corporate social responsibility

tech karo – bringing tech skills to the youth in pakistan

In 2019, Engro Vopak, Engro Foundation and We Connect partnered with Circle Women’s Association to develop the Tech Karo program. Over the year, the program successfully completed three technological training programs, teaching tech and life skills to 560 young girls and boys from underserved communities (65% female) and placing over 50% of the graduates in jobs and internships to enable them to increase their livelihood.

Tech Karo specifically targets the lack of female representation and aims to create a pipeline of female talent in the field of technology. By 2043, at the current trend less than 1% of the global tech workforce will comprise female professionals. In Pakistan, women represent only 14% of the IT workforce and 13% of IT managers (P@SHA, 2012). To address these challenges, Tech Karo has been running technological training for young girls from underserved communities.

In 2019, Tech Karo organized two training programs, one in Web Development at the Usman Institute of Technology (UIT) and the other in Digital Marketing at the Lyari Girls’ Cafe.

100 students were enrolled in the Web development course in March 2019 and 74 students successfully graduated from the course in November. The course included three key components: teaching front-end web development as well as advanced topics, life skills sessions, and bringing mentors from the industry to increase students’ exposure and enable them to learn from experts.

In 2022, E-Commerce and Freelancing courses have been introduced into the program. 105 students have been enrolled in these courses and 92 have been successful graduated.

DLP Digital literacy program for women and Coding for youth were introduce in Tech Karo in 2022 to empower women and provide skills to youth.

restoration of mangrove ecosystem – towards a sustainable coastal belt in pakistan

Engro Elengy partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in October 2018 for the purpose of the Restoration of Mangroves Ecosystem. This initiative follows an earlier ongoing initiative IUCN launched with Engro Elengy in 2016 to safeguard the environment along Karachi’s coastal areas.

This Partnership with Engro Elengy aims to take this initiative further: it aims not only at conservation of mangrove forests, but also raises awareness among coastal communities and actively engage them in the maintenance and sustainable management of these forests in the long run.

Under the project 500 Hectares of plantation has been successfully completed in 2021. The project has also established container plants and bedded nurseries of the selected species of mangroves and made efforts in the maintenance of our previous mangrove’s plantation. In addition, the Mangrove Project has invested in training the local communities in natural resource management.

sustainable fisheries entrepreneurship program – empowering coastal communities

Engro Vopak partnered with WWF Pakistan partnered to implement the project titled Sustainable Fisheries Entrepreneurship Program – a citizen-based approach to saving Pakistan’s unique marine environment. Phase 1 of the project began in July 2016 and ended in December 2018. In light of the success achieved under the first phase, Engro Vopak agreed to continue the project for another phase i.e. Phase II starting in January 2019 and in December 2021.

Phase II of the project is being implemented in the two target Union Councils of Rehri and Ibrahim Hyderi in Karachi. The project intends to partner with the existing and new fisher groups, Sindh and Marine fisheries departments and other relevant government departments, and the private sector.

SFEP Phase II aims to address some of the key contributors to the problems of the marine and coastal ecosystems. The project aims to support and promote improved fisheries management in 2 UCs of Karachi, by reforming fisheries governance and management to combat illegal fishing and reduce pressure on marine ecosystems through increased awareness. The Phase-II main course of action is largely the combined reduction in post-harvest losses; significant decrease in use of illegal gear and unabated fishing effort thus sensitizing fishermen to avoid fishing down the food web.

Thus far, the project has successfully trained 280 members of the fisher community. Delivered trainings on fishing practices related to concepts of longline, improving target catch, reducing bycatch, plastic waste minimization and improved storage. 3 boat owners have also received a longline set with 200 circle hooks. Our team has also distributed 190 iceboxes of 70 litre capacity and 50 toolkits in the community to ensure sustainable fishing practices