Vocational Training for 5,000 Women in Pakistan

In my recent visit to Pakistan I witnessed first hand the impacts of our program on young women. The girls that are receiving education and vocational training through our program are not being forced into early marriages.  We have prevented over 108 early marriages alone this year! The parents acknowledge that the girls can be an asset to the family and help with household costs, which means they are not as likely to marry them off. 

We did notice there is a gap of 50 girls who have received up to grade 5 education, but were not given the opportunity to continue their education. We would like to include them in this project in order to provide them with vocational skills and business training so they can begin to provide income for themselves, decrease their dependence and not be forced into early marriage. We will hopefully begin these trainings in January 2018.

When young girls are married while they are still children (under the age of 18) the result is that they are denied fundamental human rights. Child marriage compromises their development and often results in early pregnancy and social isolation, with little education and poor vocational training reinforcing the gendered nature of poverty. Required to perform heavy amounts of domestic work, under pressure to demonstrate fertility, married girls and child mothers face constrained decision-making and reduced life choices. Both boys and girls are affected by child marriage but the issue impacts girls in far larger numbers, with more intensity—and is wide ranging.^*

The Safer World Foundation continues to match every donation made to this project by 50%. Please share this opportunity with friends and family you think might be interested in supporting underserved young women in Pakistan so that they may receive the hand up they need to chose peace and prosperity over violence and despair.  

 We currently have 20 students enrolled in vocational training at each of the schools. With a recent donation of a new sewing machine we are able to support more sewing classes and students. The Enterprise Development program will now operate exclusively in the communities where MDF has closer ties to the local community and therefore can more easily monitor progress. We expect about 1000 enrollees between 2017-2018 and estimate a higher level of post training success as a result of our increased monitoring capacity.

Our vocational training and enterprise development programs have a direct impact not only on the wellbeing of the women who participate in our program but on the wellbeing of their entire family as well. Women who earn income tend to reinvest that income in their families at much higher rates than men do. When women acquire marketable skills and the knowledge base to start and manage a successful business, they are furnished with the means to provide for their families’ needs (in terms of health care or education) on their own.

From Amina*, a project participant in Vocational Training,  "I started sewing and doing embroidery work for women in my neighborhood. For five years I continued to sew and stitch, but could not earn enough to maintain livelihood. Then I came to know about Marshall Direct Fund. This came as a ray of hope for me. I was lucky to be selected for 4-days vocational training program which helped in improving my existing skills and here I learnt about decision making, communication and financial skills. The vocational training program plays a very important role in shaping the lives of women like myself and contributes to empowering women and lifting them out of poverty."

*Name changed to protect identity

The Safer World Foundation continues to match every donation made to this project by 50%. Please share this opportunity with friends and family you think might be interested in supporting underserved young women in Pakistan so that they may receive the hand up they need to chose peace and prosperity over violence and despair.  

Thank you on behalf of the students, entrepreneurs and MDF staff!