Cipriani Wall Street, New York, a venue that stands as a triumph of Greek revival architecture is known to host some of the most luxurious events in the city.
The New York landmark is now home to the award winning moment for none other than, Pakistan’s only privatised vertically integrated power utility company, K-Electric, a great feat not only for the company, but for the country and the women of Pakistan to be honoured globally.
Companies like K-Electric have made space for the likes of gallant women in Pakistan, becoming the first company in the country to win the international S&P Global Platts Energy Awards, for their unique ‘Roshni Baji’ initiative.
The Roshni Baji initiative was conceived in line with the United Nation’s 5th Sustainability Development Goal (SDG5) that aims to achieve gender equality and women empowerment by the year 2030. The women selected initially have visited 120,000 households in their own communities to raise awareness about general safety, electrical safety, rain safety, power theft and energy conservation.
The spokesperson while expressing views about this initiative commented, “In a society where it’s unusual for women to hold fieldwork positions, it was challenging at first. As an entity with such a vested interest in the community, it was difficult to teach residents about ways and means to protect themselves. In this scenario we thought that if we can have women who go door to door to teach the safety measures related to electricity, it can be a very fruitful endeavour. This struggle warranted far more priority as during the covid19 pandemic we were cognisant of the thousands of people losing their livelihoods who were now struggling to fulfil their basic needs. What transpired thereon was the eponymous Roshni baji initiative.”
Sanober, one of the Roshni baji’s while sharing her experience, said, “Unfortunately my husband lost his job due to the pandemic. As I was already enrolled in this program, and was receiving a stipend, I was able to run the house without any hindrance.”
The Roshni Baji further expressed an initiative that she closely worked on, “In our locality, water machines are not properly fixed, and they can cause electrocutions. I made this effort to guide people how they should fix their water machines in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from any untoward incident”.
It is because of the effort of these women that in their locality people are learning the dangers of fixing kundas and have started using electricity through legal means.
The initial success of this programme and its recognition at global level is a testament of the courage and resilience of Pakistan’s hardworking women who time and again have proven that they are fully capable of working alongside the male members of the society and are ready to contribute in the prosperity of their motherland.