About MSWS
MSWS is a non-governmental not for profit, independent organization with a group of social activists. It was registered in 1974 under the Registration of Social Welfare Act. 1961. In the beginning, it envisioned to alleviate the social ills of the downtrodden communities of Muzaffarabad located in suburban area of District Multan. The organization was formed for the objective to provide services regarding education, health and awareness to the community. Initially the organization started providing the medical facilities to the community of Muzaffarabad. Later the organization took measures to establish a Middle school for boys and girls both. Al-Hussain Public School is now upgraded to Higher Secondary School and is now owned by the Punjab Government yet the Dispensary made then, is providing services to neglected community of the area.
MSWS provided awareness for the promotion of human rights especially women and child rights through seminars, dialogues, training workshops and camps. Since then the organization is continuously working to achieve its goals and objectives successfully.
With the passage of time MSWS has widened its work from Muzaffarabad to south Punjab and then further to other areas of the country i.e. Jhang, D.G.Khan, Rajanpur, Multan, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, Okara, Bahawalpur and Lodhran. Karachi.
Vision
A Justice, passive and wealthy society where opportunities are ensured to all without any discrimination and inequality
Mission
Our mission is to unlock the potential of underprivileged, excluded and marginalized section of society for social and economic empowerment through fostering skills, development programs and Right based advocacy.
- To support initiatives for sustainable community-based gender sensitive development with particular focused on Health, Education, Humanitarian response, women and Youth development.
- Build human capital in order to provide and promote fundamental rights for all human in general and women in particular.
- Alleviation of extreme poverty through creating livelihood opportunities and skill development initiatives.
- To undertake policy level research, advocacy and lobbing on local, national, regional and international level issues
- To support the culture and historical folk of the area remain intact.
- Mobilization and organization of marginalized communities
- Capacity building
- Sensitization and awareness raising
- Conducting grassroots level research
- Advocacy, lobbying and networking;
- Provision of essential services particularly in health, education, water sanitation and human rights
- Linkages development; and
- Information dissemination
- Participatory and Target Group focused
- Bottom Up planning and execution
- Social Inclusion (gender sensitive and minority inclusion); and
- Trust on local knowledge, conventional wisdom and indigenous skills
- Use of interactive theatre, performing arts as mobilization tool for awareness.
- Opportunities for all without any discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, creed color, language and gender
- Peace and tolerance
- Believing and respect for diverse culture, values and beliefs
- Promotion of democratic values
- Sharing of information at all level
- Accountably and Transparency
- Confidentiality
- Mutual respect and partnership with the development humanitarian actors
Words from Executive Director
Mr. Zafar Iqbal Shaheen
Executive Driector
Muzaffarabad Social Welfare Society is one of the oldest social development organization in the area and after doing great jobs in its overall period is still working for a global peace and unity.As it is evident through the name of the organization that it is based at (but not restricted to) Muzaffarabad (South Punjab), promoting and defending the rights of people without any discrimination. MSWS has been just, with whatever measures have been taken for the empowerment of people of Muzaffarabad in all walks of life. Whether it was making them economically stable or was it to provide them justice against any sort of violence of their rights. Whether it was the disaster when especially women are more vulnerable or if it was to provide them skill to earn a decent living. MSWS enabled girls to get education and become part of country’s progress. MSWS strived to get opportunities and engaged the people of the area to benefit from them. The issue which is seen the hurdle towards the promotion of the organization is its improper visibility among the social sector. In the current scenario MSWS is the best organization of south Punjab which has the capacity and ability to complete any development task for the social development. Whereas, it is also evident that MSWS has the capacity to do the social work, provide awareness, organize events with massive participation of the community, engage men and women equally which none other organization has the courage for.
MSWS has the specialized team to perform theatrical performances whether interactive or street theatre. The Theatre team of MSWS. The MSWS has been performing in various villages/towns of Southern Punjab in collaboration with various national and international organizations, bringing forth the message to everyone how vulnerable are the women, children and young people from being abused and exploited, and how the society can respond to the call for action to address the problem. Theater can play an important role in the process of awareness and restoration. It can be a transformative experience, both for those, on stage and in the audience. MSWS is working to develop community theater arts as an effective advocacy tool in educating the public about the various social issues and campaigns.
The MSWS in this year staged 262 theatrical performances on different issues like women violence, voter mobilization, health & hygiene, good governance, human rights, social& interfaith harmony, disaster risk reduction, community-based risk management and minorities’ issues. These performances were held mostly in southern Punjab including a few performances in Islamabad, Lahore, interior Sindh and Karachi.
- Working in development Sector since 2010
- Field Operations, Coordination and Communication
- Advocacy and Social Mobilization
- Linkages Development
- Disaster Management, Health Initiatives
- Trainer Skill Development
- Defining strategy
- Leading, coordinating and planning
- Developing policy and collective campaigning plans
- Developing initiatives
- Working in Social Sector Since 1999
- Human Rights Defender
- Report Writing, Proposal Writing, IEC Material Creation
- Digital Graphics and Photography, Video and Audio Editing
- 2-D & 3-D Animation