251. Born into cooperation
| Coop Name: Karachi Co-operative Housing Societies Union Ltd (KCHSU) | N° of Employees: 1 |
| City: Karachi | N° of Members: 24 |
| Country: Pakistan | Year of formation: 1949 |
Karachi Co-operative Housing Societies Union (KCHSU) is a federation of housing cooperatives in Pakistan. The organisation is composed of 24 cooperative housing societies with over 100,000 members.
The story of the Karachi Co-operative Housing Societies Union Limited begins with one man.
M. Sharif Baiji grew up in the lap of co-operation. His father devoted his life to helping poor and powerless people in the Sindh region of Pakistan, home to the nations capital, Karachi.
Since becoming a director of the Karachi Co-operative Housing Societies Union, Baiji has been behind the development of houses, flats and townships in rural and urban areas of Sindh. FairPrice shops (profiled elsewhere in this site) and other co-operative housing have since been opened.
The formation of the union has also led the way in the promotion of womens rights in co-operatives, and it has taken an active role in the International Co-operative Alliances housing activities and committees.
Karachi also gave a lot of help to refugees from the devastating floods of 2010.
As the unions mission statement says: All for each and each for all.
This story is an IYC Yearbook feature: https://ica.coop/en/iycbook