Meeting Tahera Hasan was serendipitous. Before I even understood the scope of her work, I could already feel the deep intelligence and empathy she carried. Once I learned about her organization, Imkaan Welfare, and its far-reaching impact, everything clicked into place.

Early in her legal career, Tahera realized there were serious flaws in Pakistan’s adoption and child welfare systems. Having had personal experience with adoption, she felt compelled to act rather than wait for change. She laid the groundwork for her own organization, building a sustainable model based on global best practices but carefully adapted to fit Pakistan’s context. In 2012, Imkaan Welfare Organization was established.

Imkaan’s Adoption Program was designed to deliver holistic care to abandoned infants and children providing them with medical support, education, and long-term rehabilitation. What sets the program apart is its thorough health screening of every child before adoption. This consideration is key for prospective parents who’ve faced emotional and physical hardships in their journey toward parenthood. Tahera’s vision ensures these parents are also counseled on accepting children with special needs.

One significant gap Imkaan addresses is the absence of post-adoption counseling. In Pakistan, there are virtually no support systems for adoptive families. Imkaan steps in to provide this missing emotional and informational support, helping families navigate adoption with confidence and clarity.

The organization’s outreach began in Karachi’s Machar Colony, one of the city’s most underserved informal settlements. With a population exceeding 700,000 primarily from the marginalized Bengali community Machar Colony faced severe health crises, including rampant hepatitis, tuberculosis, and dermatological diseases. Many residents had little access to formal healthcare and relied on untrained and often harmful midwives or “daiis.”

To confront this, Imkaan launched Sehat Ghar in 2014, a community health center focused on maternal and child care. Despite initial challenges in building trust, the center has now served nearly 40,000 patients. Beyond consultations and medicines, Sehat Ghar conducts awareness sessions on hygiene, family planning, and disease prevention. Plans are underway to expand it into a full-time maternity facility.

The team soon recognized another dire issue: countless children, from toddlers to teens, were left unsupervised, vulnerable to crime and exploitation. In response, Imkaan introduced Khel in 2015 a child-focused center promoting literacy, arts, sports, and mental well-being. Over 150 children now attend daily, receiving emotional nourishment and educational support. Khel has transformed not just individual lives, but the outlook of the entire community.

Environmental health also became a priority. Streets choked with waste posed serious health risks. Imkaan partnered with the Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust to launch the

E-Guard Solid Waste Management Project, which now collects waste from 500 households. Yet, the problem of proper disposal remains. Imkaan is working to replicate Islamabad’s Integrated Resource Recovery Center in Machar Colony turning waste into natural fertilizer while reducing land pollution.

At its heart, Imkaan is about more than providing services. It’s about restoring dignity, fostering hope, and creating lasting systems of support for Pakistan’s most vulnerable. Tahera Hasan and her dedicated team have not only found homes for abandoned children they’ve empowered mothers to keep their babies, brought medical care to the neglected, and created safe havens for the youth. Imkaan stands as a testament to what can be achieved when compassion drives action.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *