The Ignacio Martín-Baró Fund is pleased to work with Aware Girls, a Pakistan-based organization dedicated to empowering women and girls. Aware Girls is based in Swat district, in the North West Frontier Province. Swat, once a popular tourist destination and known as the ‘Switzerland of Pakistan,’ was captured by the Taliban in 2008. Even though Swat is now under the control of the Pakistan government, survivors, both in camps for internally displaced people and across the district, continue to suffer from the after-effects of trauma.

Aware Girls is a membership organization that promotes and protects the rights of young women by enabling equal access to social services, financial resources and decision making processes. The organization plans to use the grant to develop a manual on trauma and torture treatment and train 10 local counselors to engage with women and children victims of trauma and promote emotional recovery, community dialogue, and healing through creative expression. This will help begin a process of renewal for these victims with the support of their families and communities.