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UST MicroCredit Raises Funds to Empower Pakistani Women
5/29/2009
 The University of St. Thomas Center for International Studies MicroCredit Program has partnered with Houston-based Hashoo Foundation USA in an ambitious effort to raise $20,000 to allocate micro credit loans to 100 honey bee farming women in Northern Pakistan.
The two organizations took the first step to meet their goal by hosting the “Hand in Hand” Fundraiser and honey tasting event on Friday, May 22 on the UST campus. Featuring keynote speaker Cristal Montañéz Baylor, Hashoo Foundation executive director, the event drew a loyal crowd of UST MicroCredit Program supporters, as well as many members of the Houston Pakistani community. With a generous donation from the Consulate General of Pakistan and guest contributions, the event raised $1,170.
UST MicroCredit’s initial fundraising goal is to raise $10,000 for the 2009-2010 school year, to allocate $500 one-year, zero percent interest microloans to 20 women. MicroCredit will continue working toward their goal by hosting the third annual Dum Spiro fundraiser in October, which raised about $10,000 last year. MicroCredit plans to raise another $10,000 in the 2010-2011 school year to reach the total $20,000 goal.
The fundraiser supports Hashoo Foundation’s “Women Empowerment Through Honey Bee Farming Project,” or “Plan Bee,” which was the winner of the World Challenge 08 Competition sponsored by BBC World News, Newsweek and Shell Oil Company. The project expands employment opportunities for women in Northern Pakistan and generates a stable source of income. The project also addresses the discrepancy between male and female beekeepers by educating the women beekeepers and linking them to profitable markets. Every $500 loan will provide training in beekeeping, five beehives, and the basic equipment a new beekeeper needs to initiate her own enterprise. The program will benefit and impact the lives of an estimated 800 dependents.
The project in Pakistan marks a venture into a new region of the world for MicroCredit, whose lending has mainly been concentrated in Latin America. Last year, MicroCredit identified opportunities to collaborate with the honey producers in Petac, Mexico.
Joseph Konkel, a UST senior international studies and political science dual major, said MicroCredit got involved with Hashoo through their faculty advisor Dr. Rogelio Garcia Contreras and Sarah Hashwani, a UST alumna and chairperson of Hashoo Foundation.
“As we work to empower women in Northern Pakistan, this project and this fundraiser enabled the UST MicroCredit Program to establish ties in the Houston Pakistani community,” Konkel said. “Working with Hashoo Foundation will be a very good experience for the students in MicroCredit, because the partnership brings an ecumenical spirit and a unique point of view that many UST students may not have had exposure to otherwise. We will be making microloans in the Norwest Frontier of Pakistan, which is one of the more stable areas of the country where the Taliban does not currently have a presence. By creating economic opportunity, we can help prevent the Taliban from gaining a foothold and exploiting the people in this area.”
Garcia-Contreras said Hashoo Foundation’s project is a natural fit for the MicroCredit Program because the two organizations share the common goal of impacting the lives of individuals by providing opportunities for long-term business sustainability.
“These coordinated efforts to help the marginalized sectors of Pakistani society incorporate into the mainstream economic activity of the country is not only an act of shared responsibility but a fundamentally democratic step towards the consolidation of a better, freer and fair society,” Garcia Contreras said. “Besides, the environmentally friendly practice of honey bee farming reflects on the importance of generating wealth while preserving nature, which constitutes in and for itself a major reason for investing the know how and expertise of our students and professors in this wonderful project. The benefits and blessings of assuming our responsibility as the informed and educated individuals of this world do manifest at the core of this partnership.”
Hashoo Foundation is currently pursuing ways to import the high-quality honey from the mountainous regions of Pakistan to the United States and place it in local markets. The Foundation is considering the possibility of replicating the project in underprivileged communities in Houston to empower women and the disabled.
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