Tributes paid to late Munawar Humayun for social activism and women empowerment

PESHAWAR: Rich tributes were paid at a reference to the late Mrs. Munawar Humayun for the contributions she made to social activism, women empowerment and public service in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Social activists, development professionals, public servants, members of the civil society and friends and families attended the event, which was organised at the SRSP’s Human Resource Development Centre in Peshawar.

Community activists from across the province described how her work had impacted their lives.Ghulam Jilani from Local Support Organisation Kaghan valley said that Mrs. Humayun had persuaded her to organise the women in his area after the earthquake to help with the recovery. The drinking water project which provided them water today was the result of this organization.

Sultan Zari of Chamkani Village Bank explained how Mrs. Humayun’s commitment to the idea of an indigenized local banking had made credit and social protection accessible to thousands of women like her and also provided them opportunities to initiate small enterprises. Managing such large resources had been very empowering for them, she said.

Women activists from Abbottabad and Haripur explained how she had persuaded them to organize the communities to address their pressing social issues. Israr Ali of LSO Ittefaq in Kohat described how she had inspired their work. The work she led touched the lives of people from South Waziristan to Chitral and Kohistan.

The CEO of SRSP, Mr. Masood UL Mulk, said that Mrs. Humayun’s two decades long tenure as chairperson of SRSP Board of Directors was a period of remarkable growth in the life of the organisation. From six districts it grew to cover all the 36 districts of the province, including the districts of the tribal region. Over 283 projects were implemented in this period which raised over Rs45 billion for the communities from 60 donors, he said, adding the staff of the organisation rose from 480 to over 6,000 during the period. About 524,000 youths were trained at the SRSP’s state-of-the-art Human Resource Training Centre that was established during this period in vocational skills and community leadership, he added.

He said that micro finance disbursements of over Rs 2.5 billion were made with 137,000 women being reached by the women banks. And community infrastructures worth more than Rs13 billion were built, he said, adding over 29 megawatts of electricity was generated from power houses.

As many as 60,000 houses were built in the earthquake. More than 800,000 people benefitted from humanitarian programmes. And 117 BHUs had doctors and medicines because she was willing to partner with the government, free of cost, to make that possible, he added.

The CEO said that this remarkable transformation was possible because of a dedicated and voluntary board of directors led by a visionary leader, who gave management the space to operate and the confidence to innovate. “She had a complete understanding of the context and an ability to overcome the imponderables of our society. She was driven by a commitment to serve the poor and marginal groups of the society and inspired others by her values and her example. He said that “for the years of pain and toil, she did not expect even a cup of tea in return,” he added.

A film showing the life of Mrs. Humayun was also screened. It described her role as a social activist, as a board chairperson, doing public advocacy, her commitment to women empowerment through organizing, women banks and enterprises, and her readiness to travel to different nooks and corners of the province to be among the communities. She was at ease whether among the communities or the most sophisticated parts of our society, development professionals or donors.

Ehsanullah Khan, a social worker from Swat, said that Mrs. Humayun had the ability to inspire those around her. She was also a hands-on farmer who her feet firmly planted on the ground and within the society around her. She knew what change and how change could be brought here and did not need a donor’s language or ideas to express it.

Colonel Alamzeb, a retired civil servant and Chairman of SRSP Board of Directors, said that it was an honour to serve for two decades on the board with Mrs. Humayun and learn from her. He thanked the audience for the wide participation in the event.

Shoaib Sultan Khan said Mrs. Humayun was a gifted person and came to the development world after spending years in sophisticated diplomatic circles. But her people were her passion, he said. She adapted to the environment beautifully and learned so fast that even he used to turn to her for advice, he added.

An ex-civil servant attending the events said to the scribe that the way the event was organized was not only a tribute to Mrs. Humayun but would also be a source of encouragement for other people to contribute to public service because it showed that there were parts of the society that still valued it.

The SRSP CEOread out a message written by late caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan just a day before passing away which described her as a person of great qualities who would be missed greatly.

He announced that a separate reference for Azam Khan, who was the Founder Chairman of SRSP’s Board of Directors, would be held to honour his services.In the end prayers were offered for Mr. Azam Khan and Mrs. Humayun.Aisha Humayun, the daughter of Mrs. Humayun Khan, thanked the participants for joining the event and honouring her mother.