Our partners in the Mental Health and Wellbeing in Pakistan programme, British Asian Trust, hosted their 2019 Ramadan Campaign on Thursday, 25th April 2019 as part of their wider fundraising efforts for the programme. The programme addresses the need for Mental Health education and accessibility in Pakistan. The event was a great success, held at London’s famous Savoy hotel in the presence of keen supporters and the entire Pakistan Cricket Team and staff, ahead of their tour of England. The evening was hosted by award-winning radio and TV presenter, DJ Noreen Khan, and a panel discussion was led by Asad Ahmed of the BBC.
The British Asian Trust was launched in 2007 at the request of HRH The Prince of Wales, with a vision to unlock the potential of disadvantaged people across South Asia. Over the past ten years, the British Asian Trust has impacted the lives of three million people with high-impact interventions to address the region’s critical unmet needs. The CareTech Foundation has partnered with the COSARAF Foundation and the British Asian Trust to invest in a £1million partnership by which to deliver a step change in mental health and wellbeing provision in Pakistan.
You can read our CEO, Jonathan Freeman’s blog, on the programme on the BAT website.
On the night, British Asian Trust raised an astounding £230,000, which will be match-funded by the CareTech Foundation and COSARAF, as we continue to strengthen our partnership and look to develop the remarkable work being done in Pakistan. This support will allow the British Asian Trust to support thousands of people in Pakistan. It will be used to increase accessibility and development of Mental Health services and to tackle the stigma that exists across communities.
The event also saw the launch of the British Asian Trusts powerful new “They call me crazy” social media campaign which is designed to raise awareness of mental health issues and to combat stigma that attaches to this important topic.
Thanks to the support of everyone attending and the backing of the Pakistan Cricket Board, which has agreed to become an official partner of the Mental Health programme, in their generosity to actively participate in the evening, we hope to make a real change and are proud to be partners in such a rewarding endeavour. The aim to reach 500,000 people and reducing the stigma around Mental Health in Pakistan is getting closer.
To find out more about our partnership on this project click HERE.
