Saima Kakar – Balochistan

Saima Kakar, a female resident of a remote village “Killa Sawan Khan” which is part of Union Council Dasht in Balochistan, belongs to a deeply conservative family. The idea of women leaving their homes to earn livelihood is inconceivable in this strata of the society. Over the last few years, the economic situation of her family had gradually declined to an eventual standstill. Saima ultimately decided to take charge of the situation and not only explore means of income generation for herself but also for other members of the community.

Saima recognized the fact that women could also contribute to generating household income. This prompted her to set-up a skill development center to provide training to women of the area in a multitude of trades. The magnitude of her efforts did not go unnoticed. Her work became the impetus for a NGO to initiate a larger project to encourage income generating activities for the community. These efforts received further recognition by AHAN by introducing a variety of initiatives acting as a catalyst for entrepreneurial activity in this far-flung village.

In June 2007, AHAN and the NGO signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate towards creating a project that encourages income generation activities in the region. Within one month of commencement of the project, Saima was selected as a master trainer for the project. Under this program, she received the opportunity to get trained at the factory of a renowned designer Amir Adnan in the coastal city of Karachi. The training sessions were conducted over a span of one year with 15 days per month spent at the factory and rest of the time in her village to impart her newly acquired skills to other female members of the community.

Saima is delighted to see her efforts bear fruit as members of the rural community acquire new and profitable skills which will continue to open new avenues of income generation for them.