Quratulain Bakhteari is a Pakistani social entrepreneur and community organizer known for founding the Institute for Development Studies and Practices.
17 Facts About Quratulain Bakhteari
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Quratulain Bakhteari was born on December 25,1949, in a refugee settlement outside Karachi, Pakistan.
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Quratulain Bakhteari attended St Agnes primary school, went to the PECHS high school for girls, and then St Joseph's for high school.
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Quratulain Bakhteari spent the first 22 years of her life in this camp, marrying a dentist at 16.
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Quratulain Bakhteari went on to attend the University of Karachi, where she received her master's degree in Social Work.
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Quratulain Bakhteari completed her PhD in Community Development at Loughborough University in the UK in 1987.
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From 1978 to 1982, while completing her undergraduate degree, Dr Quratulain Bakhteari continued working in the settlements around Karachi as a volunteer, researcher, and community organizer, with a focus on public health and sanitation.
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Quratulain Bakhteari was deeply involved with sewage and sanitation issues in Orangi, including working for many years with the Orangi Pilot Project.
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Quratulain Bakhteari has attributed her choice of profession to her experiences growing up as a refugee.
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Quratulain Bakhteari was then invited by the provincial government of Baluchistan to bring the Orangi Pilot Project model to Quetta.
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Quratulain Bakhteari became connected to Quetta, and in the 1980s, was asked to work on providing education for girls in Baluchistan.
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Quratulain Bakhteari created and led the concept of the Community Support Process to provide girls education, establishing 2200 community-supported schools for girls, with an enrollment of 300,000 girls in a 5-year span.
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In 1998, continuing her work in education, Dr Quratulain Bakhteari founded the Institute for Development and Practices, a local education model designed to operate locally and independent of government or academic sponsorship.
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Dr Quratulain Bakhteari was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
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Quratulain Bakhteari won the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 for her work with IDSP.
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Quratulain Bakhteari was honored by the 2017 Pakistan Women Festival as the winner of the Reduced Inequalities category.
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Quratulain Bakhteari was the commencement speaker at the Indus Valley School university convocation in 2015.