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Consumer Social Responsibility, CSR, can take many forms… It could be something as simple as giving out money to help out a certain project, or sponsoring an event, or a good social cause, or, as in this case it could be something as simple as helping a set of local, rural, women launch their dress and designs in Karachi’s fashion arena.

In this regard, the Mehndi Extravaganza 2012 by Parkha Khan was a first of its kind event in the country. While Pakistan’s blooming fashion industry has launched a lot of firsts and made a name for its designers and the number of fashion shows that are usually held at our end. While these shows have often included both bridal and more generalized fashion shows, an entire show dedicated solely to bridal and guest wear at the rolling, happening, exciting Mehndi and Mayoun ceremonies had never before been hosted.

But that is not all the firsts that this Extravaganza managed to prompt. This was also the first time that rural artisans were able to showcase their designs and work alongside, and more importantly, on the same scale as some of the most well-known fashion designers of the country.

The 15 February 2012, red carpet event, according to one online report, launched “a rural women’s brand called ‘Sughar’ at Palm Karachi, in partnership with a fashion show called Mehndi Extravaganza of Parkha Khan.” The Sughar brand was what helped re-define CSR at a more local level and in a way which lends the whole concept of CSR and CSR-related activities a more empathic approach then it usually exhibits.

According to this same report, “a statement issued by the PDI-Karachi on Monday stated that Sughar creates stylish embroidery products made by rural women, in the form of embroidered hand bags, dresses and hand clutches each one of which shares the theme of traditions and folklore by reflecting in its embroidery a story of the ancient times or a tradition still followed in those rural communities.”

But what is the use of helping women launch a fashion line? Considering how most of the female beneficiaries of the Sughar line are poor women from some of the poorest areas of the country, helping launch the Sughar line helps these women to not just earn livelihood, but also allows them to work on par with some of the best known fashion designers in the country.

Furthermore, it brings the skills of these artisans to the forefront, allowing some our more reputed fashion designers the chance to learn more about the skills of these women as well as use their expertise in their own lines. And naturally, as Khalida Brohi of the Sughar Women Programme put it, “The plan is to empower these women not by sympathy but empathy and self respect, and this is only possible if they know that they capable of being respected.” The Sughar line itself is one that has been completely created, designed and owned by rural, Pakistani women from small villages inside the country.

The brand while the first of its kind in the local Fashion industry, is not however, a very new idea in the local NGO sector. Aik Hunar Aik Nagar is another initiative, this one operated by the Government Ministry of Productions.  The homepage of the website claims that “AHAN is operating as a not-for-profit Company since 2007” and has been “registered under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance 1984, and is a subsidiary of the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation, PIDC.” This particular ‘NGO’ is also fully functional in the countries four provinces and the Azad Jammu and Kashmir region.

According to one success story on the AHAN website, “Saima Kakar is a female resident of a remote village, Killa Sawan Khan, a part of the Union Council Dasht in Balochistan.” She belongs to a deeply conservative family wherein the idea of women leaving their homes to earn livelihood is inconceivable. However, Saima managed to perceive that women could become actively contributing members towards their household income. Hence she set up a skill development center to provide training in a variety of trades to women in her area.

Her efforts finally got attention from AHAN. By June 2007, AHAN and Saima’s NGO had signed a MoU to collaborate “towards creating a project that encourages income generation activities in the region. Within one month of commencement of the project, Saima was selected as a master trainer for the project. Under this program, she received the opportunity to get trained at the factory of a renowned designer Amir Adnan in the coastal city of Karachi. The training sessions were conducted over a span of one year with 15 days per month spent at the factory and rest of the time in her village to impart her newly acquired skills to other female members of the community.”

While Saima’s story continues in what is likely to turn out to be one of your more realistic ‘fairy-tale happy endings,’ the lesson to be learnt here is not to collaborate with AHAN or with Sughar or any of the local NGOs engaged in similar projects, but to ensure, that your organization, and your CSR funds go towards not just aiding people with low incomes or in straitened circumstances, but also to ensure that you help the deserving percentage of Pakistan’s population in a more emphatic manner enabling them to work towards a better lifestyle.

 

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