LAHORE:
With educational opportunities scarce for gender minorities in Pakistan, a local NGO has stepped in to create an international platform for the development of the country’s transgender people. The Gender Guardian (TGG), a non-governmental organization working on the training and education of transgender people in Pakistan, has partnered with various foreign NGOs to enable transgender citizens to participate in a training program of a months in four different countries.
Transwoman Sania Abbasi, makeup artist and associated with TGG as a teacher for several months, is one of the many aspirants for the training grant. If selected for this coveted programme, Ms Abbasi says it will bring immense pride to her to be one of the first transgender people from Pakistan sent abroad for training in social work and social welfare. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to represent our country on the international stage and I have worked tirelessly to achieve my goals. I look forward to working alongside international NGOs. I want to learn from them and also share my personal experiences with the world.
According to Asif Shehzad, director of the Gender Guardian (TGG), his organization is committed to providing equal opportunities to transgender people by providing free vocational training and formal education. “We have taught and trained dozens of transgender people in various skills such as driving, cooking, makeup, sewing, etc. over the last two years. However, through this scholarship, selected participants will be able to share their skills and talent with the world and, for the first time, have access to international cultural exchange and training,” said Shehzad. Speaking further about the scholarship program, Shehzad also informed that The Gender Guardian was working on compiling a digital database of transgender people registered with TGG as well as others who donate to the organization. “So far, we have collaborated with NGOs working in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Using our database, we will select candidates every six months who will be sent to these four countries for one-month training, while people from these four countries will also have the opportunity to come and train in Pakistan. Our selected candidates will work alongside their host country NGOs and represent Pakistan at the international level,” he explained.
Sania Abbasi believes that this scholarship will allow people around the world to discover the skills and talent of transgender people from Pakistan, who often tend to be stereotyped as people limited to sex work. “As a gender minority, we have few resources to pursue higher education or go abroad, which explains why our work opportunities are very limited. However, this scholarship provides an opportunity for transgender people to showcase their abilities and break the stereotypes associated with them,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th2020.