KASHF Foundation

Kashf has been recognized for its work both locally and globally. We are proud of these accolades since they have been earned as a result of our continuous commitment to improving the lives of our clients and their families.

Ms. Roshaneh Zafar, Managing Director of Kashf Foundation received the Global Leadership Award for Economic Empowerment by Vital Voices on 10th March 2010. The award ceremony was held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, USA. The Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards honor and celebrate women leaders from around the world that are working to strengthen democracy, increase economic opportunity, and protect human rights. The award ceremony was attended by Vital Voices founder U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton along with Diane vonFurstenberg, Time Inc. CEO, Ann Moore, actress Reese Witherspoon, Suze Orman, New York Times Correspondent Nicholas D. Kristof, andAvon CEO, Andrea Jung.

Vital Voices Global Partnership’s programs invest in emerging and established women leaders who are working to increase women's political participation and representation, build women business leaders and catalyze successful entrepreneurship, and combat human rights violations that are widely affecting women across the globe. Vital Voices currently works in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Latin America & the Caribbean and the Middle East & North Africa, focusing on the business, political and civil society sectors.

Ms. Roshaneh Zafar is the only woman from Pakistan to ever be selected for this award. During the ceremony, the chief guests acknowledged the importance of microfinance in building an equitable and strong financial system by ensuring the inclusion of women in the economy. Upon accepting the award, Ms Roshaneh Zafar, Founder of Kashf Foundation emphasized that providing financial services to households at the bottom of the pyramid in a post-recession world was a strategic way to especially help women out of the impending economic crisis, since women were most affected by the current economical downturn.

She expressed that gender inequality is a market failure, and it not only fails to recognize the need for investing in women but also fails to benefit from the contribution of women to the economy and the society. She further emphasized that both poverty and gender inequality can be eradicated, provided that governments of the world exercise their political will. She ended her speech by praising the women entrepreneurs of Pakistan for their perseverance.

Kashf Foundation was awarded the OneWoman Initiative (OWI) by USAID in a ceremony held in Islamabad. The OneWoman Initiative, launched in May 2008, is an international women’s empowerment fund administered by a public-private sector effort that includes bipartisan private sector co-chairs, the U.S. State Department, and USAID. The OneWoman Initiative recognizes the work of existing indigenous organizations with proven capacity to enable justice, opportunity, and leadership for women in countries with large Muslim populations. Kashf Foundation is one of the first few institutions in the Muslim world to be accorded this honour.

The award was presented by the United States Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew in recognition of the exemplary services that Kashf Foundation has provided to women from low income communities and for the pioneering efforts of the Foundation in the field of microfinance in Pakistan. The US Ambassador Anne Patterson, along with other USAID officials were also present during the ceremony. During the ceremony Mr Lew acknowledged the importance of microfinance for building an equitable and strong financial system by ensuring the inclusion of women in the economy. Upon accepting the award, Ms Roshaneh Zafar, Founder of Kashf Foundation emphasized that providing financial services to the bottom of the pyramid in a post recession world was a strategic way to help poor households especially women out of the impending economic crisis, since women were most affected by the current financial downturn.