FUTURE IN OUR HANDS PAKISTAN

FEBRUARY 2011

P.O. BOX 83, OPPOSITE MUHAMMAD MEDICAL COLLEGE,
RATTANABAD, MIRPURKHAS, SINDH, PAKISTAN

EMail: pvdpsindh@yahoo.com or dspvdp97@gmail.com
 

 

 

 

  

This one day seminar on the Responsibilities of Youth in Society took place on 5th February 2011 at the Danishkad Hall, Caritas Pakistan Hyderabad office.

Speakers: Mr Dominic Stephen, Mrs Lina Khalid and Mr Shamoon Masih
OBJECTIVE
FIOH Pakistan has taken up the challenge to help the younger generation work towards the aim of peace promotion and poverty reduction in the country. With this aim in view FIOH is organizing a series of seminars and workshops to mobilize young people for their responsibility to bring peace and unity and develop the most appropriate means of reducing poverty in society.
48 people from Hyderabad, Kotri and Mirpurkhas participated in this seminar.

Mr Manshad (volunteer in FIOH) welcomed all the participants and then gave a brief introduction to the seminar.
This was followed by an opening prayer led by Ms Maria.

Mr Yousaf Dominic then gave an explanatory introduction of FIOH Pakistan, its purpose and activities to date.
 
Mr Dominic explained that Future in Our Hands was an international movement. The vision of FIOH Pakistan is to empower young people to play an active role in creating an environment of peace and a better quality of life for the people of Pakistan. FIOH Pakistan is a partner in the Future in our Hands International Network. It was registered in Pakistan under the Society Registration act of 1860 in 2005 and has been working for the development of the marginalised communities of the Sindh province with the help of the Participatory Village development Programme (PVDP). He summarised FIOH Pakistan activities and its aims and objectives which are shown below:


Activities:

- Awareness of the importance of national identity cards for government services and security

- Health and hygiene awareness amongst youth

- Youth rallies and seminars

- Formation of youth groups and capacity building for advocacy on human rights

- Awareness of the importance of education for the social development of poor communities

Aims and objectives. These were explained by Mr Dominic Stephen, the founder of FIOH Pakistan:

- To advance public awareness that development is a matter of right rather than charity

- To propagate the belief that the removal of hunger is an essential prerequisite for establishing peace and tranquility

- To promote a simple lifestyle

- To coordinate the growth of local community

- To work towards interfaith harmony between all people. Specifically this means promoting peace and harmony among people of different beliefs, faith, religions, sects and communities.

 

SESSION 1 - STEPS TOWARDS POVERTY REDUCTION

This session was conducted by Mr Dominic. He said that poverty is not a destiny but a man-made situation. Poverty should be reduced by quality education, better occupation according to skill, refusing drugs and making and adopting a simple lifestyle.
Poor health is a major cause of poverty. People should therefore avoid drug and alcohol addiction and the smoking of tobacco.
A simple lifestyle is essential for poverty reduction since greed leads society towards unlawfulness, bribery, terrorism, etc If we encourage a simple lifestyle amongst young people then no one can abuse them for their own selfish motives.

 
SESSION 2 - GENDER BALANCE
This session was conducted by Mrs Lina Khalid. Shed said that in a male dominated society gender imbalance blocked the way to development. In some areas of Pakistan people do not want girls and women to get an education. If some women successfully complete their education they are not allowed to choose any profession. They should be encouraged to participate equally in the well being and support of their families. Men and women should have equal rights and responsibilities in society.

 

GROUP ACTIVITY

Participants were divided into four groups to discuss what they considered to be the main causes of poverty in the country and suggest solutions:

ISSUES REASONS SOLUTIONS
Group 1
Illiteracy Lack of awareness Sensitise people about the importance of education
Lack of interaction Busy life, individualism Seminars and workshops
Low quality education Corruption Better education system
Group 2
Low standard of education Poverty and lack of interest Scholarships, Awareness
Unemployment Bribery, lack of skills Skills training and policy betterment
Corruption System reform, professionalism Government policy implementation
Group 3
Unemployment Lack of professional skills Career guidance
Womens education Lack of awareness Awareness
Extremism Lack of human rights awareness Tolerance
Group 4
Unemployment Lack of professional skills Career guidance
Corruption Greed, desire to live a lavish life Simple lifestyle


SESSION 3 - THE RESPONSIBILITY OF YOUTH IN PEACE BUILDING

This was conducted by Mr Shamoon Masih who said that peace needs to be begin from within us as individuals who should then form a collective movement for establishing peace. Young people should then join with other peace movements and advocate against unlawfulness using participatory approaches. We should condemn activities which cause discrimination, the violation of human rights and extremism.


CONCLUSION

Mr Yousaf Dominic thanked all the participants and said that FIOH Pakistan intends to arrange more seminars on different topics in the future to promote the culture of peace. All are encouraged join this task of peace building, interfaith harmony and a develop a behaviour of tolerance in society.
 


PEACE RALLY

Organised by: Future in Our Hands Pakistan

Supported by: Participatory Village Development Programme

On 22nd Feb 2010 at Mirpurkhas, Sindh, Pakistan


About 60 members took part in the rally. The rally walk started from St Teresa Hospital to the Press Club and participants chanted peace slogans along the way. After the walk leaders of non government organisations and community leaders spoke to the participants.

Mr. Dominic Stephen, Chairman FIOH Pakistan and Executive Director of Participatory Village Development Programme [PVDP] Sindh, shared his thoughts and said "Peace should begin within us as individuals and can then join a collective movement for the establishment of peace. We should join hands with other peace movements to bring peace in society by advocacy against unlawfulness and by promoting unity and participatory approaches of attaining peace. We should condemn all kinds of activities which leads to discrimination and extremism."
Mr. Mir Safder Talpur represents the Bonded Labour Liberation Foundation (BLLF) Pakistan. He said "If we want peace we should mobilize the people to believe in the strength of unity and encourage awareness of the human rights, particularly by the youth. We can make the unity our strength in the current extreme situation of Pakistan"
Mr. Sher Muhammad Solangi belongs to Roshan Samaj Welfare and insisted that we should make our society free of religious discrimination, and recognise that there should be equal rights and opportunities without any kind of discrimination. We should bring interfaith harmony in our society so that no one can use us for their own selfish motives in the name of religion.
Master James is an employee of Mirpurkhas Church. He said "in the current situation of the country we need to be very kind to each other and we should believe in the power of unity and should fight against the current situation of extremism by promoting interfaith harmony. We need to mobilize the youth to bring social harmony and make efforts to eliminate the discrimination from society".
Mr. Yousaf Dominic is office Manager in SSEWA-PAK and working as a volunteer in FIOH-PAK. He thanked all the participants for joining the Peace Rally and said that FIOH-PAK intend to organize more rallies and awareness seminars on different issues.
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