Pakistan
In Pakistan, Oxfam's focus is on education, health, tackling violence against women, and emergency relief.
Latest: Pakistan floods
Helping girls to get an education
In rural areas of Pakistan, boys are three times more likely than girls to complete their primary education.
Female literacy is just 35%. For men it is 61%. Parents who cannot afford to send all their children to school usually send the boys and keep the girls at home.
How Oxfam is helping
We support projects to help girls and women get an education. One approach is focusing on innovative phonetic methods of teaching. This helps young women learn quickly so they can catch up on the education they missed.
Photostory: Education – the key to a brighter future
We've been learning how to measure things. When we buy from shopkeepers, they cannot cheat us now.
Adeeba, schoolgirl from Khoj
Other development work
- Lobbying for better health care
- Focusing on rural land rights and economic opportunities
- Increasing resilience to disasters and climate change
Learn more
Read more examples of our work in Pakistan:
ECHO (Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission) and Dubai Cares are funding partners of Oxfam in Pakistan
Ending violence against women
Hundreds of women die each year in Pakistan in the name of 'honour'. Oxfam believes women have the right to life without fear.
- Up to 80 per cent of Pakistani women have suffered some sort of domestic violence
- Only 20 per cent of 'honour killings' are ever brought to justice
In many communities, social customs and attitudes tacitly condone and support violence against women. Simply seeking employment out of the house or wishing to choose your own husband can be seen as bringing shame on the family. In extreme cases, it can be punished with death.
How Oxfam is helping
Oxfam's We Can campaign aims to break down attitudes and customs which support violence against women. Some five million specially trained 'Change Makers' from across South East Asia are helping mobilise 50 million people and bring about a sea-change in attitudes towards women.
I am thankful to We Can for providing people with an opportunity to speak out against 'honour' killings. The campaign has the potential to unleash a big revolution.
Khalida Brohi, Change Maker, Sindh
Learn more
Pakistan floods
Oxfam is responding to the devastating floods that hit northern Pakistan in July/August 2010.
Fighting in North West Pakistan
Oxfam is providing emergency support to up to 520,000 people who have escaped the recent fighting in Pakistan.
South Asia earthquake 2005
On 8 October 2005, a massive earthquake devastated Kashmir, Pakistan and northern India, claiming at least 73,000 lives, and leaving more than three million people homeless.
How Oxfam responded
Oxfam’s work reached nearly one million people. We continue to help improve the rights of affected communities and help people rebuild their livelihoods.
[Thanks to the new electricity power plant built by Oxfam] I won't have to go out, walking for hours to find and cut wood to get some light in my home.
Bibi Hanifa, Tore Naddi Malkal Gali
