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On the Horizon in Pakistan: Program Director Provides a View

A girl carrying water at Camp Maira is among those remaining until the government decides where they should move; their villages of origin were destroyed. CWS has provided tents, water/sanitation, food, clothing, and other basics for the camp residents. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

May 10, 2006

On April 25, after a week in Pakistan, CWS NY colleagues Chris Herlinger and Ann Walle sat down in the Islamabad offices with CWS Pakistan-Afghanistan Director Marvin Parvez for his thoughts on the CWS program and its future goals.

Parvez began by noting the successes his program had marked, which include several large-scale leadership roles, in addition to managing an emergency response program that includes shelter; water and sanitation; and psychosocial responses. These roles include:

UN Humanitarian Information Center for Pakistan and the United Nations Joint Logistic Center are in conversation with CWS about CWS carrying some of their activities, in recognition of the agency's preeminence in response and capacity;
Leadership of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum in the six months immediately following the earthquake; Oxfam has now assumed the role;
The Pakistan program's Emergency Resource Center has put out a multitude of publications to raise the capacity of civil society to combat natural and human-made disasters proactively;
Inter-cultural team building – 13 foreign nationals arrived to work in the emergency field office: Swedish, Cuban, Norwegian, Finnish, British, Japanese, Danish, French, Dutch, Afghani and Pakistani. "Very challenging to say the least," noted Parvez.

Looking ahead, Parvez says a key goal is to "keep the donor community engaged" even while Pakistan is largely poorly portrayed in the Western media – as an ally, but a troubled one.

Parvez believes that the way forward is definitely multinational, with positive foreign presence on the ground. He notes that this will mean accepting team management structures in a country that is largely run by the military.

Parvez told how "women always suffer more greatly in disasters. The collection of firewood and water still have to be done, only now they have to travel further to do it, and with less food most likely." He emphasizes, "It's status we are looking at – this has to be addressed as preventive work. We can never separate disasters from the political. Disasters have a propensity to happen in countries that are already troubled, or in disaster zones, with extreme poverty, in areas that are logistically challenging.

"The earthquake response covers 18,000 square miles, and we had four vehicles!" he exclaims. "We had huge problems getting to the Chattar Plains – a whole infrastructure was needed, even with the existing office in Mansehra. [The CWS Mansehra office has been in place for 25 years.] Getting out immediately into the region is very important, and we were able to do this."

Of his work, Parvez grins a bit and says he thinks of it as a rainbow, a sign of hope. "CWS is that rainbow," he says, with the colors being all the gifts the agency brings through its various supporters: International Medical Assistance helps provide for medical needs; the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance helps with psychosocial support."

He goes on: "But ours is a rainbow that stays – it has been here, and it stays over, over the whole situation." Parvez hopes that the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the area will be wholly included in the government plans for recovery and rehabilitation. The NGO cluster group has begun a media advocacy effort to proclaim its hope and to emphasize human rights in the vast upheavals that resulted first from the earthquake and now through some policies being enacted.

Parvez is sending staff to the U.S. in June to share stories of the CWS response. He hopes that this may garner new alliances and even corporate sponsorships for his program's work. "The CWS model is about capacity building," he says. "We hope for many new initiatives."

Contributions to support earthquake survivors can be sent to:

Church World Service
Southern Asia Earthquake --#6979
P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.

Contributions can also be made online or by calling 800.297.1516, ext. 222.

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;

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