Savepakistan - Tezos Flood Relief Fundraiser

Info and interview on the charity initiative for Pakistan

Click here for a Chinese translation of this Article on the blog web3c.art

In late August, a torrential monsoon triggered the biggest climate related disaster in history: A third of Pakistans landmass is submerged in water affecting tens of millions of people, destroying crops and washing away houses, hospitals, and schools. To date, more than 1,500 people have lost their lives to the floods, including 552 children. Currently, 73% of the flood victims have inadequate access to necessities like food, water, and medical aid.

Now that the water is slowly receding, the full damage is being revealed: Not only did the catastrophe displace about 50 million people and destroy essential infrastructure and crops, it also kicked off a health crisis in Pakistan. UNICEF confirmed 588 malaria cases with another 10,604 suspected cases, in addition to the 17,977 cases of diarrhoea and 20,064 skin disease cases reported on the 15th of September.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has demanded the world to stop 'sleepwalking toward' planetary 'destruction'. This is another climate related calamity that has hit a country that has only contributed less than 1% of the world's carbon emission.

Tezos Art Fundraiser for Pakistan

While the event faded quickly from the global attention, the Teia community has been looking for ways to partner with new charity organisations, who have trusted connections and valuable outreach in areas facing deeply problematic conditions. Teia is teaming up with SavePakistanCrypto, a Crypto Fund for Pakistan Flood Relief. This organization is collecting crypto donations in various currencies, offramping it and distributing it to numerous organisations that work on the ground in Pakistan trying to provide the needed help. Teia is also working with Tayaba, an organisation that has been actively helping with providing relief for the fresh water scarcity in Pakistan since 2016.

The address for this fundraiser initiative is KT1Jpf2TAcZS7QfBraQMBeCxjFhH6kAdDL4z

Starting now, use this address to set up split contracts/swaps on any tezos marketplace (i.e. Teia, Versum, FxHash, ObjktCom) or donate tezos or oXTZ directly to the address. (Please don't send NFTs to this address)

Find step-by step guides on how to set splits towards the donation address with Teia (collab contract with donation address as beneficiary) and Objktcom (split swaps) on our wiki.

The main phase of the funraiser will start after the #henreunion event has ended on oct 2nd.

Raising awareness for Pakistans situation will be key for this initiative; Let's use the event hashtag #savepakistan for minting fundraiser pieces and for twitter posts that relate to the event to concentrate attention on the fundraiser. Please also help spread the work, ie by sharing the twitter thread for the event

Teia has a dedicated feed on the main page for pieces that have a split of at least 50% of the revenue towards the donation address.

There is an event page on Teztok/Teia.rocks that shows a live feed of all pieces minted with the hastag #savepakistan across all tezos marketplaces.

If you have ideas or want to help facilitate this fundraiser i.e. by hosting twitter spaces for the event, please head to our discord server (channel: #general-pr-comms) and let us know.

As the natural cycle of news has filtered Pakistan from our thoughts, the situation isn’t going away and likely to only get worse. For this reason the contract will remain open and rolling to donations. We are in contact with more marketplaces and will try to keep this fundraiser initiative growing with more marketplaces and events social media channels joining to highlight it.

You can find more detailed info i.e. about impact and transparency in the article "Pakistan Fundraiser" on the Teia Wiki.

Interview

To get to know the two organisations of the fundraiser better, Teia community member ruralidyll (virtually) sat down for an interview with Nida Sheikh, CEO, Tayaba Organisation and Bilal Bin Saqib, Co-Founder, Savepakistancrypto and Tayaba.

They talked about the situation on the ground in Pakistan and how Tayaba/SavePakistan plans to use the donations and the grassroots approach they are taking with their Orgs.

Please, can you give us a brief overview of your roles and the areas of expertise of your respective NGOs - Savepakistancrypto and Tayaba.

Nida Sheikh: I joined Tayaba Organisation a couple of years ago, just a few months after it was formally incorporated in Pakistan to spearhead its business and organisational development. Now, as a Chief Executive Officer, I lead the strategy for resource mobilisation, product innovation, and end-to-end implementation of all programs and projects.

Tayaba Organisation is envisioned as a catalyst for innovative and potentially scalable solutions to address water accessibility, sanitation and social challenges. It is an unconventional charity that has been actively and rigorously working as a bridge to alleviate the gap between supply and demand side barriers. It provides off-ramping solutions to efficiently and effectively serve those in distress.

Our primary innovative product, i.e., the "H2O (Help-2-Others) Wheel," is a simple yet disruptive innovation in the region. These wheels help alleviate the water-carrying burden by carrying more than 40 litres of water (almost five times more than a traditional clay pot's water-carrying capacity) in less time and reduced physical effort (by just rolling it).

Within the three years of its establishment, it has been recognized internationally by Forbes 30 under 30, the "Points of Light" Award, the Queen's London office, and locally by the Ministry of Water Resources and Dasani Water Warrior Campaign.

More recently, Tayaba Organisation became one of the first charities/NPOs to fundraise in an NFT Fundraiser Using Crypto.

Bilal Bin Saqib: In the wake of the current climate emergency, we have launched the SavePakistan.crypto campaign to expand the fundraising avenues to the global crypto community.

SavePakistan is a web3 donation aggregator for the flood survivors. We plan to raise funds in crypto and then off ramp them using different p2p into the respective NGO bank accounts.

For perspective, Pakistan has a thriving web3 community and this is an opportunity for us to bring them together for a unifying cause. The level of crypto awareness and adoption in Pakistan is tremendous - Pakistan is ranked 3rd in Chanialysis “Global Crypto Adoption Index 2020-21” and around 9 Million Pakistanis' cumulative cryptocurrency ownership amounts to $ 20 billion.

Access to clean water and sanitary conditions is one of the major areas of urgent concern. Can you elaborate on some of these issues and how these aid measures can help?

Nida Sheikh: The lack of clean water and sanitation facilities is leading to various health problems and waterborne diseases in Pakistan. According to a recent UNICEF report, around 70% of households in Pakistan consume contaminated water. Moreover, research reveals that around 79% of Pakistani women do not manage their menstruation hygienically. The flash floods have exacerbated and worsened the situation as around 70% of people in Sindh province alone don’t have access to basic hygiene supplies, and 55% don’t have access to sufficient water, after floods. Tayaba has adopted a holistic approach to ensure Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene facilities for the health and well-being of the millions of flood survivors, specifically the 8 million women affected by these floods, through its relief packages. Find below our major water and sanitation-related aid measures:

H2O (Help-2-Others) Wheels + Filters

The H2O wheel is a water-carrying device that hygienically stores and transports up to 40 liters of water. Hence, provides an immediate water solution for the provision of clean and safe water for sanitation and domestic use. Further, Tayaba Organisation has integrated portable water filters with the H2O wheel to convert flood water into clean and consumable water.

Hygiene Kits

Along with other sanitation and hygiene resources, these hygiene kits are equipped with:

• H2O Soaps: Slightly used or unused soaps, recovered from hotels that would otherwise end up in landfill, are repurposed and recycled and distributed to impoverished communities. This initiative employs and empowers marginalised women.

• H2O Pads (Sanitary Napkins): Reusable cloth pads are cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. One biodegradable H2O Pad is equivalent to 4000 disposable pads. These significantly affordable H2O pads (1/5th of the average price of cloth pads and 1/8th of the average price of disposable pads) not only provide safe and reliable sanitary products to women but also create income-generating opportunities for rural women who are being trained and employed for their production.

Alt: Rural Female Entrepreneurs stitching Cloth pads

How will Tayaba be supplying help to such hard to access areas? We understand Tayaba works with a number of different relief providers and organisations. Can you tell us more about these, where help is needed.

Nida Sheikh: Accessing marginalised communities in Pakistan is a challenge already, more so now because these communities have become victims of the flood catastrophe. Fortunately, Tayaba Organisation has an extensive presence through suppliers/vendors in non-affected areas, grassroots level organisations and field teams, and district level authorities, ensuring maximum contribution to providing relief to flood victims. Apart from being connected with key stakeholders within government and state institutions, a few of Tayabas major grassroots level partners that currently have deep penetration and access to marginalised/flood-affected areas can be found in the detailed list of orgs on Teias wiki.

In partnership with grassroots level organisations and government/state authorities, adopting a systems approach, we map or identify areas and communities through rapid needs assessment surveys. Any donation/distribution of relief goods like the H2O Wheels is preceded by a robust needs assessment process for affected and impoverished communities. Each case submitted by our Implementing Partner is reviewed by our team and verified through a third party (e.g., district officials or spot-check ) assessment. After due diligence and approvals, relief goods are disseminated to deserving people, complemented by community sensitization and awareness sessions.

Since July 2022, Tayaba Organisation has directly impacted 4000 households, approximately 30,000 people. For Phase 2 interventions targeting improved access to adequate nutrition, clean water, hygiene, and sanitation facilities, we are raising 500,000 US Dollars.

Hygiene Kits being provided to flood survivors

Our fundraising campaign will help us reach the following targets:

No. of People Targeted: 65,000
No. of Households/Families Targeted: 9,000
Target Areas: Dadu and Khairpur, Sindh, Jhal Magsi, Dera Bughti, Baluchistan

• 9000 Ration Bags (Include Sugar-6kg, Flour-20kg, Rice-10kg, Tea-180gm, Pulse/Lentils-6kg, Salt-800g, Cooking Oil-3 litres)
• 9000 Hygiene Kits (Include 2 Bathing Soaps, Menstrual Hygiene Management-3 Reusable/washable Sanitary Napkins and two pieces undergarments, Mosquito Repellent Lotions, Toothbrush and toothpaste, 1 Towel, 2 Laundry Soaps, and toilet utensil).
• 9000 Help-2-Others (H2O) Wheels -40 Liter clean water transporter and storage container)
• 6 million liters of clean water
• 180 portable toilets

Implementation Partners for Phase2: Al-Khidmat Foundation, Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS), Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO), ShareRizq Trust, Baluchistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP).

We have seen costs for grain and hygiene kits. How soon can these be disseminated, and how?

Nida Sheikh: Since Tayabaorg has pre-identified communities through ongoing rapid needs assessments, once we receive the funds, the emergency implementation takes place within ten working days. The pre-implementation process involves designing a dissemination plan, finalizing contracts and targets, and a milestones-based payment schedule with the implementation partners based on the funds raised.

Once the donation pathway is underway, will you have the capacity to feedback on how donations are being used and areas of relief in which future aid can be most beneficial?

Nida Sheikh: Once the funds are disbursed, Tayaba organisation will be responsible for matching the disbursed funds with appropriate receipts and beneficiary lists and further verifying the information at any time through physical, telephonic, and third-party spot checks. In the interest of promoting accountability and transparency in donations, Tayaba Organisation is also open to exploring milestones-based payment schedules with its donors.

Tayaba Organisation follows a three-tier monitoring and evaluation mechanism for unbiased and transparent reporting and feedbacking. Distribution Data (through pictures, videos, and beneficiary lists) is shared as soon as distribution occurs. The compiled data in the form of progress or feedback reports from the grassroots are generated within 10-14 working days after the distribution.

You can view a few recent sample reports from the grassroots for an insight into how Tayaba is reporting and documenting its relief efforts.

Do you have anything you need from Teia as a community, or a message for artists hoping to help offer their support in this crisis?

Nida Sheikh: As global citizens, we must acknowledge that climate change is the embodiment of global practices. It's Pakistan today and, sadly, other nations soon. Climate action at the global level can save Pakistan today and the world tomorrow. Therefore, we are really grateful for the efforts and willingness of the Teia community (especially, talented artists) to step up and take up the mantle of raising awareness and helping survivors through one of the worst humanitarian and climate catastrophes that the world has witnessed. As an NFT fundraising pioneer, Tayaba Organisation is also happy to offer assistance and support to artists who want to help through this crisis.

Where can we find more info about you, to show solidarity eg. socials, weblinks et al. ?

Nida Sheikh: Tayaba.org and Savepakistan spreads its message and raises awareness regarding water accessibility and social issues through the following socials and website:

Tayabas Socials

• Instagram: @tayabaorg
• Facebook: @TayabaOrg
• Twitter: @H2oTayaba
• Website: www.tayaba.org

Savepakistans Socials

• Instagram: @savepakcrypto
• twitter: @Savepakistanorg
• Linkedin: savepakistan-org
• Medium: @savepakistan.crypto
• Website: savepakistan.org

Furthermore, Tayaba’s founders Bilal Bin Saqib and Momin Saqib are also massively followed influencers who actively engage with young people and have shared their experiences through motivational talks at prestigious universities (like Oxford, UCL, LSE), TEDx events, and major Web3 Events.