Annual Report (2008)

2008

A N N U A L R E P O R T

2008

A N N U A L R E P O R T

To improve the well-being of marginalized groups in South and Central Asia by increasing access to quality education and a healthy environment.

mission

Dear Friends,

Since being founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999, Barakat has quietly built a strong reputation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. It has come to be seen by the people it serves as a no-frills organization that provides communities with what they most want—an opportunity to receive an education.

There is a reason behind Barakat’s success. If you ever visit any of our seven schools or thirty- one literacy programs for girls and women, you will not see SUVs bearing our logo, highly paid expatriate workers giving orders to locals from air-conditioned offices, or resentful locals who feel their concerns are not being considered. Instead, you will see grassroot workers meeting with vil-lage elders to advocate for girls’ education, teachers walking door to door encouraging parents to send their daughters to school, and children eagerly sounding out new words.

Barakat prides itself on having an indigenous field staff committed to education and girls’ em-powerment—a staff committed to keeping costs to a minimum and meeting real needs in hard-to-reach areas. The people we serve see this every day.

Because of our reputation, the number of people we educate each year in South and Central Asia is increasing at a dramatic rate. To meet this growing demand, Barakat needs to expand its financial support base. We are expanding our outreach efforts in the United States in order to help our current and future supporters better understand the dramatic impact each dollar they give makes on the ground. We want them to have as much confidence in Barakat’s ability to get things done as do the people we assist. This report serves that purpose.

Inside the report you will read about Wakil Agha, a driving force behind our programs in Af-ghanistan who holds a strong belief in education’s ability to create a tolerant society. You will learn why our home-based literacy programs for girls and women are, in many cases, the only culturally acceptable way for females in Afghanistan to receive an education. And while you may not be able to visit our programs yourself, you will catch a glimpse of what Barakat means to the men, women, and children we serve.

We hope this exposure will encourage you to join Barakat in helping the communities we serve shape their own future.

Sincerely,

Bill Mor, President Damon Luloff, Executive Director

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WHO WE

SERVE

Children and women• Refugees and recently returned refugees• The landless• The illiterate and uneducated• Lower castes• Daily wage laborers •

Barakat gives priority to groups that have little power or influence, including:

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CollaborativePartners(based in USA)

American IslamicCongress (AIC)

Boston University

Jolkona

Machik

Network of South Asian Professionals Boston (NetSAP)

Pierce Elementary School

Springstep

Unitarian UniversalistService Committee (UUSC)

Board of Directors

Thomas BarfieldGurdeep Batra Karen BoatmanGhazala MehmoodWilliam MorEd ScribnerPeggy SimonsTom Simons

Staff

Damon Luloff Executive Director

Arti Pandey Program Director

Chris Walter Founder

Operational Partners Betsy Elizabeth Trust, India Care and Fair, India Solutions Benefiting Life, USA Affiliate Organizations Barakat Afghanistan Barakat Pakistan Barakat Society, India

WHO

WE ARE

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India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan share deep cultural and historic ties. They also face similar development challenges. We believe we can make a positive contribution to the process of social change and development in this region. We collaborate with like-minded organizations to promote the well-being of people and the preserva-tion of natural resources.

We strive to promote:

• Innovative programs to increase female education.

• Healthcare for women and children.

• Environmental preservation.

• Human resource development and community building.

• Quality education for rural and underprivileged children.

ETHOS

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Are localized and initiate responses to the changing cultural, economic and political realities of • the populations we serve.

Collaborate with experts in health and education from governments and NGOs.• Embody a variety of academic qualifications, life experiences, linguistic skills, cultural •

backgrounds, and diverse points of view.Are comprised of teachers, social researchers, development workers, and community leaders•

along with administrators and management professionals.

The provision of resources for program implementation.• Assistance with project conception and design uniquely suited to the target population.• Monitoring and final evaluation according to project goals.• Sharing best practice models based on experience and research.•

Our parent-affiliate relationship involves:

Barakat’s Affiliates:

HOWWE

WORK

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“We led a good life in Afghanistan. Due to fighting and con-flicts in Kabul we came to Pakistan. My father died in Paki-stan….In future I would like to be a doctor. I will participate in development of my country and serve people. My prayer is that God will bring peace in our country.”

Roya (F), 6th Grade

Evening Class at Ersari Elementary School Attock, Punjab, Pakistan

CHANGING LIVES

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“My aim for future is that I want to become an engineer. Afghanistan has been suf-fering a lot of damages in every field due to war destruction. Therefore, I would like to obtain the skill in this field to help in the reconstruction of my suffering country.”

Abdul Wahi (M), 3rd Grade

Mullah Kareem Nazar SchoolFaryab Province, Afghanistan

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I n d i a

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WHERE WE

WORK

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1988•Barakat co-founders Chris Walter and Habibullah Karimi meet in Pakistan. Together, they build a carpet manufacturing operation that becomes the primary source of funding for Barakat from 1995-2007.

1995-2001 •Four schools are opened in Haripur, NWFP and Attock, Punjab in Pakistan.

1999 •Barakat Inc. is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States.

2002 •Two schools are opened and the Women’s Empowerment Program is started in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh in India.

•Evening classes are introduced at the Barakat Elementary School in Pakistan, resulting in a 40% increase in female attendance.

2003 •Seven literacy courses are started, serving 147 students in Faryab province in Afghanistan.

•Evening classes are introduced at the Ersari Elementary School in Pakistan, resulting in a 126% increase in female attendance.

2004 •Evening classes are introduced in Barakat Pri-mary School in Pakistan, resulting in a 371% in-crease in female attendance.

•Twenty-two literacy courses are started, serving 476 students in Jowzjan and Faryab provinces in Afghanistan.

•One school is opened in Aqcha, Jowzjan in Af-ghanistan.

2005 •Sixteen literacy courses are started, serving 408 stu-dents in Jowzjan, Faryab and Kabul provinces in Af-ghanistan.

•One school is opened in Andkhoy, Faryab Province in Afghanistan.

2006 •Twenty-four literacy courses are started, serving 697 students in Jowzjan and Faryab provinces in Afghanistan.

2007 •Nineteen literacy courses are started, serving 502 students in Jowzjan and Faryab provinces in Afghanistan.

•Monthly doctor’s visits for children and wom-en are introduced at the Mullah Kareem Nazar School in Afghanistan. For many this is the first time they have ever been examined by a doc-tor.

•Barakat hires two full-time US-based staff members for program planning, awareness and fundraising to ensure Barakat’s sustainability.

2008 •Twenty-seven literacy courses are started, serving 637 students in Jowzjan and Faryab provinces in Afghanistan.

•An anti-smoking campaign targeting girls and women is launched for all schools and literacy courses in Afghanistan.

•A library is constructed with aid from The Asia Foundation at Ersari Elementary in Pakistan.

•The Scholarship Program for Girls’ Continu-ing Education is started in Afghanistan.

•Teacher Training for Human Rights, funded by UUSC, is implemented in Afghanistan.

BARAKATTIMELINE

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With the fall of the Taliban in 2001 Afghan refugees in Pakistan began their journey back to shattered villages and an uncertain future. Uprooted and jobless, many of these refugees returned to Faryab and Jowzjan provinces in Afghanistan where they joined the local population and lived in dismal conditions that featured crumbling structures, no schools, and no health or medical care.

With the goal of helping repatriated refugees rebuild their lives and reconstruct com-munities for local people, Barakat Afghanistan began opening schools and literacy programs thoughout these north-western provinces in 2002. In response to local re-quests, several programs have been added. Barakat now provides free health services in its schools, scholarships for girls to attend high school, and teacher-training for inexperienced but eager teachers.

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White-bearded, with twinkling blue eyes, Wakil Agha, Barakat Afghanistan’s Country Director, reminisces.

“Working with Barakat some experiences stand out, for they brought with them calm and happiness to me. When I saw the happy faces of the children staring at their new school, I was filled with joy. Where earlier they had been studying in a mosque, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, with no windows to let out the sweltering heat now they saw the clean and modern school with desks and chairs ready for them to take over. There was so much excite-ment among the little ones, and such cause for celebration!”

It has been four years since Wakil Agha started working for Barakat. Under his manage-ment two schools have been constructed and opened, the number of literacy courses for girls and women have increased every year, health programs for school children have been start-ed, and a scholarship program for girls continuing education has been established. When asked about the future of Barakat’s work, he says unhesitatingly, “With more funds we can expand our work as much as we want.”

Wakil Agha recalls his first visit to Kabul from his small Turkmen village near the north-western frontier of Afghanistan. “The year was 1963 and I was leaving my family, my tribe of Tekke Turkmen to go to school.” His father, a primary school teacher for 35 years, had instilled the value of education in his children, and Abdul Wakil went on to college, finally joining the Afghan Army as an officer.

Life was good for Wakil Agha at that time. It was the late 1970s, and Kabul was a city at peace. He and his young wife would go to the cinema hall – he in a blazer and pants, and she in a knee-length dress with her hair uncovered. He says, “The situation was very good and peaceful. There was freedom. People traveled everywhere by car without any fear. Tourists came from all countries and stayed in any part of Afghanistan.”

All this unraveled in the ensuing decades, which saw the end of Zaher Shah’s reign, the Russian invasion and the subsequent backlash from the mujahiddin, who later became the Taliban. By 1992 the country was in civil war.

renewing freedoms in afghanistanThe head of Barakat Afghanistan shares his vision for the future of his country

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In 1994, like millions of his countrymen, Wakil Agha and his family crossed the border into Pakistan to begin life again as a refugee.

He remembers, “Even the language was new. I and my three older sons had to take on jobs as daily wage laborers on construction sites. From the mon-ey we saved, we bought a carpet loom, and then all of us in the family – men, boys, girls and women – began weaving carpets,” traditionally a female activ-ity amongst the Turkmen. “Only the youngest chil-dren were able to go to Barakat’s Ersari Elementary School, the only NGO offering free education to Af-ghan refugees in the city.”

Returning to Afghanistan in 2001, the family settled in Kabul. Wakil Agha started working for Ba-rakat Afghanistan. He now travels regularly to proj-ect sites where his presence has earned respect and acceptance for Barakat’s work.

Never one for double standards, all of Wakil Agha’s daughters attend school in Kabul. He has lit-tle doubt that equality of men and women is possible in Afghanistan but cautions that “women must first understand their own rights and gain some poten-tial for financial independence. Only then will they be taken more seriously as individuals with some power.”

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Literacy Program Girls

Literacy Program Boys

Besh Kapa Surkh School GirlsMullah Kareem Nazar School Girls

Mullah Kareem Nazar School Boys Besh Kapa Surkh School Boys

PROGRAMS IN AFGHANIS TAN

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Barakat Pakistan’s work be-gan in 1994 when it opened its first school for Afghan refugee children. Habibullah Karimi, Barakat’s co-found-er and himself a refugee in Pakistan at the time, was in-strumental in mobilizing the community to participate in the venture.

When Barakat opened its first schools in Pakistan many parents were reluctant to send their daughters to school. Thanks to the tireless effort and dedication of our local staff this has changed. Hundreds of girls who would otherwise be stuck at home are now going to school.

Many women who graduated from these schools have gone on to become teachers in Barakat schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. To young girls who are just begin-ning their education these girls and women have become role models, demonstrating what women can achieve when they are given the opportunity to learn.

PAKISTAN

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PAKISTAN

Dressed in a salwar kameez and a hijab that covers her head, 16-year-old Raheema’s attentive dark eyes follow the teacher’s hand as it moves from right to left, tracing the cursive Dari script on the blackboard. It is late after-noon and Raheema has spent the day weaving carpets. For the next three hours she joins 70 other girls at Barakat’s eve-ning schools – her only chance to be educated.

Raheema, a Turkmen refugee from Afghanistan, migrated to Attock, Pakistan in 1998. “We migrated because there was war and Taliban rule, and the Taliban did not allow education, especially for girls.” In Attock, their only source of income was carpet weaving. Raheema says, “We could arrange the needs of life like shelter, food and cloth-ing, but we had no money for education.”

“When Barakat Elementary School was opened, my brothers took admission as they don’t charge at that school.” Raheema wasn’t allowed to go. Turkmen society emphasiz-es early marriages and frowns upon female education. Schooling lowers a girl’s marriage prospects.

In 2003 Raheema’s story took a different turn. “In the morning I was helping my mother [with] household work. Two teachers from Barakat Elementary School came to our home to convince my parents to send me and my sisters to school in the evening.” The teachers told the parents that the evening hours would leave the mornings free for the girls to work at home. This minimized opposition from parents who would otherwise lose income from their daughters’ carpet weaving and household chores. Parents were also informed that the classes were free and were being run by female teachers. With their concerns allayed, families relented and began granting their daughters’ wishes to go to school.

In class Raheema is confident and extroverted, her hand shoots up immediately in response to the teacher’s questions. She says, “My dream to get education came true when I joined the school. I am getting free education here and there is lot of change in my personality due to this facility.”

Raheema is aware both of the privilege and the limitations of her position. She sounds wise beyond her years when she says, “My parents will never allow me to have higher education but I’ve gained a great deal of knowledge and confidence from school, and this is all due to my teachers and Barakat. My routine is very tough as I start weaving carpets early in the morning till it is school time. I feel very tired at night but I am glad that I am not an ignorant person. I want to be a model for other Afghan girls who are mostly kept uneducated.”

making education attainable A female student in Pakistan talks about a dream come true... going to school

PAKISTAN

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Ersari Elementary School Girls

Ersari Elementary School Boys

Barakat Elementary School Girls

Barakat Elementary School Boys

Barakat Primary School Girls

Barakat Primary School Boys

PROGRAMS IN PAKIS TAN

PAKISTAN

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Ersari Elementary School Girls

Ersari Elementary School Boys

Barakat Elementary School Girls

Barakat Elementary School Boys

Barakat Primary School Girls

Barakat Primary School Boys

I NDIA

Barakat’s involvement in India is concentrated in Sant Ravidas Nagar Bhadohi district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Barakat’s work in this area has grown organically and it is con-sciously directed towards the poor who may otherwise choose to send their children to work, for lack of a free, quality educational alternative. In India Barakat’s educational work for women and children is a response to the demand of eager but financially disadvantaged parents for a free, quality education for their children. Not only does it allow them to send their children to school, it also provides them with a constructive alternative to putting their child to work on the carpets that are manufactured in the area.

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Care & Fair Barakat School Girls

Women’s Empowerment Program GirlsBarakat Qazipur School Girls

Barakat Qazipur School Boys

PROGRAMS IN INDIA

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I NDIA

The first thing that strikes you about Bhadohi is the abundance of carpets – carpets laid out in the open, people cycling with huge carpets balanced precariously, signs proclaiming the names of carpet companies. The next thing that grabs your attention are the high-walled, gigantic mansions of wealthy carpet exporters.

But take a turn into one of the narrow alleyways that abound in the city, and you’ll enter a rabbit warren of tiny houses. This is where the majority of the 172,000 people in the city live – in dingy, overpopulated communities where large families and small living spaces are the norm. Where children join their fathers in their family occupation to feed the many mouths. Where the poor are trapped in cycles of inter-generational poverty and see no way out except for an education that would allow their children to chart a different course.

One such narrow alleyway houses the colony of Qazipur, home to Barakat’s Qaizpur School. This school provides 214 students from poor families with a free, quality educa-tion. Their school building nears completion and the 2009-10 academic session will be held in their own, new school. “Of course, we can walk extra half hour to the new school,” a student informed me confidently, on my last monitoring trip to Bhadohi in 2008, when I asked whether the extra walk would deter him.

With the many challenges the children face at home in terms of space, Barakat aims to provide them with a spacious learning environment. Barakat school students come from joint families – grandparents, cousins, aunts-uncles, parents live together, with as many as 36 people in 5-6 room houses. Whenever I ask students how they study after returning home, they assure me that they do study. They go on the roof and study until it gets dark. Then they light the lantern and study in one of these packed rooms.

Teachers share this sense of responsibility and want to do as much as they can to reach out to parents and children. At the PTA meeting, one mother of a 4th grader complains, “She works hard, but she just doesn’t get it. She takes so long to understand anything.” Teachers recognize that as children of illiterate parents, few children get help with their studies at home.

Barakat schools in Bhadohi strive to provide an education to populations with the greatest need. We aim to create a bridge that will, hopefully, put children on a path to break the dynastic cycle of poverty and reduce the distance between the haves and the have-nots in a carpet producing community. A community where there is practically no physical separation between rich and poor, and yet they stand across seemingly insur-mountable barriers.

FINDING ROOM FOR EDUCATION Barakat’s US Program Director describes her impressions

of the challenges to education in Bhadohi, India

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Contributions

Gifts

Grants

In-Kind Gifts & Services

Investment Income

Total revenue, gains and other support

950,000

13,137

193,000

—

33,014

1,189,151

213,465

18,031

166,008

30,645

29,214

457,363

FINANCIALS TATEMENTS

Revenue, Gains and Other Support

2008 2007

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Total Programming Services 348,255 357,120

Schools and Literacy Programs 203,441

Other Educational Projects 21,760

Health Projects 37,500

Habitat Projects 7,500

Emergency Relief —

Program Management 23,750

Program Support 54,304

211,200

30,520

45,400

65,000

5,000

—

—

Management and General

Fundraising

45,367

—

45,367

81,455

7,277

88,732

SUPPORTING SERVICES

PROGRAMMING SERVICES

Total Supporting Services

TOTAL EXPENSES 436,987 402,487

Change in net assets 20,376 786,664

Net assets at beginning of year 1,246,092 459,428

Net Assets at End of Year 1,266,468 1,246,092

2008 2007 NET ASSETS

EXPENSES 2008 2007

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ProgramSupport15.6%

USES OF FUNDS 2008

Management & General 18.6% Program Services

79.7%Fundraising

1.7%

PROGRAM SERVICES 2008

schools and literacy programs58.4%

other educational projects6.2%

healthprojects10.8%

program management6.8%

habitatprojects2.2%

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editorial —

design — copyright —

Arti PandeyDamon Luloff

Bijoyeta DasBarakat