Asia and the Pacific
Materials for the South Asia Regional Power to Persuade Virtual Conference are available below. Stay tuned as additional materials are added here!
In February 2021, The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and local DPO partner in Pakistan, STEP, developed a video and poster on adapting the Power to Persuade training for online implementation in Pakistan. A transcript of the video and the poster text is below. Each of these materials is available to download at the links below.
Power to Persuade Pakistan Video
[Transcript begins]
Narrator: According to International Surveys 12-14% of the population of Pakistan and according to a survey conducted by non-governmental organizations this population is almost 8-10%. 50% of them are women with disabilities. These women with disabilities face barriers, common to all persons with disabilities in developing countries. These barriers include education, employment and health. It is critically important to include these women in policy and decision-making. Only in that condition, we can progress towards inclusive development. Working with persons with disabilities especially women with disabilities, STEP believed that to empower women with disabilities, it is important to sensitize them on their rights. The training should be on political inclusion, inclusion in elections and how to address their collective problems on important forums. After giving basic training to women with disabilities and including them in decision-making processes, a training program was designed under the Power to Persuade project. This training project was to be implemented in collaboration with IFES and STEP.
Similar projects were piloted in Nepal and Sri Lanka. To implement this project in Pakistan and due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was decided that this training will be organized virtually through the internet and technology. But before using the technology, some problems were identified which were not limited to the unavailability of the internet, laptop and mobile phones but also an enabling home environment. Lack of education and limited understanding of training material was also a challenge. To understand these challenges in detail and draw a conclusion, a survey was conducted. A decision was made on the basis of the survey that if internet, computer and enabling environment is provided at home also the training manual is translated in Urdu the training can be conducted. Another suggestion that was given was that the five days training should be changed to a ten days training with two hours daily. Sign Language, Captioning and translation of training material into braille should also be provided, implementing all these suggestions the program was designed from the scratch as per the latest technology.
After going through many brainstorming and consultation in different phases a detailed training module was designed. As per the module, five experienced women with disabilities were trained as Master Trainers. These women with disabilities in their provinces trained hundreds of other women with disabilities online. During the training program, women with disabilities in their respective areas identified challenges faced by persons with disabilities. Also suggested possible solutions based on these challenges. To help them implement their suggestions it was decided that microgrants will be given. after going through this process it is expected that all the legislation on persons with disabilities will be truly implemented.
[Transcript ends]
Power to Persuade Pakistan Poster
[Poster begins]
[Top upper left]: Power to Persuade
[Top upper right]: 100 Women with Disabilities from all over the country trained to influence Public Policy for inclusive development
[Middle Center]: 5 Disability Activists trained on technology & specifically designed module for Power to Persuade Training
These master training further trained 100 women with disabilities in their respective provinces who are ready to become an active contributor to the inclusive development
12- Khybetr Pakhtun Khuwa
21- South Punjab
14- Balochistan
17- Islamabad
21- Central Punjab
15- Sindh
[Bottom center]: Due to COVID-19, the overall training was shifted to online platforms and for the first time, women with disabilities were equipped and trained virtually.
[Poster ends]
