Our Development Sector Achievements:
Some of Ms. Ammara Farooq Malik’s professional achievements which are a testament to her level of expertise and enthusiasm to be a change maker in the development sector and policy issues are as follows:
- Mrs. Ammara Farooq Malik advocated for the initiation of the first bone marrow transplant center to be set up in Lahore with the Hospital San Matteo (Italy) and the National Institute of Blood Disorders (NIBD) Karachi from 2010 to 2014. As a result of her initial advocacy efforts and the efforts of a lot of associated doctors and government departments, the first public bone marrow transplant center was set up in the Children’s Hospital in Lahore in 2017.
- Under the SEPLAA Foundation, she initiated the health policy advocacy campaign ‘Save a Life, Save a Generation’ (2009 –2013) which directly challenged existing health systems and gave policy recommendations to the Punjab Government to make blood screening compulsory before marriage to avoid the birth of children with thalassemia, hepatitis and HIV. As a result of these efforts and the efforts of other Civil Society groups, the ‘The Premarital Blood Screening (Family Laws Amendment) Act, 2016’ was tabled by PML-N legislator Chaudhry Tanvir Khan which makes blood tests before marriage compulsory to prevent inherited blood disorders and birth defects. Family Laws Amendment Bill is now being deliberated upon to be passed as law.
- As a result of her Child Rights & Juvenile Justice Law Reform & Policy Consultancy with UNICEF (2013-2014) wherein she researched the Employment of Children’s Act 1991, ILO Conventions and the UNCRC, she gave several recommendations to the Office of Ombudsman Punjab and UNICEF. As a result of the 3 large consultative dialogues that were held with 20 government departments, 25 NGOs and parliamentarians, Ms. Malik was able to collect several recommendations which helped pave the way for the newly promulgated Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Ordinance 2016.
- As a result of her expertise, networking and discussions with several High Court Judges and government officials, she was able to give her situational analysis of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 to UNICEF.
- She was the only Pakistani selected to present her policy research paper on ‘Innovative Solutions to Promote Peacebuilding: A Case Study Analysis of the Social Entrepreneurship for Peacebuilding Model in Pakistan and its Application in Iraqi Kurdistan’ at the International Peace Education Symposium organized by UNICEF, Centre of Global Affairs New York University (USA), US Embassy Iraq and the University of Duhok in Iraq in 2014.
- She has been working on creating legal awareness about ‘Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace’ since 2013. She has given several presentations at universities and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industries on the said topic. She has also completed a Policy Dialogue Series under the SEPLAA Empowering Women for Economic Growth & Peace (SEW-EGAP 2015-2016) under which she conducted 6 Policy Dialogues on women in education, development, disability, corporate sustainability and Empowerment with over 70 professional women. A policy paper is now being created to record the findings of these diverse dialogues.
- She has been an entrepreneur and social entrepreneur having started 6 successful startups and is adept at creating the requisite linkages for profitable collaborations.