What We Do
At Healthy Earth Development Organization (HEDO), our mission is rooted in justice, care, and transformative action. As a youth- and women-led grassroots movement, we work in close partnership with communities, especially women, girls, and marginalized populations, to build a future where dignity, health, and climate resilience are recognized as fundamental rights, not privileges.
From the riverbanks of Balochistan to grassroots communities in Sindh, our work is grounded in the realities of those most affected by inequality. We break down barriers, challenge stigma, and develop sustainable, community-driven solutions. Our work goes beyond program delivery, it is about shifting power, changing community behaviours, sparking dialogue, and standing in solidarity with people and the planet.
Core Focus Areas
Health and Well-being
SRHR
Menstrual Hygiene Management
(GBV) and Child Marriage Prevention
Climate Justice and Environmental Protection
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
We believe every individual has the right to make informed decisions about their body, free from stigma and fear. Through grassroots education in schools and communities, we promote awareness of menstruation, puberty, bodily autonomy, reproductive health, and rights. We also advance access to family planning by providing accurate, culturally respectful information and contraceptive awareness, empowering women and youth to take control of their reproductive futures.
School-Based Sessions
Our school engagement strategy is grounded in the belief that education is the most powerful tool for change. We conduct interactive, youth-led sessions on menstrual hygiene, puberty, and child rights in both urban and rural schools, equipping the next generation with the knowledge and confidence to lead.
Community Awareness Sessions:
At HEDO we believe that real change starts in the heart of a village, in a circle of women, in conversations held with care. That’s why we hold Kachehris—open community gatherings rooted in local tradition and collective dialogue.
Across rural and marginalized villages in Sindh and Balochistan, we’ve hosted hundreds of these informal yet powerful gatherings, creating safe, familiar and approachable spaces where women and girls can speak freely about topics long silenced—menstruation, family planning, bodily autonomy, and reproductive health.
These are not just awareness sessions. They are spaces of trust, healing, and power. Led by trained community members and deeply grounded in local culture, Kachehris allow us to meet people where they are, on their terms, in their language, with empathy and respect.
Through these sessions, thousands of women and girls have reclaimed their voices, their choices, and their right to health and dignity. And every story shared becomes part of a collective movement for change that starts small but echoes far.
Menstrual Hygiene Management
Access to menstrual care is a matter of dignity, equity and justice. We conduct menstrual health sessions in underserved, marginalized and climate-impacted communities, distribute dignity kits (12,000+ to date), and organize public awareness walks to challenge taboos and ensure gender-just solutions during crises. Our work aims to ensure that no girl is left behind simply because of her period.
Holistic Empowerment and Access to Menstrual Health and Hygiene
Funded under the Global UGRAD Pakistan Big Ideas Challenge and led by youth leaders, this project addressed period poverty in flood-affected communities. We developed culturally appropriate curricula, trained peer educators, facilitated sustainable cloth pad-making workshops, and distributed reusable dignity kits. The project empowered over 500 girls and women directly and built a foundation for lasting leadership and menstrual dignity.
Dignity Campaign: Periods During Disasters
Periods don’t stop during disasters—and neither should support.
After the devastating 2022 floods in Pakistan, HEDO launched the Dignity Campaign to deliver a gender-just climate response. In flood-hit areas and IDP camps across Sindh and Balochistan, we witnessed how menstrual health needs were overlooked in mainstream relief.
We launched the Dignity Campaign to deliver a gender-just response in crisis settings. Our teams reached flood-hit villages and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across Sindh and Balochistan, where women and girls were living in tents with little to no access to safe menstrual hygiene products, clean water, or privacy.
We distributed over 5,000 Dignity Kits—each containing menstrual pads, soap, underwear, and hygiene items designed for safety and reusability. But we didn’t stop at distribution. We also conducted awareness sessions that created safe spaces for dialogue, education, and support—ensuring that women and adolescent girls were not just passive recipients of aid, but active participants in restoring their dignity and agency.
This campaign exemplifies our belief that climate response must be gender-responsive. Disasters deepen existing inequalities, and without intentional action, the rights and health of women and girls are the first to be compromised. Through the Dignity Campaign, we affirmed that menstrual health is a right—not a luxury—even in emergencies.
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Child Marriage Prevention
At HEDO, we recognize gender-based violence and child marriage as systemic violations of human rights and major barriers to gender equality and health equity. Grounded in feminist and community-led principles, our prevention-focused approach includes school and community workshops on bodily autonomy, legal rights, consent, and gender norms. We create safe spaces for girls to speak freely, access knowledge, and grow as leaders, while also engaging parents, educators, and local leaders to challenge the norms and structures that sustain violence and early marriage.
Project Fight Against Taboos
Launched in response to persistent silence and stigma, Project Fight Against Taboos is a bold community-led initiative challenging deeply rooted cultural barriers around menstruation, gender-based violence, and child marriage.
Through this project, we delivered Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) to over 300 women and girls in conservative, underserved communities—empowering them with knowledge of their rights, bodily autonomy, and reproductive health. Our sessions used a participatory approach that created space for open dialogue, collective learning, and healing.
We worked in close collaboration with local stakeholders including teachers, community elders, and women leaders, to ensure cultural sensitivity while advancing gender-transformative content.
Project Fight Against Taboos is not a one-off intervention; it’s part of our long-term strategy to dismantle stigma, amplify marginalized voices, and build feminist movements that center care, dignity, and justice.
Child Marriage Prevention Committees
In five villages across Sindh, HEDO has established Child Marriage Prevention Committees (CMPC) community-led networks dedicated to preventing child marriage and safeguarding the rights of girls. These committees are made up of local women, youth leaders, elders, teachers, and health workers who act as advocates, early responders, and watchdogs within their communities.
They engage in dialogue, raise awareness about legal protections and harmful consequences, and intervene in potential child marriage cases by working closely with families, local authorities, and influencers. By rooting these efforts in community ownership and trust, the committees play a vital role in shifting norms and building local systems of protection and accountability. We have so many heart-warming stories from our committees of preventing child marriages.
Our CMPC carries a powerful message in local language Sindhi نياڻِي پڙهايو، نياڻِي بچايو which means Educate a girl, save a girl. It is more than a slogan. It is a call to action, grounded in the belief that education is the strongest shield against early marriage and injustice.
Climate Justice and Environmental Protection
For us, climate change is not an abstract issue, it is a lived reality for the communities we serve. We promote environmental sustainability and justice through tree plantation campaigns, school-based awareness programs, and youth-led advocacy that places the most impacted voices at the center of climate discourse.
Tree Plantation and Awareness Walk
At HEDO, climate change isn’t a distant concern—it’s a daily, lived experience for the communities we serve. Our environmental efforts are grounded in justice, action, and community leadership.
We’ve planted over 500 native trees across flood-affected and heat-vulnerable regions of Sindh including Jamshoro, Wahi Pandhi, Karachi, Nai Nalli in District Dadu to restore ecosystems, reduce heat stress, and promote environmental sustainability. These tree plantation drives are more than symbolic—they’re long-term investments in healthier, greener futures.
Our slogan says it best: “وڻ لڳايو، انسان بچايو”
Wanr Lagayo, Insan Bachayo (Plant a tree, save a life)
Our awareness walks, always led by women and girls, bring visibility to environmental challenges while challenging gender norms. These walks mobilize communities, raise awareness about climate risks, and amplify the voices of those most affected by the crisis—especially young women whose leadership is often overlooked in climate spaces.
Through every tree planted and every step taken, we are reclaiming climate justice from the ground up—with women at the front.
Coming soon
HEDO x AI
Innovation for Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice
Empowering women and youth with smart, inclusive tools for health and climate resilience.