‘Reaching out to the Unreached: The importance of rights-based grassroots work and long term sustainable institutional-based partnerships for enabling marginalised women’s voices to be heard in northwest Pakistan’

Speaker: Maryam Bibi, Founder and CEO of Khwendo Kor, a Pakistani women’s rights NGO (www. khwendokor.org.pk)

Maryam will be the Guest Speaker at this year’s AGM of the UK Friends Of Khwendo Kor (www.frok.org.uk).  NON MEMBERS WELCOME TO ATTEND

Maryam Bibi has been working to improve the situation of women and children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North West Frontier Province) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) since the early 1990s through founding and running the NGO, Khwendo Kor (www.khwendokor.org.pk).  As a tribal woman herself, Maryam understands the complexities and sensitivities of the local situation and the need to gain the trust and respect of local people in what is one of the poorest and most geopolitically sensitive and dangerous areas of the world.

Khwendo Kor is one of the very few NGOs in FATA and the settled areas that combines service provision with advocacy for change while working on women’s rights.  It is the only one of which we are aware that is headed by a woman. Maryam has led Khwendo Kor to national and international renown for its effective and sustainable approach and its innovative development models including ‘Viable Villages’.

Maryam Bibi is a compelling speaker.  This is a rare opportunity in the UK to hear her authentic accounts of working on the frontline.