Daily Times

Thar Foundation has been established as a Section 42 Company under the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) framework with an objective to improve the lives of the underprivileged communities living in Tharparkar district of Islamkot in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The Foundation aims to improve live for these people through graduated and sustainable interventions by adopting the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals framework to ensure that Islamkot becomes SDG-compliant by 2024 – six years ahead of the global timeline for SDG implementation

Since these goals are a universal call-to-action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity, the Thar Foundation has adopted these Global Goals with a vision to uplift the communities in Thar and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. By adopting the SDG Framework, the Thar Foundation has divided these 17 Global Goals into three key categories: Overarching Goals; Prioritized Goals and Advocacy Goals.

For the first time in Pakistan,inhabitants of the project area have been madeProject Beneficiariesbythe Government of Sindh. This has been achieved by diluting 3% of the Government’s shareholding for the Project Affected Persons who will become shareholders in the project. In addition, as part of the SGD framework, the Foundation continues to work on key impact areas such as education; health; livelihoods; gender equality; water and women empowerment amongst other focus areas.

In the area of education, the Thar Foundation has established 24 school units which it runs in collaboration with The Citizens Foundation and the Charter of Compassion. The schools together provide functional schooling experience to over 4,000 children.

The Foundation promotes sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Tharparkar by providing full and productive employment opportunities and decent work to locals. To date, over 3,000 Tharis out of the total workforce – approximately 70% – are employed at the projects, whereas over 1000 Tharis have been trained for various technical skills under the Khushaal Thar initiative of Thar Foundation. In addition, to train the next wave of Thari graduates 75 Tharis have received on-job training at the project and are currently under training in China. Moreover, another program titled Thar Associate Engineering Program (TAEP)is operational and providestechnical training to select candidates from Thar at the Technical Training College in Daharki., Another program – Thar Information Technology Program (TITP) – has been instituted in collaboration with the Saylani Institute in Karachi where approximately 25 students are currently under training to become Android & mobile Application Developers. Khushaal Thar Driving School, initiated by the Thar Foundation,is training approximately 700 male & female students from Thar and adjoining areas to become professional truck and heavy vehicle drivers.

Another flagship program that is receiving acclaim from both local and international quarters is the Women Dump Truck Driving Program.

Under this program the Foundation is promoting gender equality and ensuring women empowerment at all levels in Islamkot.The Women Dump Truck Driver Program has uniquely trained 26 of Thar’s females to drive 60-Ton heavy dump trucks, while another program theKhushaal Naarifocuses on developing enterprise and go-to-market opportunities for females across Thar.

Under its environmental conservation and care for climate initiatives, Thar Foundation has also partnered with the world-famous International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) whereby the Foundation will be working for bio-diversity enrichment and conservation efforts for vulture and peacock habitats in Thar.

Moreover, the Foundation is also working to make Thar Block II a plastic free site and distributes re-usable cotton bags among workforce as an alternate to plastic.Another significant campaign for the betterment of the environment is the Thar Million Tree project which aims to plant 1 million trees across Thar by 2019. To date through various drives and interventions the Foundation has planted almost 500,000 native plant saplings.