Social Sector Support Service

Social Sector Support Service (SSSS) provides support services in the form of education and vocational training to youth that cannot afford the 'luxury' of conventional schooling, in Karachi - Pakistan. The venues for these services are 2 educational /vocational training schools in Lyaari , an urban slum of the city. SSSS launched this project in 2001 with the institute for male children and later followed up with the girls program in 2005. Currently, there are approximately 120 girls and 60 boys studying in these schools.

The course material in this program has been designed to shorten the span of classroom learning. To date, the first batch of male students has passed the grade 8th board examinations. Many of the school's students have found opportunities of employment and internships in automotive shops, hotel management and nurse's aides. In addition, the girls in the program have successfully launched small scale ventures of garment stitching, textile designing and beautician services.

SSSS was founded Mr. Abdullah Khadim Husain, who currently heads the program as well. Mr. Husain is an expert in the area of non formal education and curriculum development. He has over 46 years of experience in assignments with the government of Pakistan, the Asian development Bank, UNESO, UNICEF and UNDP.

APPNA (Association of Pakistani Origin Physicians of North America) recently donated a generous amount of $3100 to SSSS to support the above programs. Specifically, APPNA's grant is to be directed towards training in textile designing for the girl students of the ILM-O-HUNAR school. In this regard, SSSS is trying to establish a training program at a skills development center managed by the Memon Foundation, Karachi.

Please read a visitors impression from a school visit A Beacon of Hope in a City of Darkness