Dear friends and colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the website which has been created exclusively in order to provide you with useful information with respect to the International Conference and NGO fair on the rights of women and children in Pakistan, which our organization, the Greek NGO Centre of Strategic Planning for Development "DIMITRA" and its local Pakistani NGO partners organize in Lahore within the framework of the EU supported project "NGO Net for Women and Children Rights".

The promotion of democratic institutions and the support of human rights of all individuals alike has always been one of the main concerns of our organization. Acknowledging that all people, regardless of their gender, age, color, ethnicity, religious beliefs, degree of bodily competence or sexual orientation should enjoy the same rights, we have extended our activation to Pakistan in an effort to try to improve the situation of Pakistani women and children, two particularly vulnerable social groups, whose human rights are very often compromised due to a variety of reasons.

The international conference and the accompanying activities fall within this effort and through its organizing, we aim at the following:

• Stimulation of the dialogue between local NGOs, international NGOs, Local Authorities and the Government and establishing of fruitful co-operations among Civil Society key players for the improvement of the situation of women and children in Pakistan.
  
  
• Provide a "platform" to local NGOs so that they can be heard, present their remarkable work to the public and the mass media and thus open up to the world and raise awareness.
  
  
• Introduce the local NGOs to local, national, European and International donors, so that they can claim funding in order to support the continuation of their activities, while presenting them with “success stories” to be imitated.
  
  
• Present awards to people who have excelled in their fight for the improvement of the situation, so as to inspire other people to follow their example.