Mardan Families and PHWO: Using an NGO in Mardan Without Leaving Your Village

Mardan is a farming district of sugarcane, tobacco and wheat, and a great many of its households live on a crop cycle or on money sent from the Gulf. When either one fails, people start looking for an NGO in Mardan that will actually listen. Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization (PHWO) can take your request, although it has no building here. Its single office is in Larkana, Sindh, and families from Takht Bhai, Katlang, Rustam and Mardan city apply on the website, through Message PHWO in a free PHWO account, or with help from a volunteer.

There is no charge for anything PHWO does. Requests are verified and assessed; help is arranged where a verified need can be met. PHWO does not promise any result or timeline.

The district at a glance

The 2023 Census counted 2,744,898 people in Mardan District, second only to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Only about one in six of them lives in an urban area; the rest are spread through villages on the plains between the Kabul River and the Swat hills (PBS Census 2023, table 1). Pashto is the mother tongue of 99 percent of residents, according to the mother-tongue table.

The district grew by about 2.5 percent a year between 2017 and 2023, faster than the provincial average. More children means more school fees, more uniforms and more pressure on a single farm income.

Water is the other worry. Canals from the Swat River feed Mardan’s fields, and the same rivers and hill streams can turn dangerous. In the 2010 monsoon floods large parts of the Peshawar valley went under water, and Mardan families still speak of lost crops, cattle and mud houses. A damaged roof or a drowned harvest is a valid reason to ask for help; send pictures of the loss with your request.

Rural poverty and what it looks like at home

The federal Planning Ministry’s Multidimensional Poverty in Pakistan report found that about 49 percent of people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were poor on its measure in 2014-15, with rural areas far worse than towns. In Mardan’s villages this shows up as unpaid debts to the local shop, a daughter kept home from college because there is no bus fare, or a sick grandfather whose medicines are bought on credit.

These are exactly the situations PHWO’s request form is built for. You do not need to wait for a disaster to ask.

How to ask this NGO in Mardan for help, step by step

1. Open Request help on your phone. If the form is hard, message PHWO from your free PHWO account and someone will guide you.
2. Say clearly what you need. The three most common requests are a laptop or smartphone so a student can study or a young person can earn online, a month’s ration, and help clearing a debt.
3. Add a live photo of yourself. Speak in Pashto if you are more comfortable.
4. Someone from the Larkana office, or a volunteer, confirms the details, sometimes by calling a neighbour or your union council.
5. If the need is verified and it can be met, help is arranged. If not, you will be told honestly.

Khula, maintenance and custody: free legal aid in Mardan

Women in Mardan who want a khula, or who have been left without maintenance, often do not know where to begin, and families are sometimes unwilling to let them go to court alone. PHWO’s Free legal aid service lets a woman, or her brother or father, send the papers to volunteer advocates who can explain the options. No police report is needed first. Custody matters and cases with a close hearing get attention before others.

Family suits from Mardan are filed in the district’s family courts at the judicial complex, and appeals go to the Peshawar High Court. The District Bar Association Mardan and the District Legal Empowerment Committee headed by the sessions judge can also point poor litigants to a lawyer.

Other doors to knock on in Mardan

• Mardan Medical Complex, the district’s government teaching hospital, for treatment and referrals.
• Rescue 1122 for road accidents and emergencies, and 15 for the police.
• The BISP tehsil office for the Kafaalat programme; check eligibility by texting your CNIC to 8171 or on the BISP website.
• Mardan’s District Zakat Committee, which pays government zakat to registered deserving people.
• PDMA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, helpline 1700, when floods or storms strike.

Using one does not stop you from using another. Many families combine a BISP payment with a PHWO request.

Workers abroad, donors at home

Ask almost any family in Mardan and one member has worked in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Qatar. Those workers, and Mardan families who are doing well, can Donate money or goods to PHWO from inside Pakistan or from overseas. Zakat and Sadaqah are handed on in full. If you prefer to fund one household you can learn about, try Sponsor a case.

Overseas Pakistanis who can raise money among friends at work are welcome as fundraisers. Sign up on the Volunteer page; advocates from the Mardan courts are needed too.

Public services in Mardan you can also use

• District and Sessions Courts Mardan (family courts)Khula, maintenance and custody suits
• District Bar Association MardanReferral to advocates
• District Legal Empowerment Committee MardanLegal aid for poor litigants, chaired by the District and Sessions Judge
• Peshawar High CourtAppeals from Mardan
• Mardan Medical ComplexGovernment teaching hospital
• Rescue 1122Emergency service, dial 1122
• PoliceDial 15
• BISP tehsil office MardanKafaalat registration; SMS CNIC to 8171
• District Zakat Committee MardanGovernment zakat
• PDMA Khyber PakhtunkhwaHelpline 1700

These are public or independent services, listed to help you. They are not part of PHWO.

Frequently asked questions