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Dr Fouzia Saeed has been working on violence against women
for the last 25 years. While studying in the United States
at the University of Minnesota, Dr . Saeed actively
volunteered at crisis centers in Minnesota. She received
training as an advocate and a councilor to deal with
violence survivors at Chrysalis. She worked on helpline,
counseling violence survivors on the phone and provided them
with references for legal help, medical and shelter
facilities. She also received training from Minnesota
Intervention Center for facilitating small groups of women.
Later, she conducted a research study for St Paul
Intervention Center where she assessed the satisfaction
level of violence survivors from the law enforcing agencies.
This included police, courts, counselors and shelters. The
outcomes of the report and the specific recommendations
formulated by her were presented to a body of senior judges
and police officials. Many of the recommendations were
accepted. She worked with St. Paul Intervention Center as a
woman’s advocate and volunteered in a program which provided
violence survivors direct support after they had requested
police intervention.
After returning to Pakistan she joined Women Action
Forum. She formed a taskforce under its Islamabad chapter
called Committee for Violence Against Women. This committee
analyzed factors that have helped this violence persist and
initiatives needed in the society to address some of these
aspects. In order to deepen the discussion she and others on
the task force organized workshops on the issue. They took
out a booklet which almost became the first publication on
violence against women in Pakistan. The talk of violence
against women was not as common as it is now at that time.
In general people were not responsive to it, but the
commitment level was high.
Through this committee the work was more of an analysis
level. To some extent it was also mobilizing and influencing
women’s groups and activists that could focus more on the
issue with a hands on approach.
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