“Women’s empowerment for social justice & social justice for women’s empowerment”

“Since 1996, Shirkat Gah has provided legal assistance to over 187 women through court cases, while hundreds of women and men have been provided advice and support mechanism.”

“Shirkat Gah has found strong niches in (South Asia) regional as well as national development networks and has essentially been part of national and international processes to lobby for gains for women.”

“Shirkat Gah has provided useful manuals and literature for other NGOs to disseminate in their communities. It has a very good research base and has given food for thought to other
NGOs – especially those involved in service delivery.”

History

Shirkat Gah literally means a place of participation. It was formed as a non hierarchical collective in 1975 by a group of women with a shared perspective on women’s rights and development.

The organizations fundamental goal was to encourage women to play a full and equal role in society by promoting and protecting the social and economic development of women already participating in, or wanting to participate in, the national development.

Vision

Shirkat Gah is committed to a just, vibrant, progressive and democratic society where women are fully empowered, gender equality, human security and opportunities are ensured for all, peace prevails and resources are shared on a sustainable and equitable basis.

Mission

Shirkat Gah strives to:

• Build the capacity of women as rights claimants, able to make informed decisions, as well as to create alternative life-choices.
• Advocate and mobilize for positive changes in policies and practices from the community to the international arena.
• Hold the state accountable and develop a culture of peace, ensuring sustainable and equitable use of resources and full inclusion of rights of all people.

At a Glance

Shirkat Gah is a multifaceted not for profit organization that works towards capacity building for women at an individual level supported by selected outreach partners across Pakistan, and at a strategic level to ensure good governance and policy making at the local and domestic level.

Shirkat Gah actively conducts and supports research that supports and assists its objective of empowering women. It works closely with the civil society and community based organizations.

Over almost three decades, Shirkat Gah has, and continues to play the role of a catalyst in bringing about change at the grassroots by increasing awareness of existing policies, programmes and laws. It provides legal assistance, awareness and capacity building interventions in all four provinces of Pakistan to uplift the status of women in their own environment.

Today, Shirkat Gah has expanded well beyond the Collective to an organisation operating across Pakistan, regionally and internationally, and enjoys ECOSOC status at the United Nations.

How we work

• We advocate the issues of women and their empowerment by lobbying with their local communities and duty bearers, policy makers, media, national and international civil society and development organizations
• We build the capacities of local community based and civil society organizations through research and awareness sessions on sexual and reproductive health, livelihoods, violence against women, environment and sustainable development.
• We initiate, respond to, and circulate campaigns around human rights, good governance, legal reforms, livelihood and environmental issues
• We conduct baseline research and exploratory visits to the selected field sites. Interventions provide support to individuals in crisis situations as well as advice and legal assistance through our own resources, and through our institutional and organizational associations
• Based on our research and areas of intervention we develop numerous publications in English, Urdu and Sindhi and are circulated worldwide. These include research findings, tools for training, awareness and a host of advocacy materials that include guides, manuals, posters, cartoon booklets
• We participate in numerous national, regional and international civil society coalitions, networks and alliances to benefit our focus areas
• We use the United Nations system, and opportunities to contribute to the ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development), Beijing, Millennium Development Goals and CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of all form of Discrimination against Women) processes in particular

Areas of Focus

Research Unit

A dedicated Research Unit deepens understanding of existing issues and fills knowledge-gaps for direction-setting and future activities. This builds upon 35 years of experience in archival and empirical research that includes pioneering studies on women in the informal sector, sustainable development, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and political processes, as well as the interface of culture, religion and law, participatory poverty assessments and globalization

International Associations

It consists of entries of annual reports of renowned national and international NGOs and private sector organizations.

Organizational Structure

Shirkat Gah has a matrix management system consisting of:

• A General Body (the Collective) which acts as the overall policy-making body.
• A 5-member Board elected by the General Body for supervision and management.
• A Chief Executive Officer supported by Regional Directors responsible for programme
  planning, implementation and monitoring.
• A Research Unit, headed by the Director Research.

A staff of approximately 100 persons in offices in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.