Saba Shaikh (Class of 2013)
Saba Shaikh is the Executive Director for Dastak Charitable Trust, an access centre for women and children based out of Lahore, Pakistan. At Dastak, she provides protection, education, up-skilling and rehabilitation to women survivors of violence, and trafficking. Her vision is to popularize human rights standards, and provide protection to women and children, eliminating the impunity of violence, exposing gaps in legal structures, and state policies and practices. Some of the programmes that have been successfully implemented at Dastak include Yoga therapy, Education for children in prisons, Hisaab-Kitaab (Financial literacy for women), Alternative Care for children without family support, and two dedicated teams for women’s rights and child rights.
She has been working for human rights for more than a decade and has secured projects from international organisations like OXFAM, USAID, UNHCR, UNICEF, Save the Children, with a focus on protecting women and children in Pakistan.