Gender Equity Program

This grant-making program seeks to facilitate behavioral change in society by enabling women to access information, resources, and institutions and improving public attitudes towards women's rights issues. The program provides small grants to Pakistani organizations for projects that expand women's access to justice, increase knowledge of women's rights, enhance opportunities for women to exercise their rights, combat gender-based violence, and strengthen the capacity of Pakistani organizations to advocate for gender equity, women's empowerment, and the elimination of gender-based violence. The main objective of the Gender Equity Program is to support the development of Pakistani women by increasing access to justice, information, and resources and improving public attitudes towards women's rights issues. To achieve this objective, the program awards grants ranging in value from $25,000 to $250,000 to government and non-governmental entities working to further women's legal and economic empowerment, expand access to justice, and combat gender-based violence. These grants support a range of activities, including policy research studies, public awareness mobilization, rehabilitation of Women's Crisis Centers, registration of marginalized women, and reestablishment of women's home-based micro-enterprises. Support has been provided to the National Commission on the Status of Women for policy research studies to improve government program planning and implementation. Public awareness has been mobilized on a nationwide basis about women's issues and the impact of gender-based violence. The program has also supported the rehabilitation of Women's Crisis Centers to provide shelter for battered women. Additionally, support has been provided to facilitate the registration of marginalized women and to reestablish women's home-based micro-enterprises destroyed in the 2010 floods. The program has achieved significant results, including the registration of 1.1 million women for National Identity Cards. Furthermore, 2,000 women in crisis have been supported with essential relief items, water and sanitation services, and basic shelter. Provincial Departments of Women's Affairs have been strengthened to perform essential program planning and implementation tasks. These achievements demonstrate the program's effectiveness in supporting the development of Pakistani women and promoting gender equity and women's empowerment. The program's focus on increasing access to justice, information, and resources has had a positive impact on women's lives in Pakistan. By supporting the development of women, the program has helped to improve public attitudes towards women's rights issues and has contributed to the elimination of gender-based violence. The program's achievements serve as a model for future initiatives aimed at promoting gender equity and women's empowerment in Pakistan.