Helping Pakistani Women — by Riasat Ali Changazi

I have a passion for promoting standards formulation, standards adaptation, standards implementation, Indigenous development and working for a sustainable technological base in developing countries. It is due to this passion that I work with Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, Pakistan Engineering council and other professional forums.  
My HRD project aims to empower deprived woman and their children in order to give better human beings to this world. I operate in Pakistan, but I plan to expand to other countries. Women in this part of the world are very deprived; they do not stand equal to men (male- dominated society).

The women here are divided in three groups. The First group is the privileged one; they are educated, empowered and privileged more than the advanced countries’ woman. They make about 5% of total. The second group is mid-level women: they are educated but mostly working class. They are about 20 % out of which 5 % are housewives.
In Pakistan, 75 % women are uneducated and deprived of many things including education, health and basic facilities. Out of 75 % about 50% live below poverty line.

About 60 % of the 3rd group woman work for their living. Their work includes construction laborer work, cleaning work, domestic servants, agricultural field work and local arts and craft work. In arts and crafts they design develop and manufacture many items i.e. clothing, rugs, carpets, flower vases, decoration pieces etc. The children of third group woman remain uneducated for generations. The men in this part of the world generally take woman as a lower level human being born to be ruled, exploited, produce children and to be provide sex to the one man only.

My wife and I started a small programme (in 1995 from our domestic servants ) that is empowering women and children through education, vocational training and making them proud of their work and getting them in the market to grow and progress. Our programme was very simple. We started giving basic education to the women and their children working in our home as our domestic servants. Further, my wife started training them on design development and manufacturing porcelain and dry flower arrangements.

After three months of training they started understanding the design, design harmony, symmetry, synchronizations and quality product salient features. At the same time we raised their salary to help them buy basic materials. After six months we were able to bring their product in the market and sold their product. Then we taught them how to market their product and introduced them to the local market. After that we made a small booklet including photos, drawings, part number, drawing number and section reference number with prices.

Than we let them have independent small business of their own. After that we told them to be a business woman. Now some of them are doing good business. We employed other groups as domestic servants and trained them accordingly.
 
Until 2001, the same strategy was adopted at this level but in 2001 we expanded our programme and got out in local area and trained woman in the field and arranged a mini-bazaar, an event of calling people for having fun having good food and purchase of domestic items.

One example: We designed and taught how to design a clay woman to empower one woman in her business. Then we produced 102 items catalog including design number, item part number, section references, drawings, prices and photos with our recommendations and certification . This woman now has one of the best reputations in her area.
 
Presently we arrange classes in many in 32 specialties with the help of our friends to empower woman accordingly. Our programme includes finishing schools where rich poor and all classes woman and girls are trained. Rich one pays the expanses and deprived ones are trained free of cost.

My Programme needs to expand and expand fast. I have included technical training through vocational programmes. I need to train globally adoptable HR which should be certified by the third party. I need to bring the product of these women on the net to be sold at the international market. Product manufactured by the deprived woman are now of good quality.
 
To expand my programme I am trying to establish an institute to give formal education to children and woman. I need to have vocational training standards in thirty two specialties. I will adopt those standards to the local culture and educate everyone on the same standards and then ask a globally respected third party to certify.

After certification, I want to distribute these HR to local industry for standardized achievement. Then they will be trained on international ethics, civic sense and international regulations. In this way I think I will be able to contribute and introduce them and their product at
global level so that their exploitation is reduced and they stand equal to the men and other group of women.
 
To come to the global level It is imperative that some of these children’s are sent abroad in many advance countries for better level of interactions, integrations understanding and adaptations of advance countries ethics and integrity level. This is necessary to further make them understand that; why woman in advance countries are more respectable. Their children may go for higher education to the advance better coordination and understanding of good education in other countries to be become better human being and serve humanity instead of violence.

I welcome good advice in any form: help in certification, integration, offering of scholarship sponsoring of any programme or getting sponsor for any programme or helping me in establishing my institution of getting of vocational and other training standards or introducing me to and agency who can guide me in my programmes in any form. I invite experts from anywhere to visit our people.
 
My programme was and is not-for-profit; it is to make better human beings through raising the level of women, empowering them to develop better generations of humanity. We make their children progressive and give them futuristic approach to have a respectable place in the world. After the training they will be able to work with any organization in their respective fields.

 

Riasat Ali Changazi
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