 |
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In
this issue
In its 26th annual meeting, held in Charleston in June 2005, the Society of Wetlands Scientists (SWS) approved the organization of its chapter in Asia, the Society of Wetlands Scientists Asia (SWS Asia). SWS Asia designated its country representatives, who will work on a voluntary basis to promote the newly established organization in their respective countries. SWS Asia has designated Ahmad Khan, LEAD Associate, Cohort 11 as its representative for Pakistan. Mr. Khan has been a member of SWS from Pakistan for several years. He has worked for conservation of cranes in NWFP and Zhob and has conducted research on wetlands and cranes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His most significant achievement is the post Soviet-Afghanistan war assessment of Lake Ab-i-Estada, the staging ground of the now extinct central population of Siberian cranes. He has also explored Wasta Lake as a retreat ground of demoiselle cranes in Pakistan.. More...
Solid waste is a term applied to garbage from non-industrial sources such as homes, restaurants, retail centers, and office buildings. Solid waste management deals with strategies and policies to ensure minimum damage to the environment when solid waste is disposed of. Individuals, communities and the State all play a vital role in solid waste management. The increasing amounts of solid waste in residential and public areas have led to a demand for effective solid waste management techniques. Realizing the severity f the issue, Rahim Changezi (LEAD Fellow, Cohort 9) conducted his LEAD Associate Project (LAP) in Hazara Town, a suburb of Quetta city to develop a model of community based solid waste management system.
Quetta Municipal Corporation (QMC) seems to have failed in properly managing the daily generated solid waste of the 1.2 million population of Quetta district. The rapid urbanization process, combined with the influx of Afghan refugees not only congested the city, but also implanted new settlements in and around it. Consequently, basic services such as clean drinking water, health, education and sanitation facilities became insufficient to meet the needs of the people. Waste was scattered all over the city producing bad smells and creating other hazards for people. This situation is more sever in the city’s suburbs like Hazara Town, Pashtoonabad and Sariab where QMC is reluctant to own most of the slums. In his LAP, Mr. Changezi found that the town had estimated population of 20,000 people and there was neither a single sanitary worker nor a dustbin for disposal of solid wastes. Shortage of civic amenities and burden of overpopulation on natural resources was evident. Due to absence of municipal services the area was getting dirtier and more polluted day by day contributing to an unhygienic environment and increasing the risk of infectious diseases. In such a dismal scenario, the LAP worked as a relief package where immediate relief was required.
The project of Mr. Changezi was limited to domestic solid waste collection, as it did not seek funding from external sources. He formulated the Lane Organization to finance initial investment and generate operational cost of the mechanism in all lanes / streets. A minimal amount was charged to beneficiaries on a monthly basis against the service of waste collection. During the project, it was found that solid waste was now being collected from 235 houses through 3 waste collectors. Apart from enabling the community to run and supervise the mechanism, the project emphasized organizing communities and sensitizing them to hazards of bad living conditions and advantages of healthy environmental practices. One of the main focuses was to ensure involvement of women in all stages of project. Separate organizations (Women’s Lane Organizations) were formed side by side with Men’s Lane Organizations. Short training sessions were separately conducted for both organizations with the aim to create awareness, achieve active participation and enable communities to undertake and run the waste collection service smoothly and successfully. The project is still underway and is expanding into all parts of Hazara Town.
Achievement of Fellow
Rana El Akhal (LEAD Fellow, Cohort 10) has been awarded an honorary PhD certificate in Economics and Business Management from Oxford College for PhD studies, Ireland. Besides offering the honorary PhD programme, Oxford College is also offering PhD Fellowship and research. The college also offers several training programmes through its new training center, based at the American Society for Training and Developments (ASTD). Ms El Akhal says, ‘It is a great honor for me to have my name in the list of honor at Oxford College this year with a group of well-known names among which are those of His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz Al- Saud, His Royal Highness Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Al-Saud from Saudia Arabia, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan from UAE, His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani from Qatar, His Majesty King Abdullah and His Excellency Dr Mohammad Al Halaiqa from Jordan’.
Rana El Akhal has been awarded this certificate for her efforts in identifying opportunities for the textile sector in Jordan for its export to USA and Europe using the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and for establishing a Jordanian-European network among young people participating in the process of developing their countries’ national youth policies and strategies. She conducted this study during her work with UNDP in 2004 as the National Expert for the Production of the Jordanian National Youth Policy and Strategy.
In her study, she found that the textile sector in Jordan is losing millions of dollars worth of potential profit because it uses the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement instead of the FTA. She studied the FTA agreement and the FTA implementation constraints as well as the obstacles that hinder the country from exporting to USA and Europe.
The QIZ agreement obliged Jordanian exporters to export through the port of Israel to USA, which made the cost of the product higher and the time it took to reach its destination longer. On the other hand, the FTA agreement allows Jordan to export directly to USA.
Rana El Akhal has also received the Certificate of Appreciation for the initiative in building Economic Industrial Network and the Certificate of Membership and VIP Business Award, which will help her to become a VIP Fellow of Oxford College for PhD Studies, Fellow of Royal College for Professional Technology and a permanent member of EU-Arab States Economic Interest Group, European Arab Business and the Fellowship Foundation.
Shazia Tehmas Khan (LEAD Associate, Cohort 11) has been selected as a LEAD Mentor and Provincial Review Board (PRB) member in the Women Political School (WPS) project of UNDP, an extension of the Women Political Participation (W3P) Project. The project W3P was successful in training approximately 27,000 of the women councilors during the project period and the UNDP headquarters recognized it as one of the best practices from 59 case studies submitted by 22 country offices all over the world.
Therefore, to build upon the gains of the first phase WPS was designed, the goal of which is to empower women councilors so that their issues and concerns are raised in the policy agenda and addressed through public policy. Ms Khan says: ‘In the present local government, about 40,000 females are elected but unfortunately more than 50% of them are illiterate and 50% are newcomers with no knowledge of the local government ordinance (LGO) and the systems. As a LEAD Mentor, I have to train and educate the women councilors in human rights and gender equality in order to bring a change in the attitude of the elected women representatives, coming from remote areas’. The training will also enhance their participation in the formulation, advocacy and implementation of gender sensitive economic strategies. In her capacity as a PRB member, Ms Khan will also monitor the performance of the WPS project and suggest several measures necessary for the betterment of the schools operating at the provincial level.
Ms Khan says, ‘I feel that LEAD has enriched my capabilities and enhanced my perspectives towards sustainable development’.
LEAD Pakistan has been involved in school improvement through its ongoing DEMO project in Khairpur and Sukkur under the technical and financial support of ESRA/USAID. During the recent visit of the Chief of Parties (CoP), ESRA, Suzanne Olds to Khairpur and Sukkur, the CoP was impressed to find out that a number of School Management Committees (SMCs) were taking keen interest in the management and improvement of their respective schools. The following table shows some enterprising initiatives showing the keen interest of the SMCs in the area:
School
Initiative
Improvement in
Environment
Enrollment
GBPS Umar Kanher, Taluka Kingri
Free tuition center being run by community
Flowers and trees planted on school premises
Community motivated to send children to school; 50 students enrolled
GBPS Habib Thair, Taluka Khairpur
Motor pump (for water) and 2 ceiling fans donated by SMC member.
To overcome teacher shortages, an SMC member voluntarily teaches two days a week
Enrollment increased by 102 students through community contacts
GBPS Mohd Yusaf Bhayo, Taluka Khairpur
Land for school donated by SMC Chairman
Head Teacher takes interest in school cleanliness
50 students enrolled through community
Update: PERT Training on Environmental Impact Assessment, Karachi
Update: Evaluation Study on Drought Relief and Improved Emergency Project in Balochistan Province
Update: PERT Training on Environmental
Laws and Rules
Update: PERT Training on Environmental
Impact Assessment, Lahore
Update: PERT Training on Environmental Management through Local Government and Devolved Structure, Faislabad
Update: PERT Training on Environmental Management through Local Government and Devolved Structure, Gujranwala
Events Dates Venue ISO 14001 EMS & SA 8000 Implementation, Documentation and Internal Auditors Training July 12-13
Islamabad First National Training Session on Multilateral Environmental Agreements July 24-30 Peshawar
Editor : Nida Khan
Layout By : Imran Butt
Editorial Committee : Zabreen Hasan, Samra Hanif
Fellows and Associates can send us details of their job achievements, job alterations or any other news they wish to share with the LEAD Family. All contributions will be an asset to the bulletin. Write to us at ldp
For up-to-date information on LEAD Pakistan activities and services please visit our website www.lead .org.pk
© LEAD Pakistan 2005