ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: TAF FOUNDATION 

TAF Foundation (TAFF) was established in 2010 as a charitable organization for the less privileged. In 2015, the Foundation was restructured into a broader philanthropic organization focused on long-term socio-economic development initiatives. Renamed as the TAF Foundation, the organization aligned its mandate to work in the fields of Education, Health, and Social Consciousness. It therefore now concentrates on conceptualizing, planning and executing sustainable programmes which help to create upward social and economic mobility of the less privileged and marginalized individuals in society.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE (VTI): PROJECT BACKGROUND

A key long-term and scalable project of the TAF Foundation is the establishment of a demand-driven Vocational Training Institute (VTI) for the structured skills development of less privileged women, with the aim of producing a much-needed skilled workforce and creating sustainable livelihoods.

Research conducted by TAFF revealed that there is a significant shortage of a qualified workforce to meet the burgeoning demand of higher income bracket households for various categories of domestic help, and also the demand of service sector businesses for well-trained female staff. This supply gap at the domestic help level especially is partly being met by importing domestic help from other countries like Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This is not the most efficient solution as effectively trained and placed, skilled Pakistani women can meet the demand of the domestic help industry

TAFF-VTI identified this unmet need in the employment market that is most typically occupied by women and developed a ‘first of its kind’  intensive training programme to essentially institutionalize the domestic help industry in Pakistan.

THE VTI PLAN

The TAFF VTI model is built around three tiers – Recruitment, Training and Placement. Thus the VTI’s objective is not simply to provide training, but also to ensure placement of graduates.

The VTI graduates after training are anticipated to be placed into employment with premium remuneration, i.e., PKR 25,000 to 35,000 per month, compared to their current earning potential of PKR 8,000 to 15,000.  Further, the women will be contracted employees of households, with contracts managed by the VTI’s Career Placement Center, shifting the paradigm for domestic help in Pakistan.

A Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO), including a member representative from each Sponsoring Organization, will be in place to ensure the integrity of the VTI standard with regards to maintaining the reputational value of the individual partners and the Institution.

RECRUITMENT: VTI is working with urban-area, low-income household women, between the ages of 18 and 45. Through a well-defined process of sourcing and recruitment, women are identified for the training programme, based on their existing skill sets, education and socio-economic background.  Partnerships have been established with organizations like Aurat Foundation, HANDS and others whose databases are being used to recruit women from various low-income neighbourhoods of Karachi

TRAINING: Training at TAFF-VTI primarily comprises of 5 key components with reference to the Cooking & Housekeeping program. These are:

• Cooking /
• Housekeeping
• Legal Empowerment
• Financial Empowerment
• Professionalism, Ethics & Value Systems

Students go through a rigorous training under the leadership of professionally trained academic staff.

Additionally, students are delivered lectures on legal empowerment where they are given awareness regarding important topics like fundamental rights and contractual rights in light of both the country’s constitution and Islamic jurisdiction.

Through the financial empowerment subject, students are provided basic financial literacy in terms of saving techniques, the importance of having a bank account, creating and managing household budgets etc.

Students are also provided training on various aspects of behaviour & etiquettes, communication skills, self-management and values of work.

PLACEMENT: TAFF-VTI aims to place graduates in safe and professional households. The mechanism set in place is to ensure the safety of the graduates being placed in different households. It is also to ensure the rights and responsibilities of both parties and a means of recourse for both the domestic help and the employer. This aspect is currently non-existent in today’s domestic help sector in Pakistan.

TAFF graduates’ monthly salaries are set between PKR 25,000 and 35,000 for services that the employer requires. Trainees achieving less than ‘satisfactory’ grade have to leave the programme, in order to maintain a high-quality level of graduates. All graduates with a minimum of 80% grade and above are placed into the workforce through TAFFs’ Career Placement Centre

PROJECT STATUS: This is the very first of its kind initiative in Pakistan where reputable companies, institutions, foundations, and even a law firm and a bank have come on board as partners and supporters.

Not only is a dire need for well-groomed and well-trained domestic help being met, the VTI initiative is changing lives for marginalized women, by creating a secure livelihood for them, and even more importantly, by promoting confidence in themselves, self-respect of family and friends, and dignity in society.

As the project gains attention, corporates and institutions from around Pakistan have identified it as an opportunity to partner with TAFF for, ‘one of the most innovative integrated social development projects in the country’.

To learn more about TAFF-VTI, please visit: http://www.taffoundation.org/projects/vocational-training-institute/