By: A. Sami Malik
Lasbela District, Balochistan - October 2015: “Working together, we not only share each other’s burden, but are also ensuring a brighter future for our children”, says Jan Bibi (38), with pride in her voice and an ocean of love in her eyes as she looks at her husband Muhammad Sharif. “Our children go to a private school and are doing well. We will not allow them to give up their studies and start working in the cotton fields. We make enough money to give them a comfortable life so they stay focused on their education.”
Only three years ago, Jan Bibi and Sharif were struggling to make ends meet. Four young children, two boys and two girls, were a handful to manage while Sharif worked at a local tailor shop on a daily-wage basis and Jan Bibi managed the household chores. As the sole breadwinner of the family, whatever Sharif earned was barely enough to feed them all.
The couple live in a village on the outskirts of Bela, a city in the Lasbela District of Balochistan. This is a cotton-growing area and most communities living here work in cotton fields as labourers. Marred by poverty, these communities are deprived of many essential basic services. In the recent past, like many other women of her village, Jan Bibi also worked in the cotton fields in order to make some extra money for her family.
“This is a poor community,” says Jan Bibi. “Most men from our village go to the city to work as labourers on daily wages. Women do household chores. The only opportunity to make some extra money is by working in the cotton fields at harvest time. Men, women and children, all pick cotton. I used to do that too but I never allowed my children to work in the fields.”
In 2012, the famous Swedish furniture retailing company IKEA, through its IKEA Foundation, partnered with UNICEF to initiate a project - Promoting Child Rights in Cotton Farming Areas (CRCFA). The project’s geographical scope included six cotton-producing districts in three provinces of Pakistan - namely, Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. In addition to a host of government and civil society partners, the project engaged the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), a renowned non-governmental organisation, as one of the implementing partners to support the delivery of CRCFA interventions on social protection and poverty alleviation in Balochistan. The main objective of the project is to strengthen a protective environment for children in Pakistan, particularly in rural communities where agriculture, especially cotton farming, is the predominant economic activity.
In Balochistan, the largest but least developed province of the country, NRSP supported the delivery of project activities in 50 villages of Lasbela District, in the south of the province, close to the coast of the Arabian Sea. Later, an additional 200 villages were included. This integrated multi-sector project focuses on health, education, social and child protection, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), as well as access to economic and entrepreneurship opportunities.
Behaviour change communication campaigns were implemented to raise awareness among target communities on child rights and to support the adoption of improved health and hygiene practices. Further, multi-functional community centres have been established, whereby community mobilization initiatives are facilitated to support an increase in knowledge on child rights and women’s participation in the public sphere, as well as literacy and non-formal education for women and children. Additionally, the project delivers activities aimed at equipping communities with skills to support strengthened access to alternate means of income-earning opportunities. For women, embroidery, sewing and beautician courses are offered. After completing the vocational training, participants are also provided with Business Management Training (BMT) to inculcate income-generation and entrepreneur skills.
When Jan Bibi came to know of the CRCFA vocational training opportunities, she immediately registered at one of the multi-functional centres to receive training in embroidery and soon after completion of same, she received the three-day BMT training. Feeling empowered by the experience, she was keen to make good use of the skills she had acquired.
Jan Bibi’s husband, Sharif, having received a grant from a government social protection scheme, set-up a mechanical embroidery business. The couple agreed a business plan and started to work together. Sharif already had the necessary skills and owned mechanical embroidery equipment, while Jan Bibi was trained in Peko (decorative hand-embroidery to ornament dresses worn by women on formal occasions). Applying her business management skills, Jan Bibi approached women in her own and neighbouring villages to generate orders for her husband’s business.
In little under three years, Jan Bibi and Sharif have established a modest, but profitable business. Explaining the modality of their joint venture, Sharif says, “These are conservative communities. Women are hesitant to travel to the main commercial area where my shop is located. When they want to place an order for embroidery, they come to our house where Jan Bibi shares samples of various embroidery patterns. They are at ease and take their time in placing their orders. On occasion, Jan Bibi herself visits nearby villages to collect orders. She generates business on my behalf and I pay her a commission on each order. With regard to the Peko work, I pay her a certain amount for each suit or dupatta (a shawl) completed. She has shared my burden and together we are making enough to give our children a decent living and hope for a brighter future.”
Jan Bibi and Sharif are among many families and individuals who have benefitted from the IKEA Foundation-funded project being implemented by UNICEF in cotton-growing areas of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. This multi-faceted project has not only raised awareness among poor communities on issues including child rights, health services, and personal and community hygiene practices, but has also empowered these communities through vocational trainings to explore alternate means of income. The CRCFA project adopts a convergent approach, incorporating community-based economic and human development assistance through increased access to social protection services. It aims to strengthen the functionality and accountability of public administration systems for improved health, education, sanitation and protection outcomes for children. So far, 699,317 children have benefited directly and 70,551 children indirectly, through project activities in six districts across three provinces of Pakistan.
“The CRCFA project is unique in many ways, especially by introducing an integrated package of services to the project communities”, says Sohail Abbasi, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist. The interventions are designed so that each service sector supplements the investment in another. Economic opportunities, facilitated through vocational training, small loans and business development openings, especially for women, are geared towards strengthening the economic resilience of cotton-picking families that, in turn, reduces the number of children in labour as well as cases of exploitation, violence and neglect and improve the overall health and education outcomes for children. More than empowered individuals, CRCFA produced empowered families and communities.”