How Saylani Ehsaas Program Is Fighting Hunger and Homelessness in Pakistan

There is still a significant problem with homelessness, starvation, and poverty in Pakistan. Millions of people have trouble obtaining food, shelter, and clothing, even though this is a very resourceful country. The Global Hunger Index has long warned that Pakistan is a nation where people might go hungry. Both urban and rural regions of Pakistan are affected by this issue. Urbanization, inflation, and unemployment are among the factors contributing to the rise in homelessness in Pakistan, particularly in major cities.

The Saylani Ehsaas Program was established to combat homelessness and hunger by the renowned non-governmental organization Saylani Welfare International Trust (SWIT) of Pakistan. Based on the government's Ehsaas model, the program helps thousands of low-income individuals every day with food, housing, and financial assistance. Two healthy meals a day are a struggle for millions of Pakistanis who live below the poverty line. Day laborers, people experiencing homelessness, and those in vulnerable situations, such as widows, orphans, and migrants, are the focus of the initiative. Nutritionists specially design the meal menu to provide these people with the correct nutritional value, and meals are freshly cooked and served.

As part of its mission to "Serve Humanity Without Discrimination," SWIT established many social welfare initiatives, including the Saylani Ehsaas Aid Program. The Saylani initiative provides food assistance, housing, and mobile meal delivery networks to address homelessness and hunger. It runs independently, borrowing ideas from the government's Ehsaas framework. Thousands of individuals who would otherwise go hungry or sleep on the streets have found the initiative to be a lifeline as it has progressed. Saylani has created these programs with a focus on the underprivileged, using a combination of conventional and modern approaches.

Saylani started as a modest Karachi humanitarian group in 1999, spearheaded by spiritual scholar Maulana Bashir Farooq Qadri. It started as a food bank but has since expanded into several areas, including vocational training, medical care, schooling, microfinance, and disaster assistance.

Hundreds of thousands of people are fed every month via Saylani's Dastarkhwan (Saylani Ehsaas free meals service), which is especially famous. Echoing the government's Ehsaas poverty reduction strategy, the Saylani Ehsaas Program was established to formalize and extend food and shelter programs (panah gah support) within a systematic framework, building on this basis.

• For those on a daily salary, those on the go, students from low-income families, and people experiencing homelessness, there are programs like Saylani Ehsaas Free Meals - Langar Khana that provide free, clean meals twice a day.

• Temporary shelters that provide safe havens, free meals, and basic sanitary services are run by Panah Gah Support.

• Mobile food vans and distribution teams provide ready-to-eat meals straight to the doorsteps of the hungry via Koi Bhoka Na Soye Ga - No One Sleeps Hungry.
• The government and mobile units worked together during COVID-19 to provide daily wage workers with healthy meals twice a day while they were under lockdown.
• To end hunger and food insecurity; to provide social safety nets to vulnerable populations to provide economic possibilities; to invest in human development; and to use digital technology for transparency and efficiency in service delivery. These are the broader goals of poverty alleviation.

• Hunger Reduction: Thousands of meals are distributed every day, significantly lowering rates of food insecurity in both urban and rural regions.

• Helping the Homeless: Those in need of a safe place to sleep are provided with it by Panah Gaah shelters.

• Quick Emergence Response: Saylani has shown it can quickly scale up its services in times of crisis, which is great for emergency response.

• Community Empowerment: Families may break the cycle of poverty by allocating limited resources to healthcare and education if food and shelter are less of a burden.

• During the COVID-19 lockdowns, a daily wage worker in Karachi depends on food provided by Langar on Wheels.
• To keep widows' children from dropping out of school, they provide them with monthly ration packets.
• Outside the numbers, the program makes a difference in the lives of homeless workers in Panah Gaah shelters.

A strong demonstration of how non-governmental organizations in Pakistan may combat homelessness and hunger is the Saylani Ehsaas Program. Free meals provided by Saylani Ehsaas, assistance from Panah Gaah, and a program called Koi Bhoka Na Soye Ga are the three main components of Pakistan's Saylani Ehsaas Program, which works to end homelessness and hunger. As a result, public-private partnerships are crucial for social welfare in times of crisis like COVID-19, and they guarantee that disadvantaged groups are not left behind. In addition to providing food and shelter, the initiative helps those in need, protects those who are most vulnerable, and fosters a warmer and accepting Pakistan.