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Who We Are ...

• The Women’s Development Association
• (WDA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

TheWDA's Mission Statement ...

“To encourage, train and support women in developing nations in literacy (including basic math), health education and economic empowerment.

The Vision ...

• Empower illiterate women by giving them reading and writing skills.
• Teach health awareness, specifically reproductive health. (For Pakistani women, maternal mortality rates continue to be among the highest in the world.)
• Provide skills to the poorest of the poor so they can improve their economic situation.
• Promote self-confidence and self-esteem.

History ...

• The WDA (formerly known as the Pakistani Ministry) came into existence when Karen Overton and Hannah Griffiths from Greenwood Village, CO, U.S.A., met Josna Azim, from Lahore, Pakistan in 1997 in Cypress while attending a Middle Eastern Prayer Seminar attended by 250 women from around the Muslim world.
• The WDA is focusing on Pakistan, where women are consistently the victims of physical and mental violence. The literacy rate among these women is as low as 25%.
• Josna’s vision for literacy and health education classes became a reality with the help of WDA (formerly the Pakistani Ministry Team.) The first literacy class was held in 2000.
• Since 2000, 700+ women have been educated in Life Impact Classes.
• Approximately 20-25% of the women who receive a Certificate of Completion go on to seek higher education.
• 50% of these women use the economic and vocational skills they have obtained to raise their economic stations.

Key Issues ...

Reproductive Health

• The United Nations has reported that 1,400 women in Pakistan die every day due to pregnancy complications.
• 30,000 children under the age of five are dying; 20 babies die each minute.
  
• It is estimated that for every woman who dies in childbirth, approximately 16 survive but with chronic reproductive tract diseases.
• Many women have 7 or 8 children and face dire health problems.
  

Income Generating Skills

• More than 40% of Pakistan’s large population of 145 million live below the poverty line. Educational opportunities are limited and families are living in critically unhealthy conditions.
  
• Pakistani Christians are among the poorest, with limited opportunities because of discrimination against their faith.
• Among Pakistani Christian women the literacy rate borders between 12-15%.
• Women are routinely found in domestic jobs where physical and sexual abuse are common.

WDA Provides ...

• Reading, writing and basic math skills they can use in their everyday lives and simple jobs they can now perform.
• Sewing and fine embroidery skills allowing the women to make beautiful hand-made items that have been sold in the U.S.
  
• Other vocational skills, i.e. shoe making.
  
• Information on women’s rights regarding physical and sexual abuse.
  
• Ways for women to learn self-protection.
  
• Advocacy and implementation of a life cycle approach, with improved health care and a nutrition program for women and girls.
  
• Promotion of the importance of postnatal care, enhanced provision of emergency obstetric care.
  
• Education to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS which remains a national challenge