Case Study

Lutfi Foundation: An Example of

Self-Help Project for Disabled
By Muhammad Anis Danish

f you have a chance to visit Awami Markaz (now

EOBI centre) in Karachi you can find Lutfi
Foundation's bookshop on its ground floor and a
greeting card manufacturing workshop on the first floor.
One gets a pleasant surprise to observe that both the shops
are being run by the physically disabled people. They sell
quality products very efficiently at economic rates. The
entire setup of both these business ventures is being run by
an outfit called Lutfi Foundation.
The brainchild of Nazish Lutfi, a financial analyst by profession and a USA expatriate Pakistani, the Lutfi
Foundation not only provides employment to dozens of
handicapped children at its shops, it also gives training to
others and then help them in getting job in various industries. According to Nazish, hundreds of such special people
are at present working in various industries of the city.
Recently Kohinoor Industries have employed 50 blind people with the efforts of the Lutfi Foundation. More people
are being placed in other industries. These people are paid
wages equal to normal persons, said Nazish Lutfi.
The Lutfi Foundation is working for the betterment of the
disabled community with a difference it does not accept
charity, donations or financial support for its activities. The
funds are provided by Nazish Lutfi from his personal savings. However, the foundation has an honorary team of volunteers, including highly qualified artists and professionals,
who believe in harnessing the exceptional potential of the
special people. These patrons are enthusiastic care-givers,
devoting their time and energy to the cause of helping special people, so that they can have their share of happiness,
prosperity and independent life.
After a tragedy in his family, Nazish returned from the USA
to serve the special people of his country. He had a brother, who had become handicapped due to an accident in the

The Lutfi Foundation aims

not only to rehabilitate the
physically handicapped
people, it also wants to
provide them an honorable
place in society.
NGORC Journal, December 2005

USA and used to live with him there. Nazish's brother died
in 2001, not because of his disability but due to a disease.
The brother's death was a turning point in the life of
Nazish, who pledged to serve all the disabled people of
Pakistan.
Lutfi is his father's name. "Lutfi was a great father. He made
a great sacrifice by staying away from home for 26 months
because he was looking after my disabled brother who was
in comma at a hospital," recalls Nazish Lutfi.
Nazish said after coming to Pakistan he conducted research
about problems of the disabled people in Pakistan and then
decided to establish an organization of his own out of his

own pocket for such people.

The Lutfi Foundation aims not only to rehabilitate the physically handicapped people, it also wants to provide them an
honorable place in society. There are a number of organizations in Pakistan, which are already working for the rehabilitation of the disabled, but Lutfi Foundation claims to be
quite different from them. "I wanted to do even more than
rehabilitation," said Nazish in an interview with NGORC's
Development Communication team.
He said his aim is to make the physically handicapped people financially self-sufficient. Besides the physically handicapped, the parents of a large number of mentally retarded
people are also now contacting the foundation. There is no
discrimination between the physically or mentally retarded
people in the foundation.
"Our mission is to provide special people equal rights and
opportunities to succeed without having to depend on
23

The foundation generates

funds from the sale of its
greeting cards and books.
Although it is still not
self-sufficient in finances, it
has started covering many
expenses.

gramme, vocational as well as on-job training is imparted to

individuals to prepare them as skilled technicians in their
professions.

handouts or charity." The idea is to help them help themselves, thus keeping their dignity and self-esteem intact."

Day Care and Activity Centre:

This centre is specially designed for older citizens. At present there is no such facility in Pakistan.

The other aims and objectives of the foundation are to

empower special children so that they can gain stability in
their lives through lucrative vocational training and job
opportunities; assist other NGOs to utilize products for
fund raising, created by the employed special individuals at
the Lutfi Foundation; and create awareness in society about
mental and physical handicaps, especially guiding the youngsters to develop a disabled-friendly environment.

Future Projects
Lutfi Foundation has a very ambitious future programme
for special children. As it has been receiving a good
response from the public, it plans a number of big projects.
Lutfi City:
This would be a big project, providing accommodation
facilities to orphans, senior citizens, widows and the disabled.

Web Portal for Special Families:

The web portal www.specialfamily.com will provide a platform for special people and normal community to interact
online. They can discuss their problems and seek solutions
for the benefit of families and special individuals alike. The
families of special people can easily find the contacts of

The foundation also generates funds from the sale of its

greeting cards and books. Although it is still not self-sufficient in finances, it has started covering many expenses.
"This year, on the occasion of Eid the sale of our cards
slumped as most companies cancelled their orders, saying
they had donated their funds for the earthquake victims,"
Nazish said.
Following are the main activities of the foundation for
resource mobilization.

Ongoing Projects:
Handmade Greeting Cards Manufacturing
The Lutfi Foundation started this project in the year 2000 and
now dozens of special people who are employed at this workshop, who design and manufacture handmade products for
national and multinational companies. The foundation claims
to be the leader in the manufacturing of hand-made cards in
Pakistan. Many corporate companies and welfare organizations give orders to the foundation and purchase those greeting cards in bulk on occasions like Eids, New Year, Christmas,
birthdays, weddings, etc.
Read and Learn Project:
Lutfi Foundation has launched a literary project called Read
and Learn designed to promote reading and learning habits
among the masses in general and special people in particular.
The foundation has imported a good quantity of new books
from well-reputed foreign publishers at special discounted
rates which are sold at reduced prices. The profit from the
books sale is shared among patrons every day.
Uniform Stitching Project:
This project is designed and implemented to create employment opportunities for the special people. Under the pro24

specialist doctors and purchase medicines from anywhere in

the world, courtesy this portal.
Digital Printing Press:
The foundation plans to establish a digital printing press to
have printing, training and job facilities for the special people.
IT and Animated School:
An IT and animated school for special children is on the
agenda of the foundation.
TV Programmes:
Lutfi Foundation plans to make educational cartoons, miniseries and other media items for local TV channels to
increase awareness among normal people about the difference in lifestyles, needs, and problems of the handicapped
individuals.
Blind Individuals Project for Rehabilitation:
This would help blind people to live a normal life.

NGORC Journal, December 2005