Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) sign MoU

Islamabad, May 17 2016:Law &Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) and the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding around reducing the Legal Exclusion of Pakistan’s poorest and the most vulnerable segments. The objectives of this collaboration are to focus on raising awareness on legal exclusion among all relevant stakeholders, as well as a programmatic focus on identifying and addressing the quality of access to justice for the poorest in the country. There will also be a focus on developing a suitable platform to collect evidence and inform policy level debate around legal access in Pakistan.

The LJCP’s intensive focus on accessible, quality use of communication tools to provide information to Pakistan’s citizens on constitutional rights is being supplemented with a focus on research and collaboration with civil society. PPAF, with its 15 years of pro poor development and access to over 500,000 community institutions and 130 partners is uniquely positioned to provide support to LJCP in its critical work.

Secretary Law & Justice Commission, Mr. Muhammad Sarwar Khan , commented on the significance of this partnership: “Collaboration of this sort has a significant multiplier effect, enabling PPAF and LJCP to combine their respective technical resources and efforts to better understand legal exclusion and thereby how best to address the justice needs of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. Our joint efforts will focus on raising legal awareness and empowering poor and vulnerable citizens to assert their rights and claim their entitlements so that there is a positive change in people’s lives so far as law and rights are concerned. And we will learn from each other’s experiences to make suitable policy recommendations for reforms”.

CEO PPAF Mr. Qazi Azmat Isa stressed that the MoU is groundbreaking for the people of Pakistan, with awareness and knowledge of the Constitution of Pakistan as a major objective. “With the material developed by the Law & Justice Commission, every citizen of our country will develop a better understanding of their constitutional rights. The poorest will be able to better engage institutions for their rights and responsibilities. PPAF is privileged to be a part of this crucial initiative.”