Under this program, the Peace and Justice Network (PJN) will enhance the capacity and skills of the transgender community in humanitarian disaster relief response, Inclusion, Flood Relief Efforts, and Protection through residential training and also through three months of district engagement of the selected Transgender Fellows. The fellowship is part of PJN’s national program that PJN is implementing in all four provinces and federal level “Bridging the Barriers - Inclusion of Transgender Community in Flood Relief and Response” that PJN is implementing with the support of the Concern Worldwide and USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).
In this fellowship program, transgender fellows will be selected from 33 most flood-affected districts due to current floods, including Pishin, Quetta, Sibi, and other geographically marginalised areas of Balochistan, Sindh, KP, and Punjab as during the program preliminary study it has been observed that the transgender community has been excluded at all level. The transgender community felt that if a proper chance has been given to them and proper training have been provided to them they could have played a very productive role in collaboration with government departments to support their fellow transgender community who have been affected greatly due to recent floods.
Syed Raz Ali, PJN’s CEO and the Convener PJN’s National Transgender Taskforce on Floods Relief & Response, stated that the transgender community in Pakistan is a highly marginalized group and has been further marginalized by the devastating flooding that has displaced over 33 million people and left millions deprived of basic needs. This Fellowship program first of its kind in the world will provide a great opportunity for the transgender community to play a mainstream role and it will also help them ensure their inclusion with dignity. Advocate Faiza Farooq – Director PJN, said that I believe transgender people are extraordinary, strong, Intelligent, and skilful by all means, and through this program, I believe we are building a long history, and this I encourage all the Trans community from the grass root to become part of this fellowship.
In recent floods, we have seen that government emergency response preparedness didn’t include the transgender community in their response strategy. They have not been included in the distribution of shelter, health services, and food, and as such, were unable to receive vital supplies. Also, there is no data available on how many transgender has been provided flood relief services. This fellowship program will help the fellows act as change agents to bridge the gaps between the transgender community and humanitarian actors such as government and national and international organizations.
Nayyab Ali – National Program Technical Specialist, said that “Not having a national identity card is also another enormous challenge for the transgender community in flood-affected areas, and it limits their access to relief aid. Also, there is no official data available on how many transgender community members have been affected due to recent floods, so this means they are not actually the priority of the government. Many of the transgender community members have lost their homes in recent floods. The floods have taken away their livelihood. There are incidents where the transgender community who tried to find space in government-organized camps has been harassed and sent back. They are not welcomed in relief camps and do not have easy access to services that may be available to other internally displaced persons (IDPs). The lack of adequate government support even forced some of the transgender community to migrate to other cities for their survival. She further stated that this program would not only bridge the gaps but also accelerate community engagement at the government level and provide them with livelihood opportunities.
The Grassroots level Transgender community lauded PJN, the Concern World Wide and USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) for launching this program and stressed that government, international, and national humanitarian organizations should include transgender populations in flood relief response.