“Children and women are suffering from paranoia. They are thinking about getting shelter, not about education,” said Shahbaz Khan Barozai, Risaldaar Levies (Federal) Sibi District, Balochistan.

Church World Service – Pakistan/Afghanistan through its various program interventions works to enhance and facilitate the capacities of youth in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. These interventions range from promoting peace education to providing an understanding of democracy, raising awareness, and skills building.

The districts of Mirpurkhas and Umerkot located in the province of Sindh have repeatedly experienced prolonged periods of drought. Potable water remains scarce and drinking water from wells has gradually decreased due to lack of rainfall. Climate conditions have caused additional hardships for the residents of these regions thereby affecting their socioeconomic activities. As male family members migrate for work to other areas, women tend to be the worst hit due to their cultural and economic positioning.

For close to thirty years, CWS-P/A has implemented projects with Society for Safe Environment and Welfare of Agrarians.  This year, SSEWA-Pak reached a commendable milestone, thirty-five years of service, and CWS-P/A helped mark this achievement. On April 23, 2010, CWS-P/A supported the organization in its endeavor to plant 35,000 trees in one day.

Abdul Raif, Headmaster of Qarghai Girls’ School, shares his views on education and the girls’ education project. Recalling the situation when he joined the school, he accounts, “initially the numbers of girl students were few, and it was difficult to get girls into schools; however, three years down the line it is heartening to see a substantial increase in enrollment figures. This is largely due to the awareness generated by the project intervention and complemented by the improved security situation.” Today his school boasts of 854 girls and 25 teachers, of whom 13 are female, an impressive figure by Afghan standards.

Kamila Barakzat spends her days engaged in one of the most challenging and sometimes taboo aspects of medical work in rural Afghanistan: women’s health and family planning.

Working within the deeply conservative and patriarchal social structures that characterize Afghan society, Kamila, a mother and child health coordinator with Church World Service, sees her work as central to the rebuilding of Afghanistan, particularly since many of the families served are former refugees who fled to Pakistan and Iran.

Pakistani youth create their own HIV prevention posters through awareness sessions lead by Church World Service - Pakistan/Afghanistan.
For vulnerable Pakistanis, the lack of access to basic information on HIV is almost an epidemic in itself, one that spreads by misinformation and feeds on the vulnerabilities of poverty, increased insecurity, a bias against women’s rights and the taboo of discussing sexual health publicly.

CWS-P/A continues to work with its implementing partner, Hashoo Foundation, to support livelihoods of the earthquake survivors living in Balakot Tehsil (NWFP). Expanded Dairy Development Project is an extension of CWS-P/A’s first livelihood project in Mansehra District that benefited 1,363 female-headed households with livestock and veterinary services. The destruction caused by the 2005 South Asian Earthquake created the dire need for rebuilding livelihoods. Consequently, in the region completely destroyed by the earthquake, CWS-P/A initiated its livelihood project.

Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan continues to strive for a healthier and more educated population. In January 2009, through its partner, Young Men's Christian Association-Sri Lanka, CWS-P/A initiated a project that educates adolescents about HIV & AIDS. Through awareness sessions, workshops, poster competitions, and dissemination of informative pamphlets, the project, HIV & AIDS Education Program in Schools in Sri Lanka, increases teachers' and students' awareness of HIV & AIDS.