Baidarie, Sialkot

Established in 1993, and registered in 2000, Baidarie’s key focus has been on increasing the economic, social and political inclusion of women, girls and other vulnerable population segments, specially the home-based and domestic workers, into the mainstream developmental process. One of their significant efforts has been the socio-economic rehabilitation and empowerment of women soccer stitchers, who lost their factory jobs and were rendered unemployed, thereby shifted to the informal sector in Sialkot.

The objective of this program was the strengthening of a selected batch of 50 women entrepreneurs by providing appropriate knowledge and skills, as well as organizing them for identifying and tapping into economic growth opportunities; equipping potential women entrepreneurs with locally marketable and demand–driven skills relevant to the needs of the industry; enabling targeted women entrepreneurs to setup profitable micro- and small-sized enterprises and to open their own bank accounts enabling them to maximize their productivity and profitability; and building linkages between women entrepreneurs and the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) signatories and other gender responsive industrial units producing for domestic and/or international markets.

Mera Maan was contracted to undertake the following tasks:

• Training Needs Assessment, setting objectives and agenda, and developing a 3-day module on ‘Women-Led Enterprise Development Workshop’ (including trainer’s manual and a participant handbook
• Conducting two 3-day enterprise training
• Finalization of Business Plans for the 50 Women Entrepreneurs