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Shop for a Cause
Are you looking for unique gifts that will also help to support a good cause? If yes then buy PODA
handicrafts!
Here are two easy ways to do it.
1. If you are in the area please visit PODA gift shop at Lok
Virsa (Folk Heritage) Museum, in Islamabad.
PODA shop is on the right side of the Museum entrance.
2. Order online by writing to
info@poda.org.pk to request a price
catalog with shipping information.
What will your gift do?
Each gift you buy will help
to support rural women artisans. PODA works throughout
Pakistan to provide sustainable livelihood skills and innovative handicrafts making
training to rural women and girls so that they can learn about decent and
interesting ways to become economically empowered. Each project is a
combination of literacy skills, handicrafts training and legal rights
information so that the women can also learn about their rights as
citizens. PODA is implementing this project in various villages of Punjab
and Sindh including in flood affected areas.
Currently PODA is providing trainings in
the following handicrafts.
1. Paper recycling (to make bags and
boxes)
2. Paper Machie Painting to make handi-crafts
3. Cross stitch embroidery (to make key
chains, bracelets)
4. Organic agriculture products (Jams, Jelleys,
chutney)
Following are pictures of some of the
items that are made by rural women artisans. You can buy them and shop for
a cause. All sales are re-invested in girls education and artisans
program.
How You Can
Help!
Buy products made by village women artisans to encourage their efforts.
Share this information with others who may be able to help this project.
Make donations or grants to support PODA projects for women artisans.
Donate your time to teach new skills to rural women artisans.
For more information, to
order gift items or to make a donation, please contact:
PODA gifts
(info@poda.org.pk) or call our office (051) 2609743
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NEWS ABOUT PODA PROJECTS
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Pakistani Women Make Community,
Income Through Art
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Posted by
Alexis Matsui and Ria
Misra , June 3, 2010
Seventy percent of Pakistan's women live and work in rural communities, and
while most of them farm land their entire lives, very few own property or
earn their own income. But, in a village in Pakistan's Punjab province,
women farmers are turning to traditional arts not just as a means of
expression, but also as a way to make money of their own.
In
2003, Sumeena Nazir founded the
Potohar Organization for
Development Advocacy (PODA), a women's development agency, in her
hometown of Chakwal to provide rural women an opportunity to form support
networks in their own neighborhoods.
"One
of the biggest challenges is the overall socioeconomic and legal structure"
of Pakistan, Nazir said. "Women are seen and treated in a subordinate manner
in Pakistan," she said, adding that in many areas, women are unable to own
property and seldom leave their homes.
The
program trains dozens of women on farming and health care practices so they
can better care for themselves and their families. Art was introduced to the
program early on to help women utilize creative talents missing in their
daily lives and to provide a social support network.
Art
has also provided some women with another benefit: an income of their own.
"Some economical background is also very important," said Sumaira Ishfaq,
the organization's director of agriculture. Pieces the women produce are
sold at fundraiser events and at PODA's Islamabad headquarters, with profits
going to the artists who produced them.
The
program in Chakwal quickly grew from just a few of Nazir's close friends to
include most of her neighbors. Nazir initially brought in artists from
outside Chakwal to train the women in traditional Pakistani styles,
including motifs and designs typical of Kashmiri artists.
Since
then, training has been passed along by women within the village, from the
veterans to the novices, and the program became the flagship for the four
PODA centers in the Potohar area of Pakistan.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2010/06/in-pakistan-women-form-art-community.html
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Circle of Strength
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Building the Capacity
of Rural Women Artisans:
This project was started in a village of district
Chakwal in 2003 to provide skill building
and access to education to rural girls and women who could not
continue their education beyond 5th grade due to lack of middle and
high schools in their villages. Since 2003, this project has brought
together over 500 rural girls and women to learn how to recycle paper
and make useful products.
This traditional Kashmiri
skill is called ‘Paper-Mache’. It includes 21 steps of recycling paper
to make various handicrafts. After a year of training, the students
progress to junior and senior artisans. The handicrafts include boxes
in various sizes and shapes and ornaments such as bells, eggs and
balls. All items are decorated with indigenous designs. It takes seven
days to turn used paper into a beautiful artwork. Each design is drawn
in free-hand so each piece is unique.
The project also arranges
exposure trips for students to visit art schools, historical and
cultural places. The handicrafts made by rural women are intended for
sale. All proceeds are reinvested 100% in projects for girls’
education.
Our methodology for this project is a Training
of Trainers’ (TOT) model. A list of projects includes:
1) TOT in earthquake
affected areas (2006-2007)
After the 2005 earthquake in
Kashmir, the local artisans making the traditional Kashmiri Paper-mache
were displaced and the area where this art industry was located in
Muzaffarabad city was completely destroyed. PODA women artisans from
Chakwal went to Muzaffarabad to support the Kashmiri artisan community
and to help revive their indigenous Paper-Mache craft. During
2006-2007, PODA provided Paper-Mache training to 100 women artisans in
Districts Muzaffarabad and Bagh in AJK. In addition, PODA also
provided gladioli flower growing training to 50 women in District Bagh.
2) TOT for women in
South Punjab (2008)
In 2008 two master artisans
from PODA Chakwal project Ms. Yasmin Kousar (picture on title page)
and Ms. Asifa Arif (picture on left) provided Paper-Mache training to
25 rural women in village Anna Pai, District Rahim Yar Khan in South
Punjab. The trainee women belonged to extremely poor families and did
not have any income generation skills. After months of training by
PODA artisans, the women learnt how to make various handicrafts and
sold their products in a regional conference in Bahawalpur city.
3) TOT for IDP Women
(2009)
During 2009 PODA established a
resource center for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from NWFP
in Pir Wadhai area of District Rawalpindi. Two PODA artisans Ms. Deeba
Rana and Ms. Saima Akram provided Paper-Mache training to 50 IDP women
from Swat, Buner and other areas of Malakand Division. In addition,
two sewing teachers also provided training in bag making and file
cover making. These training not only taught the IDP women useful
livelihood skills but also helped them mentally by engaging them in
creative and artful activities. Now this project is being continued in
District Buner NWFP.
4) TOT for Women in
Slum Areas (2010)
During 2010, PODA will provide
livelihood skills training to 100 women in District Rawalpindi along
with education about sanitation, health rights, kitchen gardening,
handicrafts making and weekly interactive training activities about
legal rights and protection from violence against women. This Project
is located in Pirwadhi area of district Rawalpindi.
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