The Circle of Hope (COPE) is a vocational training and welfare centre in the heart of Gulshan-e-Sikanderabad, also known as Shirin Jinnah Colony, a low income settlement in Karachi for over 300,000 people. We have worked actively in and with the community for the past 10 years providing employment support, education sponsorship, conducting ration drives, managing domestic violence cases, and aidin
g in healthcare emergencies. Our activities formalised into COPE in January 2022 through the constant effort of our dedicated team and some extremely generous donors. COPE is a safe space, serving as a means of social support for a marginalised population. We hope to empower members of this community, particularly women and children, to gain education, learn valuable skills, and become financially independent. We have provided full sewing course training to 300 individuals over the years and currently have 45 students enrolled in our sewing course and 23 students in the computer course - we continue to have a growing number of students every month! We have also supported several people in the community for other forms of skill acquisition such as receiving training in mechanics and parlour courses. We have conducted various drives distributing ration to families in the area, both during and outside of Ramadan. COPE has also sponsored the education of more than 200 children in the colony with the provision of school fees, supplies, books, uniforms, and admissions whom we follow up with regularly throughout their school years. We have set up 8 different fruits and fries stalls and 1 stationery store and have provided sewing machines to 45 individuals in Sikanderabad as sources of independent, sustainable income. Apart from this, we have assisted countless patients in the community for both acute and chronic ailments in the form of hospital expenses, outpatient fees, and medications, and have provided support and aid to those suffering from abuse and violence.