SRSO realizes the importance of helping the community in encouraging, promoting and developing the local handicrafts and other forms of handiwork. Especially the women folk who are the back bone of these vocations deserve some support both in terms of capacity building/training and finances. Also equally important is to find them markets and outlets whereby they can promote their products. This sector has remained neglected only to be exploited by the middle man and thus a vast majority involved in these vocations has missed the opportunities.

Given this importance SRSO has established an Enterprise Development Sector side by side other sectors. The Sector is made responsible to promote the handicraft of the village communities in the target area.

 

It has carried out the Mapping that revealed that the community in the target districts is tuned to cutwork, patchwork, different types of embroidery; date palm leaves products, reed furniture etc.

Mapping of this potential has enabled us to promote these crafts by up-grading and enhancing the skills of producers catering the specific need of the markets.

 

Display center has been set up at the SRSO head office at Sukkur in the month of January 2007. Where products made by village folks are up-graded and displayed.

 

Following activities were carried out during the period: 

·      Organized three day training workshop on Gender awareness participated by 24 female staff, Regional Programme Coordinators and HO Management. 

·      Established Handicraft Display Centre at Head Office. 

·      Started Survey for Mapping of potential Cos and products for the Enterprise .

·      Identified 42 products for up gradation and value addition. Training Modules are being developed.

 

Participated in the following Exhibitions: 

·        WEXNET Exhibition at Karachi

 

·        PAIMAN Exhibition at Sukkur Pakistan Initiative of Mothers and Newborns

·        Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Ceremony at Islamabad

 

·   Women’s Mela at Dadu organized by Women Skill Development Organization .
 

·        Exhibition at Karachi organized by District Government Sukkur

 

Future Plans by June 2007

 

·        Completion of Survey Report

·        Development of training Modules and Modalities

·        Lunching awareness Campaign

·        Constructing Enterprise Sector Website

·       Creating Outlet Centres in collaboration with government agencies, RSPN, Enterprenuers, Export Promotion Bureau etc

 

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Gender & Development  Sector

 

SRSO realizes the vital importance of Gender and Development. Hence its interventions ranging from social mobilization to community physical infrastructures have been open for both, men and women. We understand that men and women would participate in the development initiatives and benefit of the out comes equally. But of late, we realized that the strategy of providing equal opportunity did not play effectively in closing the gender gap at the organizational and programme level. Thus SRSO formulated a gender policy and implementation plan with defined policy actions as a conscious and focused effort to bringing women in the mainstream development before the gaps widen. 

While formulating the Gender policy, SRSO observed following guiding principles, that; 

• Women rights are human rights and it will continue to advocate the integration of gender perspectives into its development initiatives.

 

• Gender equality is to be achieved only through the transformation of present gender relations and this is possible through partnership between men and women as actors in the process of development.
  
• SRSO reaffirms its faith in gender equality and rejects all kinds of discrimination on the basis of sex.  SRSO believes that all policies and programmes should have gender implications, thus gender must be integrated in all the sectors of SRSO.

 

• SRSO will continue support in capacity building of women and men, so that they emerge as self-reliant, decision makers and leaders in development. It would focus especially on addressing women’s practical gender needs and strategic interests. 

Policy formulation had followed the SRSO interaction with other RSPs through RSPs Retreat. It also participated in the RSPN Gender Think Tank workshop and presented a plan for gender policy formulation. 

According to the plan, RSPN-Network provided technical support to SRSO in conducting gender awareness/ policy workshop and community consultation in field.

A total of 40 staff members including the General Manager, Regional and field staff participated in the process. SRSO has also designated a “Gender policy committee” comprising regional and field staff (men and women). The committee drafted the gender policy.  

The goal of gender policy is to make conscious efforts for gender equality through equal participation of women and men (staff and community)) in economic, social and political development process. While the objectives are: 

• To achieve an increased level of gender sensitivity with in SRSO in order to provide women and men staff members a gender fair working environment.
• To raise men and women’s participation at equal level of development planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• To reduce gender inequalities in access to and control over resources and enable women to be the decision maker on equal footing with men at all levels.
• To develop linkages and networking with external partners for mutual learning and sharing on gender.

 

The policy goal and objectives are defined as strategic priorities for SRSO in achieving gender equality. The gender policy is a document on SRSO priorities with regard to gender equality, which provide guide lines to SRSO for gender mainstreaming at the organizational and programme levels.

 

The over all policy has two priority areas:

the core programmes (programme level) and management (Organizational level). The strategic intervention at the programme level covers the development initiatives taken at the community level, while the management level covers all organizational fine-tuning in terms of structure, management style, systems and culture of the organization.

These actions are intended to help remove or at the very least, reduce the existing unfair influences, barriers and hurdles, which women have to face because of their gender. The strategy has the means of removing these barriers and the activities mentioned here are necessary to bring women to the point where they can participate equally.     TOP