Is Right to Play effective in reducing peer victimisation in Pakistan and also in improving attitudes towards gender roles, and improving youth mental health and school performance? This informative brief includes methodology, findings regarding the relationship between disability and violence, and also the intersection of corporal punishment by teachers and peer violence, and makes policy recommendations.

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Right to Play, Pakistan

Faiza, Manzil , Nazreen, Saima, Anmol Rani and Nimra from class 7^th of girl’s government school in, Hyderabad are best friends. The six girls are Junior Leaders of their school-based programme, Right To Play. This programme and their friendship is built on the opportunities for interaction that emerged through the Right To Play activities in their school.

Right to Play, Pakistan

A bright prospect for district Hyderabad’s under 17 girls cricket team, 14-year-old Hira, who goes to a girls’ secondary school in Pakistan, is an exceptional player despite her extremely poor background, and lacking basic resources.

Hira’s parents are illiterate; her father works as a mechanic in a workshop and so spending even the minimum on education was a luxury.

The What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme has carried out research to better understand how to prevent violence against women and girls living with disabilities, who are at an increased risk of violence, abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation. Women and girls with disabilities also face additional pressures because they are regarded as unable to meet the social roles and expectations on women and girls to attract men, marry, bear children, or care for families. This can result in further social exclusion, which may contribute to development of depression or other mental illness, in addition to increasing their physical and economic vulnerabilities. While the evidence base is limited, this evidence brief identifies promising strategies to prevent violence against women girls with disabilities.

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Violence against women (VAW) and violence against children (VAC) are violations of human rights and global public health priorities. Historically, work to address VAW and VAC have often occurred separately or in silos. This evidence note, however, draws attention to the growing body of evidence on the intersections of VAW and VAC, including risk factors, common social norms, co-occurrence, and the intergenerational cycle of abuse. It presents promising programmatic approaches to prevent and respond to both forms of violence; and policy recommendations, which include prioritising prevention efforts with adolescent girls that challenge gender norms and build girls’ agency.

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Saeed Ali T , Karmaliani. R,, Mcfarlane. J., Khuwaja. H.M.A; Somani Y, Chirwa E.D.,& Jewkes. R. (2017). Attitude towards Gender Roles and violence against women and Girls (VAWG): Baseline Findings from an RCT of 1,752 Youth in Pakistan. Global Health Action, 10, 1342454

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Asad, N.; Karmaliani,R.; McFarlane,J.; Bhamani, SS.; Somani, Y.; Chirwa, E. & Jewkes, R. (2017). The Intersection of Adolescent Depression and Peer Violence: Baseline Results from A Randomized Controlled Trial of 1,752 Youth in Pakistan. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 22, No. 4, 2017, pp. 232–241

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This Working Paper provides the background for a project aiming to illustrate the invisible drag that VAWG places at every level of the Pakistani economy and society: on families, communities, businesses, institutions, and on the country as a whole. This is a three-year multi-country project that estimates the costs of VAWG, both social and economic, to individuals and households, businesses and communities, and states. It breaks new ground in understanding the impact of VAWG on community cohesion, economic stability and development, and will provide further evidence for governments and the international community to address violence against women and girls globally. This paper outlines the nature of VAWG in Pakistan, and the social and economic context in which it occurs. It begins with an introduction to the status of women in Pakistan, and the prevalence and types of VAWG that affect them. It explores the various contexts that are affected by violence: economic, social and political, and discusses the action that has been taken to address violence to date. It goes on to identify some literature on the costs of violence to society and the economy, and to highlight the gaps in the literature, which this project aims to fill.

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McFarlane, J., Karmaliani R., Khuwaja. H.M.A; Gulzar, S., Somani, R., et al. (2017). Preventing peer violence against children: methods and baseline data of a cluster randomized controlled trial in Pakistan. Global Health: Science and Practice, 5(1), 115-137.

This report studies the prevalence of peer violence among sixth grade students in Hyderabad. It also seeks to describe associations between socio-economic status, school performance, mental health, gender attitudes, violence at home and peer violence perpetration and victimisation.

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