Short description - activities:

Introduction:

Friends Welfare Association (FWA) is a non governmental, non profit & non political development oriented organization operational in N.W.F.P Pakistan. Our main areas of work are social sector, social mobilization and natural resource management. We strongly believe in community participation as a key factor in the rural development. FWA is strongly committed towards wellbeing of the communities surrounded by multiple social, financial and educational problems.

Objectives:

o To contribute in poverty alleviation through natural resource management.
o Enhance literacy and quality education in the program areas.
o Provide basic health and hygiene education and improve functioning of existing
services as a means of community mobilization.
o Empower people, especially women through group formation, training and networking.
o Undertake policy level advocacy and conduct research on related themes.
o Facilitate mechanisms which promote tolerance, social harmony and peace in society.

Programs:

Basic Education & Psycho-Social Support

Education, specifically primary education is the birth right of every children. Primary education creates awareness, open avenues for opportunities as well as self advancement and it reduces chronic and intergenerational poverty. As for the creation of the welfare and just society, education is a prerequisite, so FWA has focused on education, as the most important sector, in its poverty alleviation program. ........................................

Health and Hygiene

Poverty and health care are inter related. FWA works to improve access to affordable health services. It attempts to build human and financial capacities to make them able to afford the health services at local level.

Children enrolled in the educational programs of FWA, receive basic health services along with appropriate hygiene education. Children, having acute and chronic diseases are treated by the Doctors of the project. They are provided with diagnostic services along with provision of medicines for making sure early and speedy cure. ........................

Small & Micro Enterprise Development

FWA aims to harness the potentials of the people to make them self independent in term of earning sustainable livelihood. To achieve this objective, craft promotion program has been initiated in the District Mansehra to provide income generating opportunities to craftsmen of the area by reviving and sustaining traditional crafts skills which are transferred generation after generation. Among such traditional skills of craft, hand made, high quality carpet manufacturing has been the art from which many families of the craftsmen have been earning a respectable living in the past decades. ............

Women Empowerment

Women specially are not given the equal opportunities of education, jobs and other social facilities as their role is mostly restricted to indoor activities. This discrimination against women is a main constraint in the sustainable development of this area, as development remains an incomplete process unless, it includes both men and women at all levels of social, economic and political functioning...............

Advocacy and Capacity Building

Advocating general human rights and the rights of women and children have been a standard function of almost of all FWA’ events, meetings, workshops and awareness raising activities for the benefit of the community. Through the report year, workshops, Awareness raising of the general community is done about rights of the women, importance of women education and ending domestic violence or any kind of malpractice against women................

Community Development

Community development is an integral element of our project, for reasons of effectiveness as well as sustainability of results. FWA employed efforts to not only provide direct services to the immediate beneficiaries but also to reach out to other stakeholders in target areas to bring positive changes in the overall community development. ............

Recent Projects:

Basic Education:
o       Increase enrollment & prevention of dropout
o       Formal Education
o       Non Formal Education
o       Teacher and PTC Training

Livelihood
o       Vocational Training
o       Crafts promotion
o       Small Micro Enterprise Development(SMED)

Women Empowerment:
o       Women Organizations
o       Capacity Buildings
o       Linkages with Line agencies etc

Advocacy
o       Human Rights
o       Health & Hygiene Promotion
o       Behavioral change communication

Mission statement: