Richard Hawkes Visiting our Partners in Pakistan
The purpose of the visit was to meet as many people and organisations as possible so as to build momentum for the substantial growth of our Pakistan programme that we are planning. I also had the opportunity to visit some of our partner organisations and see at first hand the tremendous work they are doing to make a positive difference for some of the poorest and most marginalised people in the country.
It was great to spend time with Kaarvan, our partner organisation that supports rural women to start small enterprises – and I was especially delighted to meet Kulsoom, a hugely inspiring woman I have heard so much about.
It was also excellent to see the fantastic work being undertaken by other partners including the Hunar Foundation, the Indus Resource Centre, DIL, Basic Needs Pakistan and the Aman Foundation. Whilst in Karachi I was able to spend time at the Rangoonwala Foundation and visit the Indus Hospital. I also had a brilliant day with the team from Basic Needs Pakistan, talking about their work whilst we visited the Makli Graveyards and Keenjar Lake.
I was delighted to launch our new partnership with the Center for Entrepreneurship at LUMS (the Lahore University of Management Sciences). This is supported by Citi and will enable us to build an incubator focused on supporting young people to start their own businesses and create jobs.
In Islamabad I was honoured to be able to spend time with the relatively new British High Commissioner, Thomas Drew. I have met many High Commissioners around the world, but very few as motivating and determined to make a difference as him. This is tremendously important for us as an organisation that links the diaspora in the UK to South Asia.
As is our partnership with the Department for International Development (now called the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) as of 2 September 2020), with whom we are about to embark on a major partnership in Pakistan and with whom I had an extremely productive meeting. It was also good to meet the new Deputy British High Commissioner in Karachi, Belinda Lewis, who has only been in post three weeks.
It was important for us to establish relationships with important bodies in Pakistan such as the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade, the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and Pakistani Think Tanks like IDEAS and CERP. It was excellent to see a major corporate foundation, the Engro Foundation, passionate about exploring new areas of work that could enable programmes of real scale.
On Sunday evening I attended a special dinner in honour of the Trust hosted by Ali Habib, the Chair of our Pakistan Advisory Council. This gave me an excellent opportunity to meet some of the most successful business leaders in the country and seek their advice about the exciting and ambitious plans we are putting together.
Obviously you cannot become an expert in a week! But this visit did enable me to improve my awareness and understanding of key issues in Pakistan; it is clear that this is a country that is changing fast and, in the social space, embracing the concepts social enterprise and being entrepreneurial. This provides an excellent opportunity for the British Asian Trust and our more modern, dynamic approach. I hope I was able to establish some excellent relationships that will ensure that we can really scale up our work in the months and years ahead. It was a busy and hectic trip, eight days from dawn till midnight! But absolutely wonderful and I can’t wait to go back!