Roshaneh Zafar – Founder of Kashf Foundation: Celebrating Pakistani Women

President of Pakistan awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan's highest civilian awards, to Roshaneh Zafar for her work in the field of development and women’s empowerment.

Kashf Foundation

Founder of Kashf Foundation, Roshaneh is a development activist in Pakistan, working in the field of women’s economic empowerment. She set up the Kashf Foundation in 1996, which is the first ever specialized microfinance organization in Pakistan.

Roshaneh is a graduate from Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA and also holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from Yale University, USA. She worked for 4 years at the World Bank in Islamabad looking at the social impact of World bank projects through a gender lens.

Zafar collaborated with Hum TV to produce a drama serial Udaari, which focused on Pedophilia and rape.

She has been celebrated in several countries and on multiple platforms, such as the Global Leadership Award for Economic Empowerment by Vital Voices in 2010, the One Woman Initiative (OWI) USAID Award in 2009 and Women of Inspiration Award by National Hero Foundation in 2012, among many more.

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Zafar collaborated with Hum TV to produce a drama serial Udaari, which focused on Pedophilia and rape – which are not subjects that are freely be spoken about on television in Pakistan. The founder of Kashf calls it “Edu-tainment”, which is simply entertainment meant to educate the Pakistani population.

She has also been awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan s highest civilian awards, by the President of Pakistan for her work in the field of development and women’s empowerment and was also awarded the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2007.