Girls United for Human Rights

Based on experience, Hadiqa Bashir set up Girls United for Human Rights (GUHR) in 2014. Today, it is an all-girl organisation working to end child marriage and promote girls’ rights in the conservative north-western Swat Valley in Pakistan. GUHR works with adolescent girls and local stakeholders to promote girls’ rights, empowerment, school enrolment and safety. The organisation has developed educational materials for young girls to learn about their rights that it distributes in schools and publishes online. GUHR runs a media campaign to raise awareness and its members go door-to-door to engage with religious leaders, community elders, parents, grandparents, school teachers and legislators. It also addresses government and department representatives to try to change the mindset that allows for girls to marry at such a young age. The organisation promotes theatre projects as a medium to educate and mobilise communities. This helps drive the message that girls have a right to health, education, elimination of all forms of violence and encourages community participation. GUHR is a strong girl-centred organisation whose activities are girl-led. It is successfully challenging the gender roles embedded by patriarchal systems in the conservative communities it works with and has reached over 5,000 girls in the process of its work.