The session covers the story of 

Kaarvan Crafts Foundation (www.kaarvan.com) in the last five years as

the organization went through a major transformation. Session serves as a departure from the traditional
case study session and intends to serve as an interactive case study where students can interact and
experience the journey of an organization's success story and challenges firsthand. 

INTRO

Kaarvan Crafts Foundation was established in 2004 as a Not-for-Profit company registered under
Section 32 and licensed under Section 42 of Companies Ordinance, 1984 Pakistan. Since then, it has
successfully carried out diverse projects in remote villages of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Kaarvan fully embodies its Persian name, which means in the (p u r s u i t o f p e o p l e ) . Kaarvan
strives to create a world of cooperation and collaboration where men and women stand side by side as
equal participants. More interrogation of our societies, our relationships, our lives and imagine / create a
new way of being and living.
The Pathways and Purse-strings project began with the aim to enable 8000 rural women with skills and market
knowledge to sell their products in urban markets. Reaching The Marginalized With HomeNet South Asia

Outreach initiative in the rural districts of Bahawalpur and Lodhran. Training women in the skills of mukesh,
tarkashi, product planning and leadership.

Skills For Market 2013-14

1500 women trained in market skills. 60 women linked to the market. Established skill development centers in 2
districts, 225 villages with 225 trainers.

Skills For Market 2014-15

1520 women trained in market skills. 60 women linked to the market. Established skill development centers in 2
districts, 225 villages with 240 trainers.

Learning, Unlocking, Accessing The Market

In collaboration with the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan, the Market Linkages project has turned out to
be extremely successful in giving the women an opportunity to sell to high quality markets. This has led to talented
women capturing market shares in the apparel industry.

Skills For Employability

Life skills and Business Management Training to enable women to become self-sufficient market players and work
as micro-entrepreneurs.

Kaarvan’s Training Institute: Built one of its pioneer Training Institutes. Realizing the necessity for an ongoing
process driven vocational center, the Institute has been established to house courses for the Apparel industry.

Farm Home Care:

Expanding the area of work into family based livestock farming. Six project-associates provide such training in the
regions of Okara, Kasur and Nankana. Educating best diary and livestock farming practices to 3,000 female trainees.
Expanding Market Participation Digitally With British Asian Trust
Building on top of previous learnings of market linkage interventions. Working with British Asian Trust to help
identify learnings of what works and what does not work at regional and international level of development work.

Celebrated International Rural Women’s Day

Bridging the distance between urban and rural women through creative workshops held at multiple institutions such
as Training Institute in Kasur, BNU and LUMS. Mainstreaming a gender perspective through radio, social media
engagement and press releases.
Bending Gender Rules
Kaarvan collaborated with Aitcheson College in their annual 2017 Art Fest using art as medium for creative
expression and social awareness regarding gender responsibility. Through the informal set-up of photo-booth and a
giant paper scroll spread across the table – the prompt asked participants: If you could bend a gender rule…what
would you do?

To attain happiness — economic resources, equal opportunities, democratic participation, self-freedom, and sustainable
environment must be distributed. It is time to reclaim our imaginations. Not too be constrained by patriarchal worldview but to
look beyond the allotted structures. We need to reexamine our lives, our homes, our work and our standards. To be aware
that gender like any social construct is dynamic and changeable concept. We need to be wary of pre-determined dispositions
of what it is to be a woman or a man. Lets be thoughtful in our every action, gesture and attitude — to be a little more gender
sensitive and respectful of our biological and cultural differences. Everyone has a right develop their own bodies, minds and
spirit. Kaarvan does this by providing life skills to women in rural areas of Pakistan. These skills are opportunities
towards attaining economic and material goods. Skills to develop self-confidence and ability move freely. Skills to
participate in local decision-making. Skills to craft a living as right to development, right to peace and right to healthful
environment. To spread gender sensitivity and equality and we need to come together and work more collectively. We
need to occupy our culture! Together let us dream, imagine, and create a new structure of the future, which is more
peaceful — a gender-responsive space.

Solution of gender difference and what we will do with Kaarvan. (Start A Club): Creating a club is fun way for
people to study and explore a gender-responsive vision. You! Youth are the ones who are crafting the future and defining our
culture. Take ownership of building an inclusive society. Reach out and recruit members. Set goals for your club. Think of the
activities or things you would like explore and unpack together. Partner with Kaarvan to raise public awareness about gender
equality and its role in society.

Get Connected

Use social media to get your voice heard. Join groups online and meet the global network of people committed to gender-
responsive vision.

Q: Growing net of change makers (Partners)

(British Asian trust)

British Asian Trust(transforming lives together)The British Asian Trust, a premier development organization in the
UK, identified Kaarvan Crafts Foundation as a ‘High Impact Organization’ in 2014. Since then a strategic
partnership has been established to build Kaarvan’s institutional capacity and create sustainable change together.

(Crescent textiles mills limited)

Crescent Textile Mills (Crestex) is a vertically integrated composite textile unit, and engaged in supreme quality
manufacturing of yarn, greige/processed fabrics,  home textile, and institutional garments. Being one of the largest
exporters of home textiles in Pakistan, Crestex partner with Kaarvan to  extend its reach to the rural villages. And
also further develop hand embroidery designs with the local  female artisans.

(Pakistan Cneter for Philantrophy)

Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy is a non-profit organization partnered with Kaarvan for social development in
Pakistan.

(U.K Aid)

The Department for International Development is a United Kingdom government department financially aids
Kaarvan’s social projects in mobilizing, training and empowering rural communities located in remote villages of
Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
(Meda)

Mennonite Economic Development Association (MEDA), an international development agency, partnered with
Kaarvan in 2008 to run a project in Punjab and KPK, whereby women from low-income, under privileged areas
would be capacitated to become economic actors.

Home Net SOUTH Asia

HomeNet South Asia, an organization working for home-based workers   partnered with Kaarvan  in 2012 to train
200 women  as micro-entrepreneurs  in a yearlong project.

Punjab skill development fund

Kaarvan has formed a strategic partnership with Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF), a semi-governmental
organization that is working towards the Punjab Growth Strategy by providing skills training services all over the
province. As an implementation partner Kaarvan contributes to policy formation regarding field practices of
community building and skill services.

Center for economic research in pakkistan

Center for Economic Research Pakistan (CERP) is an impact evaluation-focused research center that informs
development policy and practice through rigorous socio-economic research.  In 2015 Kaarvan partnered  with CERP
to develop  pioneering market linkages model for rural women.

City and guilds

City & Guilds is a global leader in skills development. Provide accreditation, qualifications and consultancy on
skills to Kaarvan — helping the organization move in positive direction.

Q: How Kaarvan works (OUR THEORY OF CHANGE)

(EDUCATE IN LIFE SKILLS)

Change begins with self — ability to develop one’s mind, body and spirit. Kaarvan offers opportunities to develop
life skills that range from technical skills, learning how to read, write to understand basic financial transactions. The
education process becomes the first step towards empowering these women as it prepares them with a wide skill set
that can be employed for economic gains.

EMPOWER TO DECIDE

The ultimate empowerment of these women is to step up and take charge of their own futures. With the training that
they employ to earn for themselves and their families, these women are able to become decision makers. The
importance of being able to project their demands, get their say and decide, not just for themselves, but for their
families, is key in making these women an equal and productive member of their communities and society at large.
Once they can stand up for what they believe in, only then can women become truly empowered.

ENABLE TO EARN

And while training in, and learning of, these new skills is important; it is not enough. These women come from a
reality that has not enabled them to learn how to capitalize on their skills and talent. Developing that talent is
essential in making them productive. Enabling these women to actually step out and use their skills to create
economic opportunities is the key to our Theory of Change. This process of enabling involves allowing these
women to understand the market and carve out niches within the market through the help of local sales agents.
Through various market linkages and training activities, these women are able to create market quality products and
generate their income.
Women and the Economy Empowering Individuals Empowering Communities

Since its inception of 2004, Kaarvan has worked diligently to open more than 250 training centers in 12 districts in
more than 1000 villages all over the Punjab and KPK. With over 19000 women trained in life skills, more than 8000
women have been capacitated with market linkages in order to integrate them into the economy. 455 women have
been given real-time training by taking them into the market hubs and teaching them the basics of ‘business as
usual.’

Kaarvan’s local research demonstrates that after just three months of vocational training and employment for
economic gains, within six months, more than 51% of the women were investing more into the lives of their
children. This means that within six months, more than half of the families were benefiting from the economic
earnings of their female members. While this research is localized and time-bound, it shows the difference that
small-scale grass-root level change can bring.

We create change in three ways:

EDUCATE: Enhancing relational capacities through skills development

CONNECT: Craving connections with relevant urban markets

INSPIRE: Bridging the gap between rural and urban communities

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR GRASSROOT PROCESS

TAKE A DIVE DEEP INTO IMPACT EVALUATION REPORTS

Programs
Stitching, Design And Market Skills
Providing a broad range of skills for economic capacities in a globalized economy. Development of constructive
economic capacities that equip rural women with skills that enables her and her family to live in health and with
dignity. Special attention is paid to market skills training in order to link female trainees to industry. Offer economic
opportunities that contribute to self-sufficiency, participation in decision making and not being dependent on donors.

Livestock Caring Skills

Acknowledging that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Tailor multidisciplinary strategies of global best
practices to Pakistan local resources, breeds and feedstuffs. Provide training to women living in remote villages.
Building sensitivity towards humane practices of caring for animals. Skills to be mindful of quality of feed,
managing the diet of livestock and adequate facilities for home-based livestock care. Implement best practices on
production of high nutrition food.

Critical Literacy Skills

Use art and design as a medium for creative expression, reflection and action. Turning societal challenges into open-
ended questions create opportunities for co-operating learning and crafting an alternative positive future side by
side. World of cooperation and collaboration where there is creative friction and discourse of multiple points of
view. Through creativity we must reclaim our imaginations. Think beyond gender binaries. To be first and foremost
human — to have space to experiment, to make mistakes, to envision and recreate thought and society.

VIEW OUR SOCIAL PROJECTS

Resources

Blog

This short film explores the question of visual representation and cultural binaries through sensorial glimpses of our every day
lives. Inspired by Harvard University’s Sensory Ethnography Lab (SEL) practice of making poetic films that combines aesthetics
and ethnography.

Kaarvan is beginning to explore the visual representation of rural women through audiovisual media rather than purely verbal
sign systems — we hope to use the visual medium as equalizer for language barriers. Like our partner The British Asian Trust we
hope to transform lives through skills development — skills pertaining not only to profession but also communication, critical
thinking and conflict transformation skills (turning a problem into an opportunity).

#InternationalDayForRuralWomen #CollectiveThought
#KaarvanCraftsFoundation #PositiveChange See Less

Angan online website

Aangan is an online platform created with, by and for female artisans in Pakistan, to sell their handcrafted apparel
and lifestyle products. Within the handmade artifacts lie stories of courageous women who are constantly stitching
new possibilities for themselves, their families and their community.

Come receive the gifts, an expression of authenticity, self-acceptance and belonging. Become interwoven into the
social fabric interlocking households.

Kaarvan shop

Where women like you and I are translating traditional crafts into high street fashion. “Less is More.”
Kaarvan’s Artisans are setting new standards of stylish clothing. Check out the meshed ethnic prints
with modern simplicity. The talent hidden within the niches of Pakistan will amaze you. All proceeds
shall be used for the benefit of the women artisans.