Education

Taking responsibility for the education of poor children was the point of departure for our involvement in Pakistan. Today there are classes up to 10th grade in our 370 schools where 16 300 children are getting education. 47% of them are girls, quite a high proportion compare to the 30 % female students in government schools.
Computer science is one of our latest approaches in order to achieve the goal to provide a good education for the poor children.

PACS is also responsible for 2000 students in a number of adult centres.
In the latest years one we have been especially concerned of opening schools in the numerous brick factories around Lahore. Here more than 250 000 workers are living in conditions, which are not worthy fellow human beings. They are all very poor according to UN definition (under 1 dollar per day/person). There are 70 000 children who do not get any education and among the grown-ups around 140 000 are illiterate.
PACS goal is that in year 2005 there will be 25 000 students in these schools.

Health care & Family planning

Experience shows however that it is not enough to start schools to improve the situation for the poor people; healthcare and family planning are also important to secure a solid development and provide a way out of poverty. Through six mobile health teams, with nurses and health workers, 30 000 people have today access to reproductive health services.

Many families are practising family planning and thousand of children are protected from many serious diseases through our vaccination program.

Women's Forum

In the 80ties PACS started a special training program for women in Pakistan. They got training in sewing and embroidery as well as basic general education.

Later on these women formed a co-operative that generates income through handicraft production. The items produced are sold in Sweden on a voluntary basis, partly through our shop in Goteborg, partly through individuals in different parts of Sweden. More than 50 % of the income from the sale goes back to the women and support our development programs in Pakistan.
Last year, the female co-operative was transformed into Pak Swedish Women's Forum (PSWF), an organisation that is concerned with the problems of poor women and gender issues in general.

Pakistan is one of the very few countries where men outnumber women. This is due to neglecting the basic needs of young girls and high proportion of maternal deaths. For example: The mortality rates among the women in the twenties are twice as high as those for the men in the same age. Therefore the women's issues are of highest importance in order to achieve equality in Pakistan.