Sabah Pakistan

SABAH, the SAARC Business Association for Home-based women workers, is a pioneering organisation for
women’s development and preserving the traditional techniques of Pakistani artisans. SABAH refers it its
home-based workers as ‘members’; these are primarily female artisans from across Pakistan, who use their
skills to create marketable fashion, clothing and home accessory items for the Pakistani

and international
markets. To this end, SABAH hopes to work with members of Pakistan’s textile and fashion industries to
promote the growth of the traditional techniques used by artisans, making them a productive part of a
growing global industry in which Pakistan will play a major role. SABAH was founded as a SAARC organisation after the Independent South Asia Commission on Poverty
Alleviation (ISACPA) was established to address poverty-related issues and suggest strategies for poverty
alleviation. Subsequently, the SAARC Development Fund was launched to meet these objectives. In line
with the SAARC Millennium Development Goals, the Self Employed Women’s Association of India was
assigned the mission of empowering women in the region through home-based businesses and Trade
Facilitation Centres. This was the cornerstone of the SABAH organisation, as the first outcome of a program
to reach out to women and bring them into the work force as part of a home-based workers initiative. SABAH is now a regional entity that provides livelihoods to women across South Asia. SABAH Pakistan was formally launched on November 5th, 2009. At that time, there were 160 female homebased
artisan members, hailing mostly from the rural areas of the Hazara division in North West Pakistan. Since then, SABAH has grown to over 600 members, many of whom had no market access for their skills or
knew the full value of what they produced. There are 100 million home-based workers around the world, around half of them in South Asia. Of these
80% are women. That puts the number of home-based women workers in South Asia in the region of 40-45
million. These women represent a significant part of the South Asian economy and are integral to the
survival of their communities, families and of the traditional skills they use, which are becoming rarer dayby-
day. As an informal part of the economy, these workers are often marginalised and have limited access
to markets and opportunities. SABAH focuses on strengthening the livelihood opportunities of its homebased
member workers through awareness, capacity building, creating business opportunities and training. SABAH organises and helps develop marketable products by its members and provides the support system
required for them to use their skills and resources to the fullest, enriching their lives and the lives of
consumers. The various SABAHs around South Asia share a dual marketing strategy. Each individual SABAH (Pakistan,
Nepal etc.) develops market access individually for its specific country, but as part of a broader collective
strategy that uses the SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) Trade Facilitation Services to develop
product lines and worker guidelines. This regional approach also facilitates trade between the countries that
are SAARC members, promoting cooperation, investment and better relations between them.