PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT

IMPROVING FINANCIAL RESILIENCE AND PROMOTING GENDER EQUITY OF DISADVANTAGED YOUNG WOMEN IN MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES OF ,

EX-POST IMPACT AND SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT

Lead Evaluator

Hur Hassnain Impact, Results and Learning Manager

April 14th, 2018

Women in Umerkot showing their newly learnt writing skills

Introduction

The Context: Although Umerkot is only five and a half hours car journey from Pakistan’s largest urban city , it is one of the most underdeveloped districts in , with the second highest poverty rates in the province. About 83% of the population is rural and 70% are Hindus (majority scheduled caste) and Christians, who are highly neglected, disadvantaged and lack access to basic services.

The climate in Umerkot is extremely hot, about 40 degrees on average in summer. The majority of local people are tenant/subsistence farmers. Main livelihoods include daily agricultural labour, livestock and brick-making. Due to poor crop yields and climate insecurity, many farmers are indebted for life to the feudal landlords (a relatively small group of politically active and powerful landowners) and this goes generation to generation. People rarely have any reliable alternative livelihoods or sufficient coping mechanisms. Gender inequality is at its extreme with a variety of traditional and harmful practices, including violence against women and mobility restrictions resulting in limited access to health and education. The voices of these rural women articulated and demonstrated the dynamics of poverty at household level. These women had inherent potential to improve their own lives but were significantly constrained with major socio-economic barriers. They lacked key assets, including social, physical, financial and human assets, and access to public services.

The Project: Between March 2015 to March 2018, Y Care International and the Community World Service Asia implemented a project “Improving financial resilience and promoting gender equity of disadvantaged young women in marginalised communities of Umerkot in Pakistan” funded by the UK Aid from the British government and the Swedish Postcode Foundation.

The project addressed extreme poverty, food insecurity and gender inequality faced by young women, their households and communities. The project intended to contribute to young women having safer, happier lives, with reduced poverty. This was attained by increasing livelihoods opportunities of young women and improving gender sensitivity and mainstreaming in the communities of Umerkot district.

The expected results of the project were as follows: Impact: Reduced poverty for vulnerable households in Sindh Province, Pakistan Outcome: Disadvantaged households in Umerkot District in Pakistan have improved economic resilience, empowerment and equity Output 1: The target 700 disadvantaged women have developed improved sewing and traditional embroidery skills (stiches/ dying/ block printing, etc.) Output 2: The target 700 disadvantaged women have strengthened market linkages and economic networks Output 3: Local community members of the 22 villages in Umerkot district have increased awareness and knowledge on gender-related issues affecting their local communities

The purpose of the assessment is to (1) review the project results and impact (2) generate findings and recommendations that can inform the design and of similar interventions in Pakistan and elsewhere in the future; and (3) support project staff in conducting the Validation Workshop for the project final evaluation

Methodology:

This Impact and Sustainability Assessment Exercise focused on identifying and assessing the changes brought about through the project after the 3-year project inception using a mixed method composite approach using the Most Significant Change, Outcome Harvesting and Sprockler which is a story based mobile data collection tool (www.sprockler.com).

Since the project was aimed at making people change-agents rather than just recipients of aid, the assessment design purposely included a validation workshop to share the findings with communities, so they could learn from it and understand the importance of monitoring and evaluation to provide solid evidence of project results.

The validation workshop was conducted in two of the rural communities with the most relevant stakeholders including, but not limited to: project participants (men and women, boys and girls), local religious and political leaders, project staff members, local civil society and officials. Please read the article I wrote on my return from the field about validation workshops and the importance of closing the learning loop in evaluations1 in international development and humanitarian response.

At the end of the meeting, community members were aware of what worked and what didn’t in the project, as well as the best possible ways for future improvements. One participant said, ‘this validation workshop was special, since it was the first time after a survey that the evaluation team shared the results with us’.

Evaluation Criteria: The evaluation focused on two standard OECD-DAC criteria: sustainability and impact.

Tools for data collection: A mixed-method participatory approach is used to make visible diverse perspectives and promotes participation of both women and men from different stakeholder groups. Data collection methods include:

• Secondary data available at the national and provincial level • Sprockler, a story based mobile data collection tool • In-depth interviews • Key Informant Interviews • Focus Group Discussions • Document review

Limitations: Visas for international consultants, getting permission to use mobile device in rural Sindh remained as key challenges to this assessment.

Annexes: • Annex-1: Project Staff’s perception of impact in Umerkot. • Annex-2: Detailed visit/interview schedule and itinerary. • Annex-3: Photos from the visit and consent forms: saved HERE • Annex-4: Case Studies from the visit: saved HERE

1 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/closing-learning-loop-how-extend-ownership-evaluation-hur- hassnain/

Three Components of the Project Design

The overall objective of the three-year project (April 2015 to March 2018) is to improve the economic resilience, empowerment and equity of disadvantaged households in Umerkot District in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

The expected results of the project are as follows:

Output 1: The target 700 disadvantaged women have developed improved sewing and traditional embroidery skills (stiches/ dying/ block printing, etc.) Output 2: The target 700 disadvantaged women have strengthened market linkages and economic networks. Output 3: Local community members of the 22 villages in Umerkot district have increased awareness and knowledge on gender-related issues affecting their local communities

The total budget of the project in GBP was 785,681.45 over three years.

Project design by its components:

Summary of Findings

Overall, the project has done well in achieving its expected results. It successfully shook the vicious cycle of poverty off in 22 villages in Umerkot by using a three- pronged approach (skills, linkages and gender equality). By the end of the project, 94% of the households in the villages live above the poverty line ($2 a day) compared to only 3% before the project. (Source: before and after E&E assessment).

The interviews and focus group discussions with the women conducted in the context of this mission, revealed that the project made substantive contribution to improving traditional embroidery skills. The skills that women enhanced through the trainings provided by the project turned a traditional activity into an important income generating activity. The quality of the production improved and in three years, women artisans started earning and contributing to their household income. This is supported by the evidence provided by project sales monitoring data: the total income generated by March 2018 is reported as PKR 8.9 million (USD 79,000). By circulating in the market, this amount is also strengthening the local economy of these poor villages.

More specifically the project contributed to the following domains of change (source: E&E Assessment 2018): - 94% HHs can earn an income above $2 a day compared to only 3% in 2015 - 78% HHs are food secure compared to only 28% in 2015 - 595 women are now able to support their household income with 31% of them contributing equal to or more than $65 per quarter. - The average HH annual income increased from $936 per annum in 2015 to $2,596 per annum in 2018 - 97% of the HHs reported consuming the minimum dietary diversity compared to only 42% at the start of the project. - 72% women reported taking part and influencing HH decision making compared to only 8% in 2015 - 80% of community members reported having a more positive perception of women and their role in the household compared to only 9% in 2015.

Project Impact and Sustainability: For analysis purposes, the project outcome is divided into two main categories: Building the Economic Resilience and Gender Transformation.

1- Building the Economic Resilience: Economic resilience could be simply defined as ‘the ability to recover from or adjust to the negative impacts of external economic shocks’.2

This project uplifted its constituents’ ability to cope with external economic shocks and stresses by diversifying their skills, income sources, connecting with the market and helping them build their self-esteem and confidence. The 22 selected villages in Umerkot are all vulnerable to disasters, especially draught and floods.

The project provided embroidery and product development skills to 722 women tenant farmers and worked with the wider community for gender empowerment. The

2 Lino Bruguglio et all, Conceptualising and Measuring Economic Resilience, University of Malta. https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/44122/resilience_index.pdf average household annual income grew from $936 to 2,596 (177% increase) in three years, resulting in an increased investment on food diversity, child education and household savings.

The biggest moment in my life so far is walking on the ramp with models who were wearing my embroidery work. Koshalya, a woman artisan in Umerkot.

Sustainability of the Economic Development Component: Below are three possible scenarios to the overall income after the end of this project:

Scenario-1: If this income grows with the same pace, these women will be generating around PKR 14 million per annum by 2020. (see figure-1).

Scenario-2: In case the income experiences a 30% increase per year (most likely scenario), the women artisans will be able to generate an annual income of PKR 11.7 million. (See figure-2)

Scenario-3: Figure-3 on next page assumes 70% reduction in sales in the urban market because of the project closure. This is the worst-case scenario that shows a declining trend in 2019 but a 30% projected annual increase in the local market would bring the sales graph back on track.

Scenario 1: Sales projection by 2020 (with same pace) Scenario 2: Sales projection with 70% reduction in urban and 30% increase in rural

Figure 3: Sales with only 30% orders from the urban market

The three above scenarios show that the sales will be slightly affected but the market will not diminish for women artisans when the project ends.

Local vs Urban Orders: By the end of year 3, the women artisans facilitated orders both from the local Umerkot market and from the urban areas (i.e., Karachi and Lahore). The project has raised great awareness in the local market and SMAs demonstrated good progress in sales and marketing locally (generated 47% of the total income). This increase in local orders are also due to the recognition of women artisans’ work at national level, increased confidence on quality and the fact that Figure 4: Urban/rural market share these artisans have walked on the ramps with their products, (FGDs with women artisans).

The total share of the urban market that was mainly established with the CWSA support is 53%. This is the area that may affect the most because of the closure of the project because of SMAs low capacity and understanding of the urban market.

Production Capacity: The designers mentioned during the interviews that they have a lot more orders, but the production capacity at villages does not meet all their demands yet. On the other hand, the women artisans, in their villages are building the workforce by training and engaging their direct and extended family members in production. Some of these new girls/women are the ones who didn’t get permission to take part in the project when it first started.

Sales and Marketing Agents: Most of the households in these 22 villages live under the poverty line with almost no female education. “The Sales and Marketing Agents (SMAs), all women, selected in the project are not qualified to deal with and capture the demands of urban markets”, a designer said. 74% of the artisans (31 out of 42) have never been to school and the same proportion are above 30 years of age (source: monitoring data). These urban market linkages were mainly entertained by CWSA’s Enterprise Development Officers because of the lack of capacity of these SMAs. The SMAs have however improved on communications and financial literacy. Some of them opened bank accounts while all of them own and frequently use mobile phones to communicate with their customers.

Taanka: Taanka has emerged as a social enterprise for products developed by these women artisans through this project. As the market is diverse and unexplored, this concept would require a detailed Business Plan and Marketing Strategy. A Facebook page is created to display products and receive orders. Taanka could also establish an efficient way of transferring the payments to the artisans and find ways to provide a postal address to despatch the raw materials and products.

“Baba says, I am more than a son” “I was the only one who could support my family at the time.” Sangeeta, 17-year-old artisan, Umerkot.

Sangeeta lives with her two brothers and parents in a remote village of Umerkot. In 2016, their father, the only breadwinner of the family had a head injury and he is now unable to work. One of Sangeeta’s brothers is married with his own family to support and the other is only 11 years old.

During this crisis, Sangeeta started sewing clothes in her village to earn an income, but the real change came when she learnt about the establishment of a Women Enterprise Group (WEG) by this project. Though it was difficult for Sangeeta to take time out of the household chores, she recognized this as the perfect opportunity to enhance her handicraft skills and improve livelihood prospects for the family. Upon joining the WEG, Sangeeta learned various handicraft skills, such as different stitches, colour combinations, and use of assorted fabrics and threads. After the WEG participants learned these skills, the project team helped the women in linking them to urban markets from which they received orders with fair profits.

Sangeeta was the first one in her WEG to take and deliver orders for embroidery on very thin fabrics, such as organza or crape. Inspired by her, other artisans have now also started taking orders on fabric and material that’s new to them. She has learnt to produce new products like cushions, short shirts, trousers and stationary pouches. The chevron dupattas, with exquisite mirror work and hurmutch stitch, are her most popular and most sold products.

“I have started working on orders that require varied types of fabrics and have generated PKR 30,000 in last three months for my family. I have used this money on my brother’s education, household expenses, and on my father’s treatment. Thankfully, my father is beginning to feel better now.”

Sangeeta feels, and rightly so, that this is only the start. She confessed that at times one needs a push only and that she got from the trainings and by being part of the WEG. Once you get the push, there is no looking back. She plans to continue practicing her skills and teach other girls in her village as well. Not only is this a convenient and acceptable business for women in their community, but also something that will remain with them through generations.

“This embroidery work is my passion and I enjoy doing it while listening to music. I also like to master in sewing and stitching so I could start making Lehengas, (Pakistani wedding dress)”. “My Baba (father) says that I am more than a son and have supported him and the family in difficult times. I want all the girls in my village to engage in income generating activities and support their families”.

Recommendations: - It will be good to conduct an ex-post impact assessment after a year and collect primary data to discern the attribution of impact to the project, understand the market/income trends and the sustainability of the gender component of the project. - The SMAs are not yet ready to intervene in the urban market and understand the designers’ needs and demands. Strategies to engage them further and build their capacity in communications, sales and marketing and language needs to be developed to sustain the impacts yielded through the programme so far. o The Taanka social enterprise could be strengthened with a strong Business Plan and Marketing Strategy to play a mediatory role between the artisans and the urban market. o The urban buyers could be invited to visit these artisans to strengthen the links further. o Scholarships could be provided to one or more SMAs to do the Marketing and Franchising Course at the Pakistan Institute for Fashion and Design. - Develop a community of practice for SMAs and organise regular gatherings/meet-ups for them to share experiences and exchange learning. - As the women artisans have naturally started training their immediate and extended family members in embroidery, a training of trainer could help us better impart the skills.

2- Gender Transformation: The gender component of this project has been a great success. It reduced women’s vulnerability to economic shocks and stresses and social risks that include gender inequality, discrimination and power at the intra-household level.

The project impacted greatly upon women’s mobility and their inclusion in the household and community decision making. This is the first-time women of Umerkot started serving as role models and raised career and educational aspirations for younger girls and their parents. “Women and girls who were not allowed to take part in the project activities are now encouraged by their (male) family members to work with the women artisans”, a women artisan said.

The women in the communities reported Because we are now increased mobility and self-esteem. This is mainly contributing to the household attributed to their contribution to the household income, our husbands have income, formation of WEGs and awareness started helping us in daily raising about gender in their communities. chores. They now fetch water themselves while we work on According to the E&E assessment, 72% women the orders. Shanti, a woman partake, influence or take household decisions by artisan in Umerkot. the end of the project. These decisions are mainly about utilisation of household income (42%) and cooking preferences. In the beginning of the project only 8% were able to influence decisions on issues other than food (baseline value).

Recommendations: - The male gender activists reported being humiliated by men in their neighbouring villages for advocating for their women and especially losing control over women’s mobility. There is a small risk that this could cause inter/intra hamlet conflict/violence and hence a proper strategy should be derived to tackle this in the next phases of the project. - The selection of artisans was done before the gender activities and hence some women and girls didn’t get permission from their families to take part in the project. In future, these gender activities could take place earlier in the project to sensitise the community in advance for enhanced participation from women and girls. - Moving forward the project could adopt a systems approach and develop strategies to further engage the government institutions, landlords and their staff in the project. - The project monitoring could further develop strategies to monitor: o Girls education (enrolment, attendance and progress) o Participation of women in community planning and decision making o Work load on women: The time spent on household chores vs time spent on orders o Gender related benefits of the types of assets built through the HH economic development - Most importantly monitoring of how an increased household income results in better wellbeing of women and children in the household.

“She could rather be in the school!” Challenging the Gender Norms: Sajan broke a promise but saved his 14-year-old daughter

I am Sajan, 48 years old and a resident of a small village in Umerkot district. I used to work in Karachi in a jeans factory, but I am now retired and live with my four daughters and four sons. Two of my daughters are married and the other two are at home. Three of my sons are working and the youngest one goes to school.

My younger brother, Sunil is a Gender Activist in this Project. He has a different way of seeing things than me and my village. A few months from now, when I came back home after fixing my 14-year-old daughter’s marriage, just like I did to my two elder daughters, I found Sunil in my house with my wife and daughters. They were not happy as they believed my daughter was too young to be married. I told them that this is our custom and our honour is safe if my daughter gets married. They never listened to me and rather threatened that it is illegal, and they can report me to the police.

I broke the promise made to my friend and cancelled my daughter’s wedding. Initially it was because of the pressure from Sunil and my family but it is only now that I believe I did the right thing – she could rather be in the school.

The unintended effects of the intervention:

Health of women artisans: The women artisans reported they enjoy working on orders in shadows/rooms and it also helps them with their child care responsibilities. Sitting long hours and hunching over the clothes especially on the urgent orders have, however, impacted on their health. Some women reported weakened eyesight and neck, shoulder and back pains. (source: interviews and FGDs).

Although the project included some exercises for these artisans, but this component needs to be strengthened in future designs and monitored more regularly.

Household relationships: Although most men are supportive to these women artisans, but the primary household responsibilities remain with the women. Some men were found complaining about the deviating attention of their counterparts from household responsibilities.

Relationship with Feudal Lords: The project participants are mainly tenant farmers which means they are on the land if they work for their landlords. The women reported that being absent from the farming has started creating some tensions between them and the landlords. Some women reported that the landlords have stopped providing them with fodder and to feed their animals they are bound to take fodder from the field at night without permission.

Saying ‘no’ to the authorities: These women have earned a great reputation for the quality of their products in Umerkot district. “No other products have such level of quality checks as we have. People come to us when they need quality products”, a woman artisan said. Some women artisans have even participated in national level exhibitions and have walked on ramps with the models with their work. This has brought a lot of work from the local market but also some orders that they can’t say no to. A woman said, ‘We have started receiving more orders from the landladies in our area. Although they pay us for our work but even if we are busy in other orders we cannot say no to them as this would jeopardise our relationship’.

Girls education: Initially not included in the project main objectives but the project found a great correlation between an increase in the income and women empowerment with girls’ education and attendance in schools. Specifically, 100% of the girls of people directly engaged in the gender programming (e.g., Gender Activists) have made their way to schools.

The project however, could not establish a monitoring mechanism for these changes, but this can be included in the future project designs.

Volunteerism: People provided their homes for project activities for free. These places are mainly used for gathering the Women Economic Groups and working collectively on the orders received.

Social Cohesion: The project has increased interactions between different castes in Hindus and amongst Muslim community members. People reported an increased interaction and visiting people from other castes, ethnic groups and religion. This change is especially attributed to the formation of WEG and Steering Committees.

Conflict Resolution: An ongoing conflict between two rival ethnic groups in Rana Jageer was brought to conclusion with the help of this project. The project did not include this aspect in its regular monitoring otherwise there are many examples to quote.

I see pride in my daughters’ eyes “I do not care what people say or think as long as I see pride in my daughters’ eyes”, Manoj, a proud father in Umerkot.

36 years Manoj, lives in a small village in Umerkot District. He works in a garments factory in Karachi, around 300 KMs away from home. He earns a monthly income of PKR 14,000 (GBP 100). Manoj comes back to his village at least once a month to see his wife, two sons and three daughters. Manoj was first briefed about this project on phone by his wife when Y Care’s partners started their initial meetings in this village before the Project was launched. He said, “I was very sceptical about the role of charities in our villages, especially their mandates of prioritising working mainly with women. I had conversations with other fellow villagers about this and they convinced me to let my daughter and daughter in law enrol in the project”.

A few months back, when he came back on holidays, he said, “I was very happy to see my daughters were not only attending the embroidery skills building training, but they also started reading and writing. They showed me how to write their names”. He added, “I felt that my daughters talk to me with confidence and I saw pride in their eyes – for the first time ever”.

Manoj never went to school himself and living in a big city this was the biggest guilt he always had with him. Seeing his daughters read and write was a great satisfaction.

In the first year of the project, Manoj faced some resistance from his fellow men in the neighbouring villages. He was told that he is weak to let the women go out of home. “When people started criticising us for our women’s mobility and engagement in income generating activities, we spoke to the Gender Activists in our village. They told us that people are talking because they are jealous”. He added, “I do not care what people say or think as long as I see pride in my daughters’ eyes and change in their lives”. Manoj said it is fine for women to go to other villages in their district but not to the far-flung cities, e.g., Karachi. He believes that it will take some time for these women to understand the city life.

In three years’ time, Manoj believes that their enhanced household income has resulted in an increase in their standard of living. The girls in the village have started going to school. He said even if the project ends, this confidence that he sees in the women would continue to strive for a change and empowerment in his community.

A group photo from the Evaluation Validation Workshop in the community. People are holding graphs showing findings of the evaluation exercise and their art work.

Conclusion and the way forward:

“Change from “0” to “1” is a change by infinity; every other change is smaller”. Unknown author.

The project successfully achieved its expected outcomes, but the biggest success was to engage the most marginalised women in economic activities and empowered them to serve as role models for younger girls and their parents. Women acting as role models in these ultra-poor communities is a change from “0” to “1”.

The project successfully reduced women’s vulnerability to economic shocks and stresses and social risks including gender inequality, discrimination and power at the intra-household level. Generating a total of PKR 8.9 million (USD 79,000) could not have been possible without the gender component of the project and the untiring efforts of the Gender Activists and the Steering Committee Members.

The community cohesion seen by the end of the project is a real asset. There is, however, a huge risk that these efforts will be lost if the unity dies. There is still an external support required to keep these groups together.

The project served as an incubator while these women and their communities need more time to sustain these changes. The Sales and Marketing Agents identified are yet not ready to intervene in the urban market. 88% of SMAs are illiterate and majority of them can’t even speak the national language that is required to communicate with the urban based designers (53% of the total sales).

The SMAs, on the other side, were hugely successful in the local markets of Umerkot and . They managed to bring in 47% of the total sales locally. An impact assessment after one year could tell us the story of what happens to the local and urban buyers and the gender component after the project closure.

Taanka could be further strengthened to play a mediatory role between the SMAs and the urban market. One or two SMAs could be provided a scholarship to attend specialised marketing and franchising course at the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design in Lahore or the likes. The project set up an excellent monitoring system based on the logframe. Staff were well trained to gather and analyse (sales) data in their reporting which was then consolidated by the M&E Manager based in Thatta. This project also established a multi-layered feedback mechanism that included the formation and strengthening of community groups, distribution CWSA contact details in the community for written and verbal feedback and a text message-based mechanism set up on the Frontline SMS software. The software allowed different participants (e.g., Steering Committee, Gender Activists and SMAs) to report any feedback through simple coded text messages sent directly to relevant project staff for action. The project participants reported that their feedback was dealt appropriately and on time. Although the Frontline SMS mechanism was dropped in year-3 because of the lack of budget but the project kept the feedback channel open through regular text messages and phone calls.

The project would benefit from a strong exit strategy for its next few months. In the next designs a phased approach for exit could be beneficial.

An impact assessment could be designed after a year with pre-planned comparison groups, for example, salaried compared to piece-meal or commission-based people/staff and gender and economic components of the project before, during and after the project life time.

Please see the key recommendations on the two key outcome areas on pages 7 and 8 in the report.

Annex:

ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT STAFF’S PERCEPTION OF IMPACT:

A workshop was done with the project staff in Umerkot to check their perception of the changes in the community and in their personal life because of this project. This exercise was conducted to also investigate some questions arising for the final report of the project. Following are some quotes from the staff:

- I really enjoyed seeing the smile on the faces of local women artisans walking on the ramps with models. A community mobiliser of CWSA. - Due to the gender component of this project, I realised that I myself discriminate with the women and girls at home. I proudly help my wife in household chores now. A male community mobiliser. - It feels like the project has just started now. I feel happy to see the women artisans’ income increasing year by year. A CWSA staff member. - My family was not first allowing me to take this position of Community Liaison Officer with CWSA. I showed them examples of my colleague who is from the same caste as us to convince them. A community Liaison Officer of CWSA

1- What are the project achievements or changes staff members feel proud of and what were the factors contributing to them?

Gender Transformation: - The project staff believe that women in the area are now empowered and their confidence have increased compared to the beginning of the project. The women used to not speak in front of outsiders before, but they confidently share their feelings now, even to our male colleagues. - These women were not allowed to have mobile phones before but now all the SMAs and some women artisans have their own mobile phones for communication purposes. The community is satisfied with this shift in gender roles which indicates an attitudinal shift.

- Girls education has also become a priority in these 22 villages because of this project. The households have started enrolling their daughters in schools because of their increased income and awareness that girls are not behind their boys and when needed they can also be the breadwinners to their families.

- Confidence: The women in the villages are now more confident and take their household and personal decisions themselves. This also include medical appointments with the doctors and going to the hospitals which were supposed to be approved by the male head of the family before.

Market Linkages: - A heavy investment on market linkages in this project has resulted in an increased income for these women. The SMAs have established great network within Umerkot and Tharparkar markets and are also in contact with some designers based in urban areas.

Taanka: - Taanka has emerged through this project as a Social Enterprise, a pillar for its sustainability. Together with investments in quality assurance and online marketing, Taanka is seen as a model to bridge between the women artisans, SMAs and the urban based buyers/designers.

Social cohesion and conflict resolution: - The project staff believe that the role of influential people in the villages has weakened as the differences between different castes and religious groups has now reduced. In Rana Jageer, an ongoing conflict between two ethnic groups has been resolved with the help of the Project Steering Committee. The two ethnic groups now visit each other’s homes and the women work together in the same WEGs.

2- What are the most important challenges of the project and how you overcame these?

- Selection of beneficiaries: The villages are sparsely located with no/limited local transportation and communications. Most of the inhabitants are illiterate and live under $2 a day threshold. The women in the area have almost no mobility and authority to take decisions for themselves. Men were sceptical of the project only focusing on women so many women (mainly younger ones) didn’t get permission to participate in the project.

The artisans were selected based on some existing knowledge and skills. This meant we received some complaints from people who didn’t get selected. The Steering Committee was involved throughout the process and they dealt with these complaints.

- Women’s mobility: Women’s travel outside of their hamlets is restricted. We faced a lot of resistance when organising women artisans’ trips outside Umerkot. The SMCs helped sensitising the community and a few instances their male counterparts accompanied them for their trips.

- Market linkages: Majority of the SMAs selected in the project are illiterate. They don’t have the ability and confidence to go to the urban cities on their own. CWSA has been the connection between the SMAs/artisans and the urban market and this relationship will be affected as the project ends in March.

- Payments to the artisans: Initially the payments to artisans was made through cash but then the project staff decided to move to Easy Paisa (a mobile phone-based money transfer facility in Pakistan) for efficiency purposes. The Easy Paisa facility although was faster for some but most of the artisans faced a lot of challenges in retrieving the money. Although some SMAs have now opened bank accounts but mostly the payment is still paid through the CWSA staff.

- Delays in payments: Women artisans receive payments for their work after an average of two months. These artisans are also concerned about their pending payments as the project ends. The exit strategy should also ensure the dependence on CWSA for the money transfer from buyers to artisans/SMAs is reduced. The SMAs could be further trained in managing their bank accounts efficiently.

3- What were the main risks and how did you deal with those risks?

Challenging the gender norms in the communities:

- Women’s access to communication devices: The women of Umerkot were not allowed to have mobile phones because it is perceived as something that could put women in communications with other men. The project challenged this perception with the help of the Steering Committees and Gender Activists and helped the SMAs to access mobile phones to communicate with their customers. - Humiliation of male gender activists: The male gender activists reported being humiliated by men in their neighbouring villages for advocating for their women and especially them losing control over women mobility. There is a small risk that this could cause inter/intra hamlet conflict/violence and hence a proper strategy should be derived to tackle this humiliation in the next phases of the project.

- Risks for the staff: Staff initially faced criticism on the gender components of the programme, especially on the mobility, violence against women and early child marriage issues. This was reduced by gender awareness raising and strengthening the gender activists within the communities.

4- How have you collected feedback from (tools or methodology used) and how have you used the feedback? The project established a multi-layered feedback mechanism that included the formation and strengthening of community groups, distribution of CWSA contact details in the community for written and verbal feedback and a text message-based mechanism set up on the Frontline SMS software. The project participants reported their feedback was dealt appropriately and on time.

- Artisans, families and communities: Full details of how to contact CWSA in case if they have a feedback or complaints was provided to the artisans, families and communities. The feedback channels included but not limited to: o Phone or text o Letter o Verbal feedback to a visiting CWSA staff member o Steering Committees o Gender Activists

- SMAs, Gender Activists and Steering Committees: The SMAs, Gender Activists and SC members were provided with a mobile number through Frontline SMS and simple coded messages to report their feedback efficiently. Although the Frontline SMS mechanism was dropped in year-3 because of the lack of budget but the people already trained in the use of mobile and with experience in connecting with the project staff kept the feedback channel open through regular text messages and phone calls using their cell phones

5- Suggestion to strengthen participation of women, their families and community members in the project? Some of the strategies to increase and strengthen participation of women, their families and community members in the project include:

- The gender component of the programme could start prior to other project activities. For example, the project experienced some resistance regarding women/girls’ participation in project activities in the beginning. The Gender Activists in particular helped the project resolve this resistance. - Steering Committees should include SMAs, women artisans for sustainability purposes. - A Gender Forum was established in the last month of the project in year 3. The Forum includes CSOs and government agencies and can be a great steering factor for enhanced participation of women in the project and more broadly, participation in community planning and decision making.