Empowerment thru Creative Integration

	Shahnaz Kapadia Rahat (Chief Executive Officer) invited to be a Panelist at the International Women Leaders Summit, Karachi: (25th February 2012)
				Shahnaz Kapadia Rahat (Chief Executive Officer) invited to be a Panelist at the International Women Leaders Summit, Karachi

	Initiation of a Pilot Project in flood-affected areas of Shikarpur for the Asian Development Bank (December 2011 – December 2012): (15th January 2012)
				In relation to ADB’s investment project, ‘Promoting Gender-Inclusive Growth in Central & West Asia Developing Member Countries’, ECI will initiate a pilot 21-day training program for 20 men and women from flood affected areas in two Union Councils in Shikarpur. The training, which will be conducted in 3 phases over 3 months, is designed to hone the professional and personal abilities of beneficiaries and train them as local change-makers who will seek to catalyze change at the community level. The project aims to facilitate at least 220 women’s socio-economic development (Each STAR to be assigned to 10 households).

	Design & Development of a 2-day Financial Literacy Course for vulnerable and non-literate men and women across Pakistan, for Bearing Point and the State Bank of Pakistan (October-December 2011): (25th November 2011)
				Responding to a Training Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis conducted by Bearing Point, ECI has designed a specialized Financial Literacy Program to improve the financial capabilities of non-literate audiences. This program will be rolled out to 45,000 beneficiaries (men and women, ranging from ages 18 – 60), across the country through a cascade training model. The 2-day course will take participants through the key principles of financial management including goal setting, money management, budgeting, savings, investment, debt management, consumer protectionism, bank services and branchless banking.

	Enterprise Development Trainings for 3700 Flood Affectees in Sindh and Punjab, for International Federation of the Red Cross (October-December 2011): (22nd November 2011)
				ECI has designed a specialized program and will deliver 125 Enterprise Development Trainings for male and female entrepreneurs in Districts Shikarpur, Qambar Shahdadkot (Sindh), Muzaffargarh and Layyah (Punjab). The 2-day capacity building program will feature basic business concepts (opportunity identification, resource mobilization, business implementation and monitoring and evaluation), and development of business plans.

	Capacity Building, Group Strengthening and Marketing Skills Trainings for Producer Organizations and Cooperatives (November 2011 – December 2011): (18th November 2011)
				For the Doaba Foundation, a partner organization of Oxfam GB, ECI designed a series of training programs to build capacity and strengthen newly formed Milk Cooperatives in Muzaffargarh. Two 4-day Marketing Skills Trainings, focused on the Milk Value Chain, were designed and implemented for 39 cooperative members .Two more sessions are expected to begin on December 08, 2011. Through these trainings, participants were mobilized for collective actions e.g. group buying and selling, linkage-building with larger buyers and other key value chain actors and support service providers. The trainings also featured business concepts, market survey, feasibility development, personal entrepreneurial competencies and development of marketing strategies.

	Initiation of Phase V of Enterprise Development Trainings for the recipients (men and women) of the Benazir Income Support Program Waseela-e-Haq scheme (October 2011 – December 2012) : (27th October 2011)
				ECI has pioneered the design and implementation of a 10-day enterprise development and skill training program for the beneficiaries of the BISP Waseela-e-Haq scheme. The training culminates in an assessment of participants’ entrepreneurial abilities as well as development of business plans, based upon which loan-funding is released. ECI has been working with BISP and the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) since 2009 to build on-ground capacity for enterprise development. To date ECI has delivered 169 trainings for 4,227 BISP beneficiaries (3328 men and 899 women) across Pakistan. In Phase V, ECI will deliver 13 trainings for 416 men and women. The second round of this phase is expected to begin by December 15, 2011.

	Specialized Training Program for 22,000 adolescent girls in Sanghar (Sindh) and Gujranwala (Punjab) in partnership with the World Population Foundation (August 2011 – August 2012) : (7th October 2011)
				Under Rutgers WPF “Empowering Girls- Transforming Communities” Project, funded by Hewlett Packard Foundation, ECI has designed a specialized Life Skills and Enterprise Development Training Program, ‘Khawab se Tabeer Tak’, The project aims to support the social and economic empowerment of 20, 000 adolescent girls of grades 9 and 10 .ECI has developed resource material as well as conducted two Pilot trainings in Sanghar and a Training of Master Trainers in Islamabad. Currently, the team is delivering trainings to 270 government high school teachers in both districts, so that they are effectively able to pass on critical messages to their students regarding leadership, self-confidence, health, and advocacy initiatives at the district level.