Sehberg Trust | Current Projects

Sehberg Trust Second Opinion

Second Opinion is designed to address complex & chronic medical issues which sometimes require critical decisions to be taken by the loved ones or by the patient. Considered as a basic right, Sehberg Trust believes that Second Opinion from subject authorities and leading international consultants should be made available to the citizens of Pakistan. This facility at present is not available in Pakistan and a large population remain unserved.

Sehberg Trust has bridged this gap by establishing a state-of-the-art tele-medicine consultation studio.

Sehberg Center / SC (for Women and Children)

Located in the rural area of Mohra Moradu, SC is approximately one hour’s drive from Islamabad and half an hour’s drive both from Taxila and Haripur. SC aims to become a rural resource centre for women and youth who can gather here to learn, discuss, plan and implement initiatives in Health, Education and Livelihood. At institutional level, SC establishes a network of health and education facilities in rural area and providing them with a platform for joint learning initiatives and dissemination of knowledge on rural best practices. The Center also hopes to contribute to policy making for rural areas in all three fields. + Show More

The reason for selecting this area is its close proximity to Islamabad while still retaining all the geographical and cultural characteristics of a rural area in Pakistan. The Center is located amidst an immigrant colony consisting mostly of Pathans who have shifted from disturbed areas of KP because of security and economic reasons. SC therefore is ideally located to serve the marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged sector of the society and at the same time provide them with a safe and secure center point for learning from each other as well as from the available resources.
- Show Less

Health:

Providing maternal and child health services at primary level with strong emphasis on prevention and screening of disease.
Establishing an enabling environment to the children, which is safe and clean for implementing learned behavior.
Promoting healthy habits in personal and environmental hygiene, nutrition and health seeking.
Providing safe drinking water to communities.

Education:

Making youth more communicative, confident and better informed, especially regarding health.
Enabling children who, have either dropped out of a formal school or have never been to school, to read and write and become up to par with primary students
To ensure the availability of existing and new safe water sources with help of local community and philanthropists.

Livelihood:

Developing life and entrepreneurial skills, especially in women so that they have financial empowerment to take health decisions.

1A Tech Room equipped with computers and cellular phones. Here these students learn the use of technology to seek information for solving their everyday problems. The aim is for the students to be able to access e-health and e-learning. In addition they learn about their hardware, software and applications as well as get the basics of MS Office.

2A Kitchen where students learn how to cook nutritious meals in a hygienic environment using local resources. A vegetable patch is planted and maintained by the students as well as poultry and eggs so that they learn how to make kitchen gardens at their homes for providing them with a fresh and healthy produce.

3A Stitching Room with sewing machines where they are taught various skills including recycling used clothes. Local form of embroidery is also taught but the designs, cloth and color schemes chosen are guided by modern day requirements. Focus is on making products which can be sold for income generation.

4An Art Room where these girls learn to create artifacts using local art and craft, including but not limited to Truck Art, Mirror Work and Stone work.

These facilities are available for Partner schools free of cost in case of Non Formal and Government Schools and on subsidized rates for Private Schools.

It started as a Park, Khel Khel Mein, which was established in 2010 with some swings and play equipment in order to attract local children who came to play here. Later a pavilion was added where children gathered on weekends for storytelling, poems, songs and general knowledge sessions. This same pavilion became a platform for showcasing their talents in music, drama, Qiraat, poetry etc.

In 2013, a group of 25 children enrolled in an out of school children program which was started in partnership with New Century Education (NCE) and National Institute for Research in Education (NIRE) for a two year program which will bring them up to par with primary class students.

A state of the art building equipped with latest audio visual aids has been constructed at Mohra Moradu to provide a safe and healthy environment for women and children to learn and become empowered to improve the quality of their lives. This building includes a clinic for providing primary health care, two class rooms, a sewing room, an arts room and a multipurpose room for capacity building in addition to a large kitchen for learning cooking and preservation techniques. Here these children are exposed to latest technology so that their vision is broadened and not just limited to what they have seen their fathers and forefathers do.

SC is using functional literacy in combination with health literacy as a lever for improving quality of life with the belief that it will make the youth, especially girls, get more involved, make informed decisions and take responsibility regarding their health, education, livelihood and choosing democratic leadership. It proposes to do so in line with the Trust’s strategy of developing and using synergies, volunteerism and community participation.

Projects of SC:

Following are the projects currently being run at Sehberg Center:

(Click/Tap [ + ] to Expand and Read Contents | Click/Tap [ x ] to Contract and Hide Contents)

1 Khel Khel Mein: Play to Learn

Established since 2010, this project is targeted towards boys and girls who attend regular school between ages 4-12 yrs. It includes establishment of a Park with play equipment and a pavilion where classes are held every Sunday for the children.

Itwaar School:

Classes are held every Sunday at the Itwar School focusing on Health Education, English, Arts and Religious Studies using audio visual aids, story- telling and drama / skits. This class is for walk in students and has 35 to 70 students at any one point in time

Bachon Ki Chopal:

It is a platform for sharing knowledge and showcasing talent and skills of children from rural and urban areas so that children learn to appreciate and celebrate the similarities and diversity of Pakistan. This platform is available not only for students who go to formal schools but also for those who are getting non-formal basic education. School trips from Mohra Moradu to Islamabad or vice versa has been conducted along with cricket matches, quizzes and sports competitions.
+ Show More

Life skills form an integral part of Bachon Ki Chopal and include:

Self awareness: Students are made aware of an individual’s place in a family, a social group, a community, and a country. They are also made aware of their rights and duties and their responsibilities to themselves and society.

Critical thinking and creative thinking: Training young people to ask for cause-effect relationship and then for rational thinking is essential, if they are going to withstand pressure. Critical thinking makes children question status quo and age old customs which are not useful.

Decision making and problem solving: Decision making and problem solving are difficult in an environment where access to information is limited and critical thinking is discouraged. This can lead to a delay in decision making regarding important health, education and livelihood issues sometimes costing a person’s life. Students are taught to make the right decisions at the right time using available resources.

Effective communication and interpersonal relations skills: The absence of these skills has been shown by research to be a great barrier in compliance in drug use and follow up. Students are taught good communication practices using audio visual aids.

Spatial orientation and orientation in time:i> Youth in rural areas have a vague notion of weekdays and months but if they are going to participate in the modern world of technology, they must have orientation to both space and time.

Visual-spatial skills are of great importance for success in solving many tasks in everyday life. For instance, using a map to guide you through an unfamiliar city, merging into high-speed traffic, and orienting yourself in your environment are activities that involve spatial ability. Non-verbal spatial skill is needed to practice arts and crafts. Most vocational programmes depend on spatial skills.

Similarly orientation to time helps the young to plan for their future. Research shows that the disadvantaged do not have this orientation, so they tend to live in the present and do not save or invest money they earn for their future. Students begin to understand the time-line and the cause and effect relationship and therefore begin to appreciate how their effort of today will bear fruit tomorrow.
- Show Less

Khul Ja Sim Sim

This is a well equipped library which started in a trunk, grew to a cupboard and is currently located in a custom built container in the shape of a railway engine. It has books in English and Urdu on a variety of subjects, including Health and has a membership of more than 100 children.
2 Iqra: Non Formal Basic Education

Iqra is an accelerated two year Non Formal Basic Education Program targeted towards children between 5-18 years of years, with priority given to girls which brings the literacy skills of these children up to par with those of primary graduates. These children have either dropped out of a formal school before completing primary education or have never been to school. Currently 25 children are enrolled in the programme and will graduate in December 2015.

Iqra was established in partnership with National Institute of Research and Education (NIRE) through New Century Education (NCE) established in 2013, to provide curriculum for accelerated teaching, teacher training, monitoring and supportive supervision of the staff.

The expected outcome of this program is that children are able to read and comprehend contents of textbooks, magazines and general reading material, write applications, letters giving information and feelings in simple text and are able to do simple calculations for solving problems related to day to day needs and continue self-learning.
3 Meri Sehat Meri Zimmaydari: Health Promotion
Health Promotion is an integral part of all educational initiatives of the Trust with special focus on adolescent girls. Health literacy implies the achievement of a level of knowledge, personal skills and confidence to take action to improve personal and community health by changing personal lifestyles and living conditions. By improving people's access to health information, and their capacity to use it effectively, health literacy becomes critical to empowerment.
Impact of women’s literacy on Health:
- Illiteracy of a woman has a direct impact on household health, hygiene and nutrition as they fail to understand – and therefore put in practice – messages designed to encourage healthy behavior and the risk prevention in various areas of daily life (UNESCO 2006).
- Literate women have better access to preventive health measures, such as vaccination and medical check-ups, among others.
- Child mortality rate has been seen to drop in families whose mothers were primary school graduates.
- Child mortality decreases by 9% for every additional year of schooling attained by the mother.
- Number of years of a mother’s schooling is also directly proportional to the nutritional status of her children.
- Birth rate declines only among those who have completed primary school or higher levels of education.
- Children of parents who have failed to complete primary education are highly unlikely to complete primary or secondary education themselves.
Hygiene & sanitation, awareness regarding healthy environment & nutrition, screening for poor eyesight & dental problems, de-worming and treatment of minor illnesses all form part of Khel Khel Mein, Bachon Ki Chopal, Iqra and Khul Ja Sim Sim and Skill Development Programme. The aim is to create health awareness, develop skills to manage minor illnesses and empower women to take decisions regarding their health. Children are de-wormed, provided spectacles and hygiene kits with tooth brushes and tooth paste.
4 Chamktay Sitaray: Need Based Scholarship
A need based scholarship program for children from rural and underprivileged areas, its aim is to facilitate their entry into mainstream professions by providing them financial support, mentorship and counseling. Students are provided information and guidance regarding various career options available to them through various means including but not limited to internet, career counselors, newspapers and personal linkages.

The selection criteria for these students is:
- Minimum 60% marks in Metric.
- Admission in a recognized institution of Health, Engineering, Computers, Business and Agriculture.
- Irregular family income of less than 15,000 per month.
- Females and orphans are to be given preference and flexibility in selection criteria.
- Belonging to District Rawalpindi or Haripur.
It is expected that these students will, in future, pull their families out of the vicious cycle of poverty by being gainfully employed.
5 Begum Khursheed Rana Clinic

The clinic has been established in the memory of Begum Khursheed Rana whose contribution to reproductive health in Abbottabad district is remembered years after her passing away. The clinic provides maternal and child health services at primary level with strong emphasis on prevention and screening of disease. Strong linkages to secondary and tertiary health care facilities and 24/7 availability of transport for obstetric emergencies are ensured.
6 Hunnarmand Aurat Khushaal Gharana : Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
This is a one year programme following completion of Iqra or Primary Education from a formal school. It provides skills to young girls who can then use them to improve their own and their family’s lives, either by applying them at household level or using them to generate income. In addition to this, short courses of six weeks duration and workshops are also run to generate income for the Center.

It will give an opportunity to the girls to:
Learn how to retain nutrition in locally available foods.

Grow some of the produce they cook in their kitchen gardens.

Raise healthy livestock.

Learn some of the traditional food preservation arts such as canning, drying, and fermenting.

Create an opportunity to turn these skills into a livelihood.

Learn about infant, child and adult nutrition.

Become aware of prevalent communicable diseases and their role in their prevention and management.

Understand their role in making their environment clean and healthy.

Learn and practice good hygiene and sanitation practices.

Practice making a budget on a shoestring.

Learn how to repair and alter dresses and stitch new ones.

Learn how to start a small business enterprise based on acquired skills.