TransTech — Transgender Software House
According to the 2017 census of Pakistan, there are 300,000 registered transgenders. Half of them earn their living by begging, 9% are sex workers, 8% are wedding dancers while the rest are associated with other informal professions [1]. Being transgender in Pakistan could be very challenging. Usually, transgenders are forced to set their identity in gender binaries. Failing to do so led them to several issues from harassment to lack of education and employment opportunities ultimately leading to the increased plight and poor quality of living [2].
But we have also seen many stories where transgenders break the social norms and add their part in the development of a country, which shows that they have the potential to do great things in life if they get opportunities.
In recent years, efforts like giving the status of the third sex in CNIC and reservation of 2% employment quota are being made to increase their visibility. Since the current picture of the transgender community in Pakistan is full of challenges with few dots of opportunities, pertinent steps, aimed at transgender empowerment and creating awareness in society, should be taken to change this picture.
Potential of the Trans Community
As most of them are still struggling for their basic rights which means that they want to integrate into a normal community and the best way to do that is to teach them a modern-day skill so that they can become a valuable workforce.
Our idea is to start Pakistan’s first Transgender’s Software House. We call it TransTech. We will select highly motivated transgenders from our local community and equip them with software development skills. Besides this, we will teach them how to earn money from freelancing. The plan is to arrange the initial funding from donors to establish this project. Once our first batch starts earning, we will deduct 10% of their profit for the development of a project.
Road Map:
1) Do detailed homework on this project
2) Contact transgender activists working in Pakistan
3) Arrange seed money
4) Find highly-motivated 5–7 transgenders
5) Design a software development course for them
6) Teach them freelancing
7) Motivate them to include more people in this project
