Education and Livelihood Skills Development Project
for Vulnerable Women from the Earthquake Affected Communities
Mansehra NWFP, Pakistan

Under this project Qatar Charity has assisted 250 vulnerable women under its Family, Women & Children Support Program in the earthquake affected area of Mansehra District. The project was launched in January 2008 for a period of four months to empower the women with reading, writing, and basic mathematics skills as well as teaching new skills in tailoring and embroidery. For this purpose, ten Literacy and Livelihoods Centers (LLCs) were established at different locations in Mansehra District. The project was implemented in collaboration with the International Medical Corps (IMC).

The selected beneficiaries were trained on marketable techniques in tailoring and embroidery. Beyond developing capacities, the said project has developed market linkages with secondary and tertiary markets so as to market the women’s products for higher returns in the future. This project has been designed to enable the women in supporting their families financially.

The objectives of the project were to;

In order to make the intervention more effective, the teachers were recruited from the same community so that they are able to communicate in the language used within the community and hence improve the learning process.

Twenty-five (25) illiterate women and adolescents were identified based on the needs and vulnerability criteria and were enrolled in each of the 10 Livelihoods and Literacy Centers.

The project also aimed to provide marketable skills training to the students enrolled in the LLCs so that they can earn a livelihood for themselves and their families, while working from their homes.

Visits were organized in order to introduce the centers to the potential buyers of the products produced by students and to formulate a strategy to directly link the students with the market, so that once the students complete their training they can directly access the market to sell their products.

Success Story: Reviving Hope for a Better Future

“We are living under difficult conditions and it is hard for most of the villagers to earn a decent living”, informed Naheed Akhtar, one of the 25 students at the Literacy and Livelihood Center (LLC) at Nerbeerh, Union Council Parian District Mansehra, “but this center has given us a new hope for the future and we are determined to make the most out of this opportunity”. Nerbeerh is a small hamlet, perched among the mountains, far from the main town and roads. It is located along a stream which swells up during the rainy season cutting the area form the rest of the area. Due to its far off and difficult access location, little support has reached Nerbeerh since the October 2005 earthquake. QC had established an LLC here in January 2008.

Naheed Akhtar is taking care of her family including three children and a disabled husband who cannot walk. When asked about her view of the literacy and skills training being provided in the QC LLCs, she said “When I heard about this program I was excited but I was reluctant to enroll in the LLC because I was not sure what would be the response of my community, and I am taking care of my children and husband so I thought I would not have the time to attend the classes, but I decided to enroll” she added with a determination in her voice “because none of us want to live under these terrible conditions forever, we all want to change our lives for the better, but without any skills or education, there is not much we can do”.

“Thanks to QC literacy program, I am now able to read and write and I am becoming increasingly determined to educate my children so that they have a much better future. Now, I will be able to help my children in their studies”, she added.