Gender:: Male
Country/Countries I have worked in:: Pakistan
More Details: ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE
Name of Organization: Insan Dost Association
Acronym: IDA
Registration Authority: IDA is registered under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies
Registration and Control Ordinance 1961.
Registration No. DOSW (SWL)/04
Year of Origin: 2002
Address: Muhall Rajpura behind City CNG Station GT Road
City/Province/Country Sahiwal (Punjab) Pakistan
Telephone No. (092 40) 400 9843, 4464858
Fax No. (092 40) 4464858
Mobile No. 0300 9692790, 0301 6902446
E-mail: imran_mattu@hotmail.com, id_association@yahoo.com
Head of Organization: Anjum Raza Mattu
Contact person: Ms. Shazia Parveen & Mr. Imran Anjum
Geographical Focus: Rural & Urban (Punjab)
THEMATIC FOCUS
Bonded/Child Labour Advocacy Research Health/Education & Democracy
Skill & Vocational training Local Government Legal aid & Justice
Gender/ Human rights Community development Poverty Alleviation
TARGET GROUPS
Bonded Labor/vulnerable community Women & Children Low Income & Disadvantage groups
Minorities Groups Laborers Group Youth Group
TYPE OF SUPPORT TO ORGANIZATION
Basic education school (Education for All) Technical school
Organization capacity & consultancy Human rights education & support to CBOs
Institutional building Health & education services
Technical & skill based workshops Community Development & Financial Assistance
CURRENT RUNNING PROJECTS
• Advocacy/Peoples awareness
• Eradication of violence against women
• Women skill training center
• Education (Non-formal education centers for working children)
• Legal Aid Cell
• Empowerment of Farmer/Labor councilors regarding elimination of bonded labor
• The Elimination of Torture by Implementation of Factory & Bonded Labour Acts in Sahiwal District
Structure of IDA:
Structure of the IDA comprises of a General Body, six members Governing Body, also called BOD, and an Executive Committee consisting of 7 members. General Body encompasses both permanent and temporary volunteer members. The total numbers of permanent members of GB is not fixed. After every two years, these permanent members take part in the election of choosing members of the Governing Body/Board of Directors.
History of the organisation
In 1986 the founder president of IDA, Mr. Anjum Raza Mattu, a field worker in State Life Insurance Company, visited a brick kiln with his co-workers for the life insurance of workers or owner. The brick kiln workers began to weep bitterly before them and requested to release them from the hardships and loans of the kiln owner. They also explained how they spent almost their whole life with the family working on the kiln just to return their loans but there was no decrease in the loans. They were deprived of their fundamental rights of freedom of movement, choice of job, access to basic social services, and subjected to extreme forms of physical, mental and sexual abuse. Learning about their plight the field worker Mr. Anjum and his team decided to work for the protection of the rights of bonded labourers. His aspiration to help the poor and downtrodden in his community later forced his to work for the Bonded labour Liberation Front (BLLF) Pakistan.
After getting registration in 2002 IDA worked with the District Govt. to introduce adult literacy centers on the brick kiln localities and facilitated the District Govt. for registration of kilns and implementation of bonded labour abolition act in 8 brick kilns near Sahiwal. IDA’s greatest strength has been its network of voluntary members, who have been contributing funds every month from their salaries since the last many years to support IDA and have been working for the organisation with complete devotion. The President of IDA spent two stints of 6 and 3 months in jail on false cases instigated by kiln owners. His time in jail and subsequent release had a great positive impact on the workers’ movement, and forced the district administration to support the labourers rather than the kiln workers as had been the past practice. IDA has now become a model for organisations working for the rights of labourers in the country.
Vision:
To organize a human rights violation free society where there is a role of law through the socio- economic and behavioral change by the participatory approach in formation dissemination to the grass root level.
Mission:
Our mission is to serve as institute for advancing human rights for everyone and everywhere by strengthening Democracy and Justice and elimination of all forms of bonded & child labour and end discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression through participatory approach of the people.
Aims & Objective:
The ultimate goal of IDA is to eliminate the system of bonded and child labor in Pakistan and improve the conditions of bonded laborers and their families. Its specific objectives are:
• To create a mass awareness regarding different aspects of poverty and violence in the society and its consequences
• To empower women councilors and local government system in Pakistan
• To explore ways and means in order to enhance the Human rights situation of women community in the area.
• To contribute in the productive role of women in socio-cultural, economic and political spheres in Pakistan
• To provide the free primary education to the working children.
• To provide the free legal aid to bonded labour community & reduce the women violence.
• To carrying out and launch various community need based initiatives/projects regarding human rights and development with the active and participatory involvement of the grass root people.
• To eliminate the bonded labour system in Pakistan.
• To create the better atmosphere for working women.
• To provide the social security cards to bonded labourers of Pakistan.
• To provide the facility for making the CNICs and votes of bonded labourers of Pakistan.
• To provide the awareness about gender equality through.
Working Strategies:
To realize the vision, mission and goals and to achieve the set-objectives of the organization, the following strategies are generally adopted;
a) The identification of most vulnerable and deserving communities through baseline survey and participatory Rural
Appraisal (PRA) to initiate mass awareness activities.
b) Developing an appropriate and relevant training material on human development and causes of conflicts, injustice
and human rights violation in the society.
c) Organizing capacity building training programs on various aspects of development such gender, women empowerment, micro credit, formal & non-formal education.
d) Launching campaigns and organizing trainings on various issues i.e. bonded labour and human rights violation, honor killing, child Labour and women etc.
e) Compilation and launching community empowerment projects/program through participatory approach with the assistance of local, national and international partners.
f) Strengthening and expanding networking and partnership with local, national and international organizations both at governmental and non-governmental level.
g) Sharing expertise and resources with network organizations for common or joint actions for the good of the people and also to render comprehensive services.
Current Members and staff:
Members: 165 Staff: 7 (including 4 males, 3 females) Volunteer: 20
International links and links with other local organisations
IDA is a member of the following organizations:
• District Vigilance Committee Sahiwal concerned with bonded labour
• District Education Committee for Working children, Sahiwal
• Member of Network for Electoral Participation (NEP) Islamabad.
• White Ribbon Campaign Pakistan (WRCP), Lahore
• District Coordinator of Sangat Foundation, Lahore.
• District member of Trust for Voluntary Organizations. (TVO)
• Worker and Peasant Councilors Network Lahore.
• South Punjab NGOs Forum (SPNF), Multan
• Awaz Foundation Pakistan
• District Member of PILER Karachi.
Links with other NGOs abroad:
• District Coordinator of Humanist Movement, France.
• Member of Women’s World Summit Foundation, Geneva.
Current & Previous activities
Formation of District Education/Literacy Committee:
IDA is an active member of this committee, which supports non formal schools for child kiln workers and provides free books.
Formation of District Vigilance Committee:
District Vigilance Committee (DVC) was organized for the first time in the history of Sahiwal in 2005 (rather in the history of Punjab) comprising of 21 members including Brick Kiln Union members and Mr. Anjum Mattu from IDA. The District Nazim Sahiwal heads the DVC.
The DVC aims to eradicate human rights violation practice against brick kiln workers like bonded labor aligned with loans, introduce minimum wages of Rs.290 for workers, help workers to get ID cards (most workers in the country do not have ID cards), issuance of Social Security cards to workers, registration of brick kilns in the district, and provide protection to harassed or freed workers. After the establishment of DVC, the behavior of Labour department with the workers has been transformed and become very friendly.
The Labor Officer acknowledges that when the Labour Officers report to the provincial government, Sahiwal is the only district which reports significant progress in improving the conditions of bonded laborers. Under the supervision of DVC 20 male and female workers have been financially supported by Punjab and Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal and efforts are being made by IDA to facilitate more workers
Non-formal educational programme:
IDA had been worked with Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) from 1986-2000 and also with United Nation Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery (UNCFS) Geneva to provide basic primary education & health care to working children (boys and girls) for two years from 2005-2006.
Foregoing of debt:
After the intervention of IDA and DVC, 8 brick kiln owners have withdrawn from the recovery of advance payments from the workers. This is a great success and a crucial first step in the struggle for the rights of bonded workers. For the implementation of labor laws, three of these kiln owners have been included in the DVC for smooth implementation.
Legal Aid Cell: IDA has established a legal aid cell for the legal support of the workers with the objective to provide legal support for the protection of their rights against their economic, sexual, physical and mental harassment. For this purpose, IDA has hired a lawyer (also a member of IDA) to represent workers in district Sahiwal.
Voters’ education:
IDA is running a voters’ education program with Aurat Foundation Pakistan.
Elimination of torture from Kiln Industry in Sahiwal: IDA is running a program with UNCFS Geneva to eliminating torture from brick kiln industry by the implementation of Bonded Labor Abolition Act (1992) and Factory Act (1934) on all brick kilns localities in Sahiwal district.
Violence against women:
IDA is running a program to prevent violence against women with South Punjab NGO’s Forum Pakistan.
Empowerment of political women candidates:
During the 2008 general elections IDA facilitated two women candidates in district Sahiwal and provided them legal support for contesting the parliamentarian election with the support of The Researchers Pakistan.
Empowerment of Farmer/Labour Councilors and Bonded Labors in Sahiwal District
Recognizing IDA achievements CIDA-DSP Punjab Initiative Fund (PIF) provided a grant to implement a one & half year project on “Empowerment of Farmer/Labour Councilors and Bonded Labour in Sahiwal District” from 1st May 2007 to 30th October, 2008. IDA hired some 25 additional staff members to expand project activities. An IDA team of 40 voluntary and paid social mobilizers conducted a survey of bonded kiln workers.
The survey revealed that about 25,000 kiln workers, 11,000 of them less than 16 year old, were working at 254 kilns in the district, mostly unregistered. Most men and almost all the women were illiterate, only 10 per cent of adult workers possessed CNICs, and only 6 per cent were registered as voters. Most workers and their families were heavily indebted to kiln owners, had long working hours, lived in appalling conditions, and often suffered all kinds of abuse by owners. Women were often subjected to sexual harassment by owners 24 hours of the day. In one case a woman was asked to work the day after delivering a baby; when her husband pleaded for her need to rest, he was severely beaten up, and his daughter lost her mental balance.
Things took a dramatic turn after the implementation of the CDSP-PIF project. A few of the key achievements in Sahiwal district are summarized below:
• Registration of over 200 of the 254 brick kilns (80%), the highest number and percentage of brick kilns registered in any district of the country. Once the kilns are registered the workers are entitled to social security. They can obtain the following benefits once they have their social security cards:
o Dowry (Jaheez) fund (Rs.50,000 per head) for the marriages of their daughters
o Death (fotgi) fund (Rs.200,000 per head)
o Maternity leave for female workers
o Pension after retirement
o Free of cost primary health care facilities
o Compensation in case of disability
• For the first time 90 workers in registered kilns got social security cards, two workers received Rs. 50,000 as marriage grants, and some 70 kiln workers, including women, received funds from the Baitul Maal.
• 18900 workers (including about 8000 bonded laborers) got NICs, which is a prerequisite to get a social security card, and some 8000 workers were registered as voters. The National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) did not prepare NICs without proof of age. Now NADRA teams go to brick kilns and register bonded laborers for NICs without asking for any proof of age.
• 6000 children of bonded laborers were enrolled in government and private schools, and 288 in 5 IDA-run multi-grade single-teacher schools where there were no schools near brick kilns.
• 42 unions of brick kiln workers, all headed by women, were formed. This strategy was adopted as owners often tortured male union office bearers but was reluctant to beat women. When women accepted union membership, men were also willing to join the union.
• Workers are receiving legal support for the protection of their rights against their economic, sexual, physical and mental harassment through an IDA legal aid cell run by a lawyer, an IDA member.
• There is a 90% reduction in cases of sexual harassment of women of bonded labour families.
• Due to training of workers and labour/peasant local government representatives every bonded laborer in the district knows that peshgi (advance) is illegal, and knows the exact market rates of brick making.
• Selling of kidneys by bonded laborers to pay off loans is common across Pakistan, but non-existent in Sahiwal, despite kiln owners intimidating workers to sell kidneys to repay loans.
• Three kiln owners withdrew the recovery of advance payments from their workers. This was a crucial first step in the struggle for the rights of bonded workers. These three kiln owners were included in the DVC.
• IDA became a member of the District Education/Literacy Committee, Sahiwal District, which supports non formal schools and provides free books for child kiln workers
The CDSP-PIF project monitor visited the IDA project and met various stakeholders in October 2007. In his monitoring report he wrote: “IDA has played a vanguard role in organizing kiln workers, especially bonded laborers, and mobilizing the district administration to fulfill the rights of workers. The CIDA PIF funding has greatly accelerated the process by increasing IDA’s outreach and contacts with workers throughout the district. There is now a strong link between workers and their families and IDA and the district administration. IDA has been able to achieve in months what would have taken years otherwise. I am extremely impressed by the dedication and commitment of the IDA team. As a consultant to Trocaire’s bonded labour program in Pakistan since 2005, I found that IDA’s impact was greater than that of all the eight Trocaire partners put together. I wrote an article on IDA based on my visit, which was widely circulated, and Trocaire has offered its partners to go on an exposure visit to Sahiwal.” – Rafiq Jaffer, Chief Monitor/Technical Advisor for CIDA governance projects in Pakistan.
The vote registration drive was so successful that the District Nazim requested IDA to speed up their efforts in voter registration. After securing NICs and getting registered as voters, workers are planning to field their candidates at union council level on labour seats, bringing them into mainstream politics and enabling them to safeguard their rights. This is the new phase of their struggle. During the general elections IDA organized some 18000 bonded labors to demand for their rights. Because of this large vote bank all the significant politicians of the district themselves contacted IDA and pledged to support the rights of bonded laborers, who were always ignored in the past. This change is well illustrated by the example given in the box.
Box 1: Democracy in Action
A kiln worker of Sahiwal District was working on a kiln in the adjacent district of Okara. The owner claimed that the worker owed him Rs. 38000. The worker left the job and came to his relatives in Sahiwal. On 7th March 2008 the kiln owner accompanied by some men came to Sahiwal and abducted the 15-year old sister. Later the worker and his other sister came to IDA for help. IDA was celebrating Women’s Day on March 8th, presided over by the recently elected members of the national and provincial assemblies. On the request of IDA the members called the police station and ordered the girl to be recovered the same day. The police lodged a case and arrested the offenders and brought the girl back the same day.
