Karakoram Area Development Organization

ivelihood, women empowerment, and skill development since 1998.KADO is registered with the Securities and Exchanges Commission of Pakistan under Section 42 of the Companies act 2017 as a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital and certified with the Pakistan center for philanthropy. The first project started with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) to revive the handcraft and create income and employment opportunities for women and disadvantaged people in this area. It has received awards from the President of Pakistan and UNESCO’s seal of excellence for its outstanding performance in empowering rural women and promoting traditional handicrafts of Gilgit-Baltistan. In this 25 years journey, KADO has achieved unbelievable results by executing several projects such as Enterprise development, Environment, human and institutional development, rehabilitation, information and communication technology, vocational skills, and human rights. It has strengthened the role of civil society participation, enhanced human and institutional capacities and potential, launched an E-Commerce initiative for the first time in Gilgit-Baltistan, carried out the action research on ICT in rural development, and intervened with full fledge in introducing Internet services in Hunza and Nagar and developed comprehensive research books, reports on E-village, E-Schools and business incubation. It pioneered the first public-private partnership with the Government of Pakistan by successfully implementing a Women Vocational (IT skill) training/Labs project in all 10- Districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. KADO became a pioneer organization in the region by taking initiatives such as rehabilitation of special persons, IT, Environmental Management, Preservation and revival of indigenous cultures, and Women Empowerment. In the past, we have partnered with SCC, GIZ, USAID, and AKDN on different development projects. Our Current intervention involves Community Tech Hubs, Producing Sustainable/Eco-friendly Bags, advocacy on gender-related issues, and producing export-level indigenous products. In addition, we established 40 IT Labs across GB with the support of the Department of Planning and Development, Government of Gilgit-Baltistan.