When it comes to food and nutrition, all parents want the best for their kids. An one of the biggest reason behind malnutrition is, at the end of the day, a lack of resources.
The community of Shihrot Thingee, Gilgit has an abundance of generosity, but most of the families survive on subsistence farming and daily wage labor. The produce from their small farms and daily earnings are hardly enough to cover basic necessities of the family.
The community, especially women, have an enterprising spirit! When chatting with some of these women, we were told that around 20 of them were highly interested in sewing, and had hired a trainer of their own accord. But they were unable to afford her salary. It was also hard for them to buy new sewing machines.
Even though our team’s focus was mainly on food and nutrition of school children, we realized that if a sustainable enterprise could be set up by the parents of the children, they would be in a better position to provide good nutrition to their children and contribute the profits towards their food security.
We decided to buy 10 sewing machines to be used by the whole community, and hired a skilled trainer for 3 months to teach the women sewing techniques that can be sold to the market.
We’ve also connected the community with the relevant government department to access markets, where they can sell their goods. 10% of the profits will be given to the school directly for the children’s nutritional program.
“We have to spend a large amount on stitched clothes for our children, but now we will not only save but we can sell clothes in the market”, said Bibi Dana. She’s excited to begin!
Meet Zain! 
Hello Hello! I work for Alight Pakistan with the Program Development Team as an Associate. I have a deep interest in poverty alleviation and empowerment programs that can help lift people up, and I was so pleased to be able to help compelte some of these wonderful projects in Gilgit as part of Changemakers team. I am very excited to share these stories and the beauty of Gilgit with you!
