Meet Our Team
Our diligent
Head Team
Bindiya Rana
Executive Director
Bindiya Rana is the founding member of the Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA). She has been working for the rights of transgender people in Pakistan for many years. She is the petitioner for trans-gender rights activism in the Sindh High Court of Pakistan and has been appointed the focal person for the Khawaja Sira community in Pakistan, she has been appointed the focal person for Khawaja Sira community in Pakistan and recently she has selected as a provincial member committee established by the National Human Rights Commission for Implementing Transgender Protection Bill Implementing. In the field of activism She has developed strong allies with government departments (Social welfare department, human rights ministry, and law ministry) and Her organization that name GIA is also the part of Trans registration monitoring committee, therefore, she has started advocacy with this department along with awareness of trans protection act 2018 among Transgender community of underprivileged areas and make them empowered to speak for their rights other than that in Karachi as per the analysis of GIA the violence rate among community is increasing day by day and there is no proper record of violence and harassment is done except the data collected by GIA and the help provided to get The complaints done in police by GIA. Therefore, she has started to do advocacy and training programs for the community to deal with violent cases to train the community to become a trainer to run this movement and to run social awareness and acceptance campaigns and sensitization of law enforcement agencies for example police departments, and lawyers) towards transgender rights and issues and the development of trans-friendly policies and to amend the constitution to make it gender neutral.
Dr. Mehrub Moiz Awan
Director of Policy and Research
Dr. Mehrub Moiz Awan is an activist and global policy practitioner with a strong interest in institutional and governance reform in post-colonial states, and issues of gender and sexuality. Her methodology is trans-disciplinary and utilizes elements of human-centered design thinking, participatory ethnography, systems thinking, and econometrics. She has previously consulted for the World Bank, Washington DC, International Center for Research on Women, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Intersex Asia. She has a Doctor of Medicine and obtained her Masters in Global Health Policy as a Fulbright scholar from The George Washington University, USA. She consults for national organisations and governments for evidence-based reform in multiple arenas. She is featured in the media frequently for her progressive opinions.
Zehrish Khanzadi
Programme Director
Zehrish Khanzadi is working as a Program Manager with Gender Interactive Alliance. Previously she has worked with the Khawaja Sira Society in Lahore, the Infection Control Society of Pakistan, and Diva Academy helping Down syndrome children. Zehrish has a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the Karachi University. She is a trained public speaker of Public and represents GIA in most media and representational programs. And also provides training on leadership, public speaking, Advocacytools, Action Research, and networking, through this expertise she has trained many Trans people, Persons with Disabilities, and women on the provincial level as a consultant with TDEA. She started her activism in her student life against stigma and discrimination at education institutes and workplaces. She voluntarily worked with the GIA foundation Karachi, as joint secretary and worked against HIV and aids prevention. She joined the Khawaja sira Society (KSS) in 2014 as a monitoring and evaluation officer from where she developed her technical skills. She has been part of manymedia campaigns regarding transgender issues. She has visited several foreign countries for consultations and to represent Pakistan’s Trans community internationally. She gives importance to her Transgender community culture and is part of the community as well to work for them in a better way and she wants to see the transgender community as empowered citizens in Pakistan. In addition, she has dedicated herself to generating financial resources and welfare support for the transgender community and developed a good linkage of her organization GIA, with several national and international nonprofit organizations (NGOs) and civil society forums, during the lockdown at Corona pandemic, she provided significant financial and food support to her community. On November 2021 her organization namely GIA-Foundation signed MOU with Greenwich University to provide 100 percent scholarships for transgenders in bachelor’s and master’s education and almost 10-11 young transgender get scholarships in different faculties at Greenwich University. Recently she joined the Pakistan People’s party PPPP with fellow transgender. In the future Zehrish Khanzadi sees herself as a politician so that she can work for the community and become part of the decisions made for Transgender Community of Pakistan.
Our
Project Co-ordinators
Shahzadi Rai
Field Supervisor/ Voilence Case Management
Shahzadi Rai is a Karachi-based trans rights activist who has actively been working for over adecade now. She has done master’s in psychology and is currently appointed as a violence case manager and field supervisor at the organization GIA (Gender Interactive Alliance) which she joined in 2019. In 2012 she worked in ICSP as a field worker where she continued working till 2014, meanwhile, she had simultaneously started working on violence by herself and managed to get an organization registered called PECHRA, working to end violence and discrimination against trans people.
In 2017 she played a major role in the drafting of the transgender rights bill which was later passed in 2018 and brought many progressive laws and new hope for trans people and continues to work on it to make it better, dealing with all the political matters related to it. She was the first trans woman to be on the organizing committee of Aurat March and has been working with them for 4 years, representing the trans community and gender and sexual minorities on the platform of Aurat March Karachi. She was also a part of the Climate March 2021, putting forward demands from the trans community demanding housing and protection for trans people.
At GIA she started as a counselor in 2019 and now as a violence case manager and field supervisor she deals with violent cases of trans people from all over Karachi, with 54 FIRs registered for 54 cases, working on field , and handled 7 murder cases which occurred in the last 2 years. She is also the focal person of the Sindh police and stays in direct contact with them and asks for assistance whenever a case comes up.
Aradhiya Khan
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Aradhiya Khan, a 26-year-old powerhouse, has dedicated the last four years of her life to advocating for trans equality, human rights, and other social justice causes such as women empowerment, minority rights, and child rights. She is a beacon of hope, tirelessly working to ensure that everyone, regardless of gender, has a voice and a place in society.
Currently associated with Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA) and Engro Vopak, Aradhiya’s work spans multiple cities in Sindh. She has been instrumental in promoting gender inclusivity and has made significant strides in policy advocacy, notably contributing to the passage of the “Sindh Transgender Persons Rights Bill Act 2022.”
Aradhiya’s academic journey is just as inspiring. She is pursuing a degree in Mass Communication & Media Science (Journalism) on a 100% scholarship from Greenwich University. Her passion for storytelling and media shines through in her continued efforts to raise awareness and educate the masses about transgender issues and rights.
Her influence and activism have not gone unnoticed. Aradhiya has represented the transgender community on national and international platforms such as Express Tribune, Dawn News, Al Jazeera, Asia Times, VOA Urdu, and many more, where she speaks truth to power, bringing light to the struggles and resilience of Pakistan’s transgender community. She has been a vital part of diversity and inclusion programs, such as the groundbreaking MOU with Unilever Pakistan aimed at creating employment opportunities for the transgender community.
Aradhiya Khan’s efforts have earned her numerous accolades, including the Youth Excellence Award on #InternationalYouthDay from the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Fatima Jinnah and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Awards from the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW), and recognition as one of the 25under25 by The Little Arts Organization.
She is a young leader making waves in the world, from being named a 100 Women Leader by the WOW Festival and Google Arts and Culture to receiving the Prime Minister Flood Hero Awards for organizing and leading the Greenwich University FloodRelief Campaign.
Aradhiya Khan is more than just an activist; she is a visionary, a leader, and a fighter for equality and inclusion.