Behbud – All about Women Empowerment

Behbud is a non-profit organization working since 1967 and dedicated to women empowerment through a set of well-coordinated programs for development of vocational skills, job creation, entrepreneurial development, healthcare, and children’s education. This is achieved through a network of Behbud managed and operated vocational centers, production facilities, community health clinics and children’s schools supported by a highly professional team of volunteers and paid staff. The programs are designed to suit the needs of women, with due respect to their personal and family values, lifestyles, and social norms.

Since its inception over half a century ago, we have uplifted the lives of more than 1.5 million women and their children and in most cases entire families. It is our experience that an empowered mother uplifts the whole family.

Behbud is led by a group of exemplary women with a will to expand its outreach and touch the lives of millions of women, especially in the underprivileged, impoverished, and marginalized communities throughout Pakistan. Behbud is embarking on an ambitious growth program that will harness the latest advances in technology and socio-economic development models, to create empowerment opportunities where women and children can thrive & grow as productive members of the society.

Behbud is a completely non-political organization and carries out its aims and objectives, regardless of considerations such as religion, sect, caste, or color consistent with the philosophy of the United Nations. In fact, politically active persons are barred from joining the organization. Its aim and objectives are laid down in its Constitution read as follows:

i. To create a structure for empowering under-privileged women.
ii. To provide for the medical, educational, and vocational training needs of under-privileged women.
iii. To design and implement development projects.
iv. To engage or assist in other charitable activities and disaster-relief or emergency situations.
v. To preserve our cultural heritage by way of conservation of traditional arts and crafts.

The Existing Projects of Behbud are:

The largest Women Empowerment Project set up for home-based women workers in the country, having trained and empowered over 300,000 women since its inception and spanning five generations. Behbud focuses on vocational training to enable women to generate income for themselves and their families. Behbud Association has been imparting vocational training to the underprivileged women of the community since 1967. Training in different skills are organized for them which allowed them to work from their homes and become regular wage earners. This initiative strengthens the socio-economic empowerment of women and adds to their confidence and respect within their families and communities enabling them to play a more constructive role in the society.

As part of this initiative Behbud runs the largest Industrial Home in the NGO Sector in Pakistan as well as 20 Skill Centers located in urban and semi-urban areas.

With over five decades in the world of fashion, Behbud Industrial Home is confident in providing the finest quality in clothing and accessories. Perhaps, ranking as one of the largest in the NGO Sector, Behbud Industrial Home has achieved a unique status as a market leader. It houses stitching, knitting, embroidery and Rilli sections. Within embroidery, there are Tracing, Cross Stitch, Shadow Work, Pin Stitch, Tarkashi, Drawn Thread, Tukri Work, Net Work and Katcha Tanka and many more. Behbud is deeply committed to forging partnerships with artisans that promote self-sufficiency and hope that the future generations of these communities keep the spark alive.

It has 100+ full time Employees and 5000 plus Home-based workers. So far more than 300,000 women have been empowered, and more than 100 Communities benefited.

The products made here are then sold online at www.behbudcrafts.com, in the Behbud Boutique in the F-6 supermarket of Islamabad, in a shop in the Behbud Center in Saidpur and, also at an outlet in the Emporium Mall in Lahore. Behbud participates in national exhibitions across the country as well. It is because of the success of Behbud garments and house linen that it is now an unparalleled self-sustained social enterprise, not relying entirely on donations.

Countless success stories trace their origin to Behbud, some of which are narrated in a recently published book under the title of Embroidering Dreams https://www.behbudcrafts.com/product/embroidering-dreams

The book captures the spirit of Behbud’s vision of creating a thriving vertically integrated embroidery & apparel manufacturing & distribution business throughout Pakistan. The book is the first truly comprehensive book on the subject, covering an extraordinary range of embroideries from across Pakistan, along with the environment in which these women artisans are engaged to produce such marvelous