DevCon - An Association for Rural Development

DevCon places strong emphasis on Operation and Maintenance (O&M) training for school facilities, such as ultrafiltration plants, to ensure the reliable provision of safe drinking water. These trainings help protect the health of students and staff, extend the lifespan of costly infrastructure, and ensure continued compliance with regulatory standards.

In this regard, DevCon teams conducted a comprehensive O&M training for WASH Club members, the focal person, and support staff at Government Boys School (Girls Section), Saud Abad, Korangi, Karachi. The objective of this training was to equip the school administration with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively manage and maintain clean drinking water facilities after the project’s implementation phase concludes in March 2026.

To mark International Children’s Day on November 20, DevCon held an awareness and experience sharing conference on Child Rights entitled “End Child Labor-Protect, Educate and Empower Every Child”.

A large number of civil society representatives and child rights campaigners including Mr. Iqbal Detho (Former Chairperson Sindh Human Rights Commission), Mr. Salam Dharejo (Country Coordinator, Pakistan for Terre Des Hommes Germany), Ms. Rizwana (Sindh Child Protection Authority), Mr. Reejho Mal (Sindh Labor Department), Mr. Abdul Hakeem Samejo (Child Protection Unit Korangi), Barrister Aashir Masood Mahesar (legal expert affiliated with juvenile penal laws) and Ms. Rakhi Kumari (Digital Media expert from Sindh) attended the event.

On this occasion, speech contest on “child labor and its negative influence on our wellbeing” was held for program schools. Children made speeches to assert their thoughts about the miseries of working children in Pakistan. A short documentary named Dreams from My Childhood was also screened for the audience.

In a penal discussion at the event, experts expressed concern on the state of growing child labor and said although Sindh has accomplished multiple child protection legislations; however, these laws and regulations still remain to be implemented in letter and spirit.

Delivering his keynote speech, Mr. Salam Dharejo felicitated DevCon for organizing the event. He added that children in Sindh are confronting complex challenges of education, health and safeguarding. He said DevCon work is an example of inclusive community engagement and the organization has contributed genuine assistance for schools, child rights movement and local communities.

Moving ahead on SDG 6: availability of water and sanitation for all

As per Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) - 2024 estimates, 46 percent of the government schools in Sindh do not have toilet facilities. Access to sanitation remains to be the most neglected basic need and singular common cause of girls drop out at the primary as well as secondary levels.

To raise awareness on the importance of clean toilets, DevCon celebrated World Toilet Day entitled “we shall always need the toilet”.

To mark the occasion, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to inaugurate newly built ultrafiltration plant at girls’ secondary school Natho Khoso and teams formally handed over the facility to the school (projected to provide clean drinking water to 700 students and teachers).

During the event, as a token of DevCon efforts to improve hygiene practices of children, teams distributed hygiene kits among them. These kits contain essential items like soap, sanitizer, nail-cutter, and tissue paper packs so that children may maintain their personal cleanliness in and out of school.

A group of female volunteers performed sensitization skits, drew sketches and made speeches on access to sanitation as basic necessity and a child right.

At the end of the event, DevCon teams expressed their gratitude for cooperation from the school administration and said ensuring availability of clean drinking water and sanitation is one of DevCon primary goals for program schools.

Empowering Women Through Financial Literacy!
A collaborative session with JazzCash was successfully conducted at Awami Colony, Korangi, Karachi, engaging stitching and beautician course trainees of DevCon vocational —many of them are running their own small businesses.
The session aimed to equip women with essential financial knowledge, enabling them to manage and grow their earnings with confidence and independence.

Few weeks back, our Youth Club members carried out ‘prevention of child labor drive’ in target areas of Korangi, and enrolled several dozens of working chidlren into program schools.

DevCon teams handed over 35 uniforms to that same group of children so that they may be encouraged to continue their education. Our teams have so far distributed 1100 uniforms to reduce child labor and dropout rates in target schools.

In addition to providing supplies (uniforms, furniture and stationery) our teams are making efforts to improve learning environment and trained more than 65 teachers on child-friendly teaching strategies as well.

DevCon teams have led the formation of WASH Clubs in the newly intervened schools of Malir and Korangi areas of Karachi. The objective is to encourage children to voluntarily cleanse and maintain school WASH and water filtration facilities. These forums also serve as platforms for menstrual hygiene, i.e. they first undergo trainings and then roll out the same to rest of the adolescent girls.

The ultimate aim is to ensure community ownership of DevCon built facilities- in partnership with WaterAid Pakistan. WaterAid Pakistan

DevCon teams are in the field to measure knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of adolescent girls in Malir and Korangi areas of Karachi. So far, teams have engaged nearly 150 girl students –concerning hygiene habits and the status of existing WASH facilities.

In the course of this survey, rehabilitation of WASH infrastructure and unavailability of menstrual hygiene material at the schools have been listed to be two key challenges in schools. Our teams shall develop a range of WASH and menstrual hygiene behavior change interventions and that planning shall be informed by foundational data that we hope to get from this survey.

DevCon is implementing WASH facilities improvement and menstrual hygiene behavior change project in partnership with WaterAid Pakistan.

Factory Management Staff Training at International Textile Limited (ITL) - Korean Karachi. Approximately 40 management cadre employees attended the session and received “Health and Safety Environment and Gender Discrimination Training” completion certificates.

DevCon has partnered with Terre des hommes-Germany to implement this project in Sindh Pakistan.