Vision, Mission and Values of Sindh Development Institute

Vision
(a) A democratic, socially just and prosperous Sindhi community
(b) Guided by full participation by community members in all parts of the world,
(c) Realization of full potential of its people and their aspirations for full, sustainable and self reliant development

Mission

Cooperation with, and encouragement and assistence to all organizations and individuals who are working towards:
(a) Accelerated economic and political development of Sindh
(b) Assistance to poor and disadvantaged to achieve their goals for development.

Focus will be on all aspects of human development- political participation, education, business and employment generation, improved health.

Initially Sindh Development Institute will not initiate own projects but will focuss on coperation with and assistence to existing organizations who aim to advance all or parts of our Mission.

Values
· We believe in equity with our development partners in Sindh, other parts of Pakistan and all other parts of the world. In this context, we shall cooperate with like minded political activists, civil servants, NGOs, charitable organizations
· We encourage wide ownership of our vision and mission.
· Our vision and mission must be achieved through productive work, mutual trust, honesty, professionalism and transparency.
· We must have clear understanding of roles and responsibilities, which include accountability and effective participation.
· We now that our community is weak and requires development. We believe that everyone should achieve their basic rights and discharge their obligations.

Developmet- Grameen Bank Style

The 16 decisions of Grameen Bank
We shall follow and advance the four principles of Grameen Bank --- Discipline, Unity, Courage and Hard work – in all walks of our lives.

Prosperity we shall bring to our families.

We shall not live in dilapidated houses. We shall repair our houses and work towards constructing new houses at the earliest.

We shall grow vegetables all the year round. We shall eat plenty of them and sell the surplus.

During the plantation seasons, we shall plant as many seedlings as possible.

We shall plan to keep our families small. We shall minimize our expenditures. We shall look after our health.

We shall educate our children and ensure that they can earn to pay for their education.

We shall always keep our children and the environment clean.

We shall build and use pit-latrines.

We shall drink water from tubewells. If it is not available, we shall boil water or use alum.

We shall not take any dowry at our sons' weddings, neither shall we give any dowry at our daughters wedding. We shall keep our centre free from the curse of dowry. We shall not practice child marriage.

We shall not inflict any injustice on anyone, neither shall we allow anyone to do so.

We shall collectively undertake bigger investments for higher incomes.

We shall always be ready to help each other. If anyone is in difficulty, we shall all help him or her.

If we come to know of any breach of discipline in any centre, we shall all go there and help restore discipline.

We shall take part in all social activities collectively.

Best Regards,
Azhar Ali Hullio

Be Productive

Dear Naeem Sheikh Saheb
Thanks for sharing your OPINION. You have raised many important points. To me, the key point is that we all must be productive. Economic productivity is the most important need of the times. Of course, only a small minority can go abroad. A vast majority has to stay and be productive in sindh.
It is unfortunately true that many of our people cannot find "suitable opportunity". Accordingly, we spend our time in tea shops and go from door to door in search of sufarish for that suitable but elusive opportunity.
In the West, children start working and producing early. You will find ten year old children distributing newspapwers in neighborhoods. You will find fifteen year olds working in fast food restauranrs such as KFC or McDonald. You will find college students doing free internships to gain experience. In the West most find suitable jobs after completing college education. However, you will also find many graduates and even post graduates driving taxis in New York and Washington, because they did not find suitable jobs in their fields.
The bottom line for economic advancement is WORK and PRODUCTIVITY. Any thing is better than doing nothing. We must find something productive to do at every age. If we cannot find paying job, let us keep doing free internship or volunteer work in own field, until we do. Job should not be our only goal. Starting a shop-- big or small is a practical option too.Your input and help towards development of Sindh is always welcome.
Ali Nawaz Memon
Sindh Development Institute
7204 Antares Drive
Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA 20879
http://sindhdevelopmentinstitute.blogspot.com/
sindhhouse@hotmail.com

From: "naeem sheikh" spnaeemsheikh@hotmail.com
Reply- To: educatesindh@googlegroups.comTo: educatesindh@googlegroups.comSubject: [EducateSindh] OPINIONDate: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:31:01 +0500
Dear All,
AoA
...for last couple of months, i am the silent reader of the messages and icontributed only once, when i was really impressed by the response made bythe group on call of a sister Bakhtawar. For last couple of weeks whenever iopen my mail box i found or u may say that i felt that the only task of ouryoung sindhi brothers is to go abroad. Most of the mails describe theopportunities of scholarships available from different corners and allfriends while sharing mails with someone living outside Pakistan only seektheir help so that they should also be fetched abroad. I dont find itlogical because need of the day is not to go abroad and remain therecontributing nothing practical to Sindh or Sindhi people. Improvement ineducation is no doubt an aspect to create awareness but how can we condemnand wash out the so called "KUTCHERIES" our youth is celebrating at theroadside hotels on a cup of tea. Why Industrialization is not encouraged.For how long we condemn others for our wrongdoings. Why the major chunk ofour population is living below poverty line. Why are we looking towards someof the major cities around to declare that we are intellectuals and todeclare that look a sindhi is around. When will we be out of thesecomplexes. Why we are not encouraging our brothers to contribute towardseconomic activity in the area they belong. For how long we will be in theso-called pride of being Super human beings by wearing well ironed wellstarched cotton shalwar suits. why is it shameful for us to share theresponsibilities of our fathers. I believe awakening and awareness is farmore needed than education and that is my firm belief. Economic activity isfar more needed than the brain-drain. Comments are always welcome.
NAEEM