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MGYW PROGRAMS

  • Pakistani American Forum/Merit Grants for Young Women (MGYW) is a non-profit 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization founded in 2000 to promote higher education among under-privileged young women of Pakistan until they reach their full potential. It works with MGYW Pakistan to achieve its goals.

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  • Families of most selected girls (of age group 5 to 15) make $2 to $5 per day and they reside in urban  as well as remote rural areas with literacy rates as low as 30%. Usually candidates are accepted at primary school level and provided support in tuition, uniform, and books - until they reach their full potential.

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  • Since its inception, MGYW has provided incentive grants and benefits to almost 15,000 girls from low-income families; most of these girls have graduated from high school, colleges, and vocational programs; they are usually among the first in the family to get education and choose­­ diverse career paths.

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  • MGYW reaches out to all four provinces of Pakistan:  KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, & parts of Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

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  • It has established several MOUs with renowned NGOs and respected local community leaders to provide merit grants as well as coordinates spearheading innovative projects for benefitting girls’ education (See MGYW Key Projects). These reputable NGOs have a network of schools throughout Pakistan.

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  • All MGYW Board members are volunteers and some regularly travel to Pakistan at their own expense to monitor the program. 

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  • Recognition Certificates were awarded to MGYW by Congressman Ed Royce (CA-39th District-Retired) and Mayor Sajjad Ali Taj , City of Artesia, California, and several Consul Generals of Pakistan for “ its exemplary work in the field of female education and social uplifting in Pakistan”.

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  • MGYW was also commended by Dean of Resource & Institutional Development at East Los Angeles College, California for promoting education among the underprivileged girls of Pakistan.             

    

It is easy to donate (You will receive a tax-deductible receipt for your donation).

Online (www.mgyw.org): Option to donate with credit card, PayPal, or your bank.

By Mail:  Check or Money Order made out to PAF/MGYW and mailed to:

PAF/MGYW, P.O. Box 1061, South Pasadena, CA 91030-1061   

MGYW Overview

Pakistan has the world's second-highest number of children -- more than 5 million -- not attending school.  More than 3 million of the children not in school -- are girls.

[Source ABC News Story, October 7. 2013]

Our programs provide almost 500 individual scholarships annually to underprivileged young women as well as support NGOs in their operation & development programs. MGYW has MOUs with several NGOs, who have an impressive network of schools with over 23,000 students in all four provinces of Pakistan and in Azad Kashmir.

Karachi, Nawabshah, Gadap (Sindh Province)

Khuzdar (Balochistan Province)

Kotshera/Gujranwala (Punjab Province)

Rawalpindi & Sagri (Punjab Province)

Haripur, Swat, & Peshawar (KPK Province)

  • Hamida Shaukat Ali Foundation Girls High School (HSAF). HSAF provides high caliber education support to almost 500 girls residing in village Kotshera in Gujranwala District of Punjab. For almost a decade, MGYW has been providing educational funding to HSAF girls and also contributed toward setting up the science laboratory in 2016, which enabled HSAF to obtain registration certificate by the Education Department and girls avoided traveling several miles in rickshaws to other schools to receive science credits. MGYW Board provided funding for excavation of safer drinking water well and may fund other projects.

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  • MGYW Partnership with HOPE Schools. HOPE (Health Oriented Preventive Education) NGO was established in 1997 with a national network of schools and hospitals. Since 2011, ​MGYW has been sponsoring 50 young women from HOPE schools in Orangi & Gadap Towns in Karachi, and in Muzaffarabad, AJK. In 2017, MGYW collaborated with the U.S. based Odyssia Learning Program (OSL) to introduce English as a second language online (ESL) courses at HOPE School in Orangi and assisted in setting up computer lab.

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  • Pakistan Foreign Office Women’s Association (PFOWA). Since 2014, MGYW provides annual scholarships to young girls belonging to families of low income employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The scholarships are awarded in an annual uplifting elegant ceremony. The grants and awards are distributed annually by Foreign and Education Ministry dignitaries to qualified underserved girls.

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  • Haripur Education Transportation Project. Since 2012, Haripur Education Transportation Project, is facilitating education for about 200 girls from the Haripur District of Hazara Division in KPK Province by sponsoring the transportation expenses of these students from their villages to Bagra Govt Girls High School in Haripur and Govt Girls Degree College, Sarai Sera. The school and college students are transported via Suzuki vans.

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  • Institute of Development Studies and Practices (IDSP). In 2017, MGYW signed a MOU with the IDSP to sponsor hands-on three-month intensive hands-on training of young women from rural Balochistan in the midwifery program at Karachi’s Qatar Hospital. All of the girls belong to under-privileged backgrounds. Once trained, the girls go back to their villages in Balochistan and use their skills to save lives of many mothers and new born babies as well as make a decent living. As of 2022, successful training for six batches has been completed In addition, MGYW provides incentive grants to 50 girls from low income families from underserved areas. Coordinators from IDSP assist MGYW in managing the two programs.

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  • Nagar Fort School, Chitral, KPK. MGYW has been providing annual grants beginning 2019  toward education of underprivileged 50 girls at Nagar Fort School in Chitral. In addition, it has funded setting up a computer lab. This lab will provide to bridge the “digital gap” to improve educational opportunities for underprivileged children. Children also receive gifts during the Eid festivals

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  • Educational Incentive Grants for Karachi Scholars. MGYW provides incentive annual grants to over 200 school and college students from Karachi in the form of tuition fee, books, uniforms, and monthly financial assistance so that they can continue their studies. MGYW offers these sustained incentive grants to low-income families to educate their academically qualified daughters until they reach to their full potential for almost 17 years. It has resulted in graduation of hundreds of girls – many gainfully employed after pursuing college education with the help of MGYW grants.

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  • Early Childhood Education (ECE) Project. This UNICEF initiative project was introduced in 2021in a government school in Karachi and promotes early childhood education of preschoolers through visual books and artwork.

PARTNERSHIPS

MGYW has developed partnerships with following non-profit organizations, schools, and individuals. While MGYW supports limited number of girls in these organizations, the organizational grants have wider impact.

 

Society for Educational Welfare Society (SEW)

SEW has a network of 134 schools spread throughout Pakistan (13,500 students; >50% girls).

 

Health Oriented Preventive Education (HOPE)

HOPE has 200 formal & informal schools (10,000) schools from Karachi to Azad Kashmir.

 

MGYW provides grants to 40 HOPE girls, and 20 MGYW grant recipient students at HOPE organization’s Zia Colony School in Korangi also receive annually generous gift packs.

 

Hamida Shaukat Ali Foundation (HSAF) Girls High School

HSAF Girls High School has about 400 students. MGYW is also supporting set up of science laboratory and library.

Haripur Education Project

 

Haripur Education Project

MGYW is facilitating education of over 60 girls by providing them transportation from their village homes to high school in Haripur. This project is in partnership with Safeer Ahmed, a respectable teacher and social worker of Haripur & Riaz Khan, CEO of MicroTrends.

 

Karachi Gift Pack Project

Each year MGYW sponsors gift pack distribution ceremony in Karachi where generous gift packs are distributed among young girls belonging to impoverished families. This program is organized by Fozia Khan Mazhar, Principal of Government Primary School, Federal Capital Area, Karachi and her team. MGYW also collaborates with Memon Organization of North America for gift pack distribution among young boys.

 

Pakistan Foreign Office Welfare Association (PFOWA)

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on September 5, 2014, between Pakistan Foreign Office Women’s Association (PFOWA), Islamabad and Merit Grants for Young Women (MGYW), in Los Angeles to provide 15 scholarships to PFOWA to female students belonging to families of low grade employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

MGYW KEY PROJECTS

MGYW Overview & Accomplishments 2022

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