Umeed Partnership Pakistan (UPP) is a non-political, non-profit organization registered under the Societies Act of 1860 with Registration No. 764, dated April 18, 2001, in Quetta. It is also registered with the Baluchistan Charities Registration and Regulation Authority, Government of Baluchistan, under Registration No. BCRA-114349, dated January 12, 2021. UPP received certification from the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) on April 29, 2021, under Certification No. PCP-2021/828. It has a partner organization in the UK – the Umeed Partnership (UK) which is also registered in the UK as a charity under the UK Charity Commission.
UPP is a multi-faith, humanitarian organization committed to the development and promotion of human rights. It began its operations in the year 2000 in the tribal areas of Baluchistan, and its work has since expanded to include the desert communities of Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar districts in Southern Punjab, the rural areas of Kasur and Mian Channu/Khanewal, and the slums of Lahore.
Umeed Partnership exists to provide opportunities in education, vocational training, and human rights awareness to vulnerable and disadvantaged girls, women, transgender individuals, and street children of Punjab and Baluchistan. Over time, the organization has evolved into a comprehensive women’s support body, extending its services to victims of abduction, rape, forced conversion, forced marriages, widowhood, disease, domestic violence, torture, human trafficking, forced labor, and marginalized transgender communities.
UPP primarily focuses on empowering women, street children, religious minorities, and transgender individuals through education, skills training, legal aid, direct assistance, and rights awareness programs. UPP envisions a society where women, girls, children, and transgender individuals achieve economic freedom and have the autonomy to make decisions about their own lives.
Across all districts, UPP operates adult literacy centers for illiterate women and girls, provides education to street children—especially girls—through its Umeed Schools, and offers human rights training to women, children, and transgender individuals. The organization also delivers legal aid and direct support to survivors of gender-based violence and exploitation, and facilitates the formation of interfaith peace committees among women. Furthermore, UPP conducts physical, psychological, and digital security training—particularly for women human rights defenders, survivors of violence, and staff of relevant organizations and institutions.
UPP actively promotes the rights of religious minorities and gender equality at all levels. It is deeply committed to the socio-economic upliftment and protection of human rights in Pakistan. Through its work, UPP seeks to dismantle unjust structures and empower communities. It operates at the grassroots level while also engaging with policymakers and partnering with all who are dedicated to human dignity and liberation.
Vision
Umeed Partnership Pakistan envisions a just and inclusive society where women, girls, children, transgender individuals, and marginalized communities are empowered, economically independent, take part in democratic process and free to make informed decisions about their lives and futures.
Mission
To advance human rights and gender equality by delivering inclusive education, vocational training, legal aid, business development, democracy and awareness programs that uplift disadvantaged women, street children, transgender individuals, and religious minorities of Punjab and Baluchistan. UPP works at the grassroots level to foster empowerment, justice, and dignity for all.
Goal
To dismantle oppressive social structures and create sustainable opportunities for the socio-economic and human rights development of marginalized populations, enabling them to lead secure, self-reliant, and dignified lives.
Umeed’s Focal Sectors include
Human Rights:
- Human Rights and democratic education
- Empowerment of women and elimination of gender disparities
- Capacity enhancement of women’s’ groups and civil society organizations
- Research and documentation
Development:
- Promotion of entrepreneurship and development of small business skills
- Formal and non-formal education
- Socio-economic empowerment of the poor
- Assisting women in distress through free legal aid
Programs of Umeed
Our Main Activities
Education (formal and non-formal)
Umeed Schools
In Pakistan, Umeed Partnership provides education at all levels, regardless of caste, creed, or gender. The literacy rate among the communities Umeed serves is among the lowest in the world. In urban areas, these communities live on the fringes of cities in impoverished slums, while in rural regions, they reside outside main villages and towns, with no access to basic infrastructure or development services. These communities often lack schools, healthcare, sanitation, roads, and social facilities.
To address this dire need, Umeed established two middle schools for Dalit and other highly disadvantaged communities in the Cholistan Desert, District Bahawalpur, Southern Punjab—an area with a 100% illiteracy rate at the time. In 2007, a middle school was launched in Village 18/BC, Bahawalpur, followed by another in 2009 in Village 52/DB, Yazman. Both schools continue to provide quality education to approximately 300 students, including both girls and boys.
The operational costs of these schools are fully funded by Umeed Partnership Pakistan, as the students and their families are unable to contribute financially toward their education.
Adult Literacy Program (ALP)
In 2014, Umeed signed a contract with the Pakistan Bible Society (through the Australian Bible Society) to run an Adult Literacy Program for illiterate women and girls in the provinces of Punjab and Baluchistan. The program provides participants with basic literacy and numeracy skills.
Each session lasts for nine months, and each center serves 20 to 25 illiterate women and girls. Classes are held daily for 2 to 3 hours, except on Sundays. During each session, Umeed operates 60 to 80 centers across Punjab and Baluchistan. At the end of each session, successful participants are awarded certificates during graduation ceremonies.
Economic Development through skills training
Umeed operates various skills training centers—such as embroidery, tailoring, cultural shoe making, computer training, and decoration piece making—across different districts of Punjab and Baluchistan, specifically targeting women/girls and street children from displaced and highly disadvantaged families. Each center trains 20 to 25 women/girls and street children.
Each training center is managed by a trainer and a supervisor and operates for 3 hours daily, except on Sundays. The training programs run for a duration of 9 to 12 months.
Due to cultural and security concerns, most centers are set up in the homes of teachers or trainers, or in spaces arranged by them. These individuals are responsible for recruiting students, providing a training venue, and safeguarding tools, machines, and materials throughout the training period. This approach allows training to be delivered directly at the beneficiaries’ doorstep.
The training focuses on modern, innovative strategies that are more attractive, comfortable, productive, impactful, and profitable. As a result, the targeted women/girls and street children are able to enhance their individual talents and skills. Upon completion of the program, Umeed provides participants with essential tools and materials, enabling them to enter the production phase—starting small businesses at home in the trades they have learned.
Early or Child Marriages
In Pakistan, early or child marriages occur due to extremely weak legislation, poor enforcement of existing laws, the treatment of children as commodities or slaves, the tribal and feudal structure of society, and a general lack of public awareness about the harmful effects of child marriage. Additional contributing factors include extreme poverty, internal trafficking, an ineffective and unresponsive birth registration system, and a lack of political will within the government.
Birth registration—especially for girls—is rarely prioritized, which allows for manipulation of a child’s age at the time of marriage. Moreover, there are no centralized, independent, and robust child rights bodies to monitor violations, including those related to child marriage.
Umeed works with women and children in some of the most marginalized communities, particularly in the tribal areas of Baluchistan and the rural and slum areas of Punjab. Through awareness programs, skills training, adult education, and the operation of schools, Umeed empowers parents and their daughters to resist child marriage, recognizing that the long-term consequences of early marriage can be devastating.
Psycho-social support, self-care, wellbeing and mental health training
Pakistan is frequently affected by large-scale natural calamities such as floods, earthquakes, and pandemics like COVID-19, which impact millions of people across the country. These disasters often lead to depression, anxiety, fear, mental health issues, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), especially among women and children who are particularly vulnerable.
It has been observed that government departments, response teams, and organizations working in affected areas tend to focus primarily on physical needs, often neglecting the psychological and mental health needs of the people. As a result, many individuals experience severe trauma, stress, and anxiety. Some lose loved ones, others their businesses or jobs. Many face divorce, limited mobility, domestic violence, torture, the discontinuation of their children’s education, or the loss of dowries. Early marriages of minor girls also increase. These compounded issues significantly affect their mental, physical, and psychological well-being.
Umeed has a qualified team that conducts awareness and support sessions for people overwhelmed by stress, trauma, pain, stigma, discrimination, abuse, restrictions, poverty, and social marginalization. These sessions provide participants with solace, relief, comfort, joy, and a renewed sense of hope.
Interfaith harmony and Peace building
Umeed works with women through skills training, adult education, school programs, women’s human rights training, interactive public debates through stage performances, and the formation of women’s human rights and peace committees. Through these activities, Umeed promotes interfaith harmony, peacebuilding, and a “dialogue of life” among women of all faiths.
Umeed believes that women are powerful agents of peace and dialogue. When women from both minority and majority communities develop mutual understanding and respect, they have the potential to transform the atmosphere within their homes and communities.
Increasing Democratic Process among women/girls
Pakistan’s deeply rooted cultural conservatism means that many women continue to be marginalized in the political sphere. Social attitudes toward women’s roles in public life and their political participation remain limited. Political empowerment for women is still constrained by societal norms that prioritize male-dominated leadership structures, especially in rural areas.
Umeed Partnership Pakistan (UPP) is committed to fostering a more inclusive, equitable, and empowered society in Pakistan—one where women can actively engage in democratic and social progress. Umeed aims to increase political participation and leadership, particularly among rural women, and to bring about a shift in the mindset of the male population regarding women’s political, social, and economic rights and empowerment.
UPP consistently focuses on empowering women and girls in Pakistan by enhancing their socioeconomic and political awareness. The organization works toward a measurable increase in the number of women holding leadership positions in local councils, committees, and political parties; participating in elections as candidates, voters, or election observers; attending political forums, meetings, political literacy programs, and civic education workshops; and engaging in community decision-making processes.
Freeing Families from the Bondage of Slavery and the Debt Trap
Umeed Partnership Pakistan (UPP) works to break the cycle of slavery and indebtedness by providing formal education to children of families working at brick kilns and on landlords’ farms, as well as adult literacy programs for their family members. UPP offers skills training for women and girls to help them become entrepreneurs and start their own small businesses, promoting economic independence.
The organization also promotes health and hygiene among both women and men, and conducts health screening camps for brick kiln workers, farm laborers, and their families. Additional support includes debt repayments in the form of cash assistance, facilitation in acquiring Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) for adults, birth registration for children, and access to legal services.
To support mental well-being, UPP provides psychosocial support, self-care education, and well-being initiatives aimed at helping laborers cope with stress, anxiety, burnout, and trauma.
The overall goal is economic development through education and skills training, enabling families enslaved at brick kilns and farms to achieve self-reliance by launching small businesses and ultimately freeing themselves from the bondage of slavery and the debt trap.
Forced Faith Conversion
Umeed provides legal assistance in cases where women are abducted, raped, or forcibly converted and entered into unlawful marriages. Umeed also offers training on women’s human rights, empowering women to approach the police, consult doctors, engage with politicians, and pursue justice through the judicial system.
Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation
The prime goal of the organization is to assist the suffering masses, prey of natural and human disasters and calamities. These masses are assisted through emergency relief and then carried on the work of rehabilitation.
Youth talent development
Umeed runs sports clubs and street theatre for youth talent development.