on identification of victims of human trafficking and support to care givers. The workshop was attended by Ms Bushra Sadiq Senior Programme Officer. Participation at District Youth Assembly Gujranwala on July25, 2011 BARGAD was represented by Ms Bushra Sadiq in a meeting organized by Sangat Foundation on 25th July 2011. Workshop on Branding, Marking and Communication A workshop on branding, Marking and Communication was held at Lahore organized Gender Equity Program of Aurat Foundation on 17-18 Aug 2011. Saiqa Rani and Sarmad Raza participated in the workshop representing the organization. Talent Hunt Campaign by Sarmad Raza Nayak BARGAD launched a talent hunt programme to find the rural youth with some special talent. The campaign was launched in the backdrop of celebrating International Youth Day on 12th Aug 2011. Sarmad Raza from the organization extensively travelled to search young talent in music, performing arts or local/.traditional sports. The youth demonstrated their talent on International Youth Day.