Introduction to Rozan

Rozan is an Islamabad based NGO working on issues related to emotional and psychological health, gender, violence against women and children, and the psychological and reproductive health of adolescents. Most Rozan team members are qualified psychologists who work to enhance the emotional health of people from all sections of the society by conducting awareness raising activities, trainings and counseling. Though Rozan's children's program, Aangan, has been active since 1993, Rozan was officially registered in December 1998 under the Societies Act of 1860 and was awarded tax-exemption status in 2005. In 2006, Rozan acquired the prestigious special consultative status with the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Many of Rozan's staff members and active volunteers were previously involved with another NGO (named Bedari) and they brought with them several years of experience in working on sensitive societal issues when they joined Rozan. In fact, some of them are pioneers in breaking the silence on issues like rape and child sexual abuse in Pakistan.

There are five programs at Rozan, four of which are active at this time:

• Aangan, which works on child sexual abuse
• Zeest, which works on violence against women
• Rabta, which is Rozan's police training program
• Youth Help Line which works on adolescents' emotional and reproductive health
• Pehchaan, which is Rozan's gender resource center and is currently inactive (even though its activities continue to be carried out informally)

Rozan's Mission

"To have worked with all people, especially women, children, and the youth, to collectively strive for a society that is self-aware, violence free, and accepting of itself and others."

Rozan's Philosophy

Critical to the development of any society is the development of the individuals within it. Development of individuals has often been narrowly defined in terms of access to education, health, opportunity, employment, and justice. It is Rozan's belief that emotional health is an essential prerequisite to this development. Rozan believes that through working on emotional health it is possible to get people to become more confident, more accepting of themselves and of others, and realize their potential in ways that are meaningful and beneficial to themselves individually and to society as a whole.