Community meetings held under the RSSP are an initiative to mobilize change at the grass roots towards primary prevention and the way sexual violence cases are cared for. In these meetings, various topics were addressed including the concept of community participation and empowerment, community response to sexual violence, identifications of stakeholders & their roles and responsibilities and State obligations towards combating GBV. Participants, who mainly comprised women political workers and local government electorates, were involved in exercises like stakeholders’ analysis in context of sexual violence within a community, identification of barriers in community response to sexual violence and building strategies to overcome the barriers in community response to sexual violence.
591 (112 men and 479 women) citizens of 17 towns of Karachi participated in these meetings. Those who attended these meetings came from all walks of life including housewives, town office staff, ex-councilors, teachers, officials from the education department, students, healthcare professionals, government officers, social workers/social welfare department personnel, police, media, working women and political workers. An overwhelming majority were interested in spreading awareness and encouraging dialogue within their familial and social circles on sexual violence.
Download Community Outreach Program Report 2010
