A brief introduction
The Farz Foundation is a social performance based poverty alleviation organization with a unique and innovative Islamic Microfinance model and business design. It is the organization which has been formed on a strong ideological foundation with the belief of “partnership with the poor and profit and loss sharing” as its prior investment methodology. The asset based Islamic Microfinance integrated approach is the basic tool of the foundation to get long term sustainability, because the Farz Foundation has a strong belief that the sustainability of the client is the sustainability of the organization. Farz foundation has also convicted to bring social change with poverty alleviation. As for as marginalized poor and destitute are concerning, Farz foundation provides them productive Zakah(donation) and Qarz e Hasna (interest free loan to start their businesses after giving them the basic business training and providing them market linkages to make them able to Zakah or payer but not zakah receiver.
Target Market
Goal of Farz Foundation is a peaceful social and economic revolution to generate the opportunities of business partnership among poor and microfinance facilitators through the micro-productivity, social performance, integration and social change. Its target markets are Home Based Workers, particularly women that are low income entrepreneurs, People living with HIV, Sex Workers, Heejras (Transgender Persons), Destitute and Vulnerable.
Farz Foundation has a faith that without empowering these population groups, the microfinance industry cannot achieve its long terms goals. Farz Foundation has determined the huge untapped market of home based low income workers to be a very fertile client base for microfinance in Pakistan, which could also benefit from enhanced productivity through the power of microfinance focused on social performance.
Vision
To bring social change through poverty alleviation by improving productivity and capacity of clients and staff
Mission
Empowering the poor through innovative products and diverse business opportunities, by integrating social performance focused microfinance with collaborative community health and education partnerships.
Objectives
To become a model organization in social performance focused microfinance.
To enhance the productivity of home based entrepreneurs disabled persons, HIV people, sex workers and transgender persons.
Provide ZAQAH(Donation) and QARZ e HASNA( interest free loan) along with asset based financing to the poor , while building their capacity for sustainable livelihoods. We will prepare them for a business product within one year of program entry.
To graduate the home based entrepreneurs into micro-enterprise cooperatives.
To provide basic education, particularly business education to the poor.
To provide basic preventative health education and first aid facilities to the poor.
To offer environment awareness and education at the grassroots level and motivate environmental clean-up and conservation efforts.
To provide a stimulating and professional work environment to the staff and build their capacity on the continuous basis.
To support the entrepreneurial modernization and technology development of Pakistan.
To make the poor productive and ZAKAH payer but not ZAKAH receiver.
Legal Status
Farz Foundation is a non-governmental organization registered under the Act of 1860 and is authorized to work on a ‘no profit no loss’ basis.
Organizational Design
The partnership will look like the following diagram with communication openly flowing between all partners involved. In this way, each organization can maximize their strengths by focusing on what they know and do best, delivering education services, delivering health services, and delivering financial services. When the full partnership is established, all directors and senior staff managers of each organization will meet to discuss the work operations of each organization for working with the targeted group. In this way, no efforts and program activities are duplicated, with each organization in agreement on their role for service delivery.
