After the Flood in Pakistan 38 Berlin Geographical Papers - Freie ...

First, it needs to be assessed which type of automatic sewing machine is needed and where
it could be placed. Suitable textile materials have to be procured, and a workforce able to
design the marked patterns has to be trained.
Sewing the two pieces of textile together can be done by the village women already with
little effort, which has been tested in the village of Wali M. Laghari. The women were
asked to sew both parts of a Sindhi cap together and within one day they finished several
Sindhi caps with ease.
Sales & marketing of the product can be done through different possible channels which
should be tested in order to identify the most effective ones. Caps could be sold directly
on markets in the cities nearby (e.g. Dadu, Khairpur Natanshah, Nawabshah, Larkana).
There could be a shop run by cap-producing village organisations in a major urban market.
Retailers could be employed when the advantage of accessing the retailers outweigh the
smaller margin of the product when using middlemen. There are more ways to get the
product to the customer and creativity and experimentation is needed in order to market
the product successfully in competition to existing companies. If these and other actions
are taken, village-based Sindhi cap production has the potential to contribute to the socioeconomic
well-being and empowerment of the local community.
Box 16: Ruined life after the flood
The household of M. Salim illustrates the fate of
a majority of Laghari households. As
agriculturalist with access to ten acres of own
land, some larger livestock and limited
indebtedness to wholesalers, the household was
able to lead a stable in relative security. The
situation changed dramatically because of the
flood event, which drove M. Salim into poverty.
His house was fully destroyed, he lost his water
buffalo and two goats and his fields are still
under water. The basis of his livelihoods is
diminished and the lack of cultivation drove the
household into high debts. Daily food supplies,
fodder for his remaining livestock which he used
to grow by himself, and his endeavours in
rebuilding his house are all financed through
credit arrangements which M. Salim might have
difficulties to ever escape from – he accumulated
as much as 400,000 Rs of debts which represents
the fortune of a lifetime for many.
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Source: photograph ©�Martin Enzner,
February 26, 2011
Mohammed Salim in front of the
ruins of his house