UNICEF to build model villages in Ghotki

Upgrading villages to improve the lives of over 5,000 families and more than 22,000 children.

SUKKUR: UNICEF has decided to upgrade villages without civic amenities in the district of Ghotki, Sindh. Addressing a two-day seminar on child protection, Deputy Commissioner Zahid Ali Abbasi said that 100 villages of the district have been chosen for the project. They will be provided basic needs such as potable water, proper sanitation, health facilities and education.

Profiles of 64 villages have been completed. Three organisations—UNICEF, Plan International and Indus Resource Centre—are working together on this. The projects will be handed over to the government, keeping all stakeholders in the loop.

Zahida Manzoor, UNICEF’s child protection officer, said that this project is being implemented in eight districts of Pakistan, including two in Sindh, Ghotki and Khairpur. The project will benefit 5,678 families and 22,712 poor children in Ghotki. The project will also assist in finding out actual cases of child labour, in addition to protecting child rights. This programme is being run in 160 countries worldwide where child rights are protected.

While talking to The Express Tribune over the phone, Manzoor said work has already started. A hundred villages will be modernized this year and 130 villages will be next year.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2012.