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Brooke Pakistan – Pakistan's Largest Working Animal Welfare Organization

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Workplace Projects

Reaching the working horses, donkeys and mules of Pakistan's everyday streets, farms and roads.
Brick kilns and coal mines are two of Brooke Pakistan's most visible project areas, but they are not where most of the country's working equines are found. Our Workplace project is how we reach every other working horse, donkey and mule, and the community that depends on it, in the towns, villages, farms and city streets across Pakistan.

WHAT IS A WORKPLACE PROJECT?

Most of Pakistan's working equines earn their family's living outside brick kilns and coal mines. They pull carts of fruit, vegetables, bricks and building materials through city streets, carry passengers in horse-drawn tongas, haul water, and work the land at ploughing and harvest time. The Workplace project is Brooke Pakistan's approach to reaching these animals and communities, wherever they fall outside our dedicated brick kiln and coal mine projects.

THE SCALE

  • Brooke Pakistan currently works in over 3,000 brick kilns, 250 coal mines and over 200 workplace communities across the country, reaching the equines and communities in every one of our three project areas.
  • Since the Workplace project began, it has directly reached over 240,000 animals and nearly 880,000 people, as of 30 June 2026 (Brooke Pakistan M&E data).
  • 6.1 million equines work in Pakistan, and 95% of them are working animals (FAO Livestock Census, 2020). Most work in transport and agriculture, not in brick kilns or coal mines.
  • One working equine can support up to eight people’s livelihood within a family.
  • Brooke Pakistan works across 44 districts in 6 regions (Lahore, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Karachi and Gujranwala), and workplace communities are spread across all of them, rather than concentrated at a single kiln or mine site.

THE CHALLENGES

Working equines in transport and agriculture face many of the same welfare issues seen in brick kilns and coal mines: harness and cart related wounds, lameness, poor nutrition, overloading and long hours in extreme heat. But because owners and animals are scattered across communities rather than gathered at one worksite, they often have far less access to vets, farriers and welfare information.

OUR APPROACH

  • Equine-friendly practices: owners and users across our over 200 workplace communities are supported to adopt practices that improve their animals’ day-to-day welfare.
  • Independent local services: we build the skills and capacity of Local Service Providers (LSPs) so quality animal care continues in workplace communities without Brooke’s direct involvement.
  • Better husbandry: owners and users are supported to improve everyday husbandry practices, from feeding to rest and shelter.
  • Women’s empowerment: women in workplace communities are supported to build equine husbandry skills and to have a real say in decisions about animal welfare.
  • Community-built structures: welfare facilities such as water points and shelters are developed on a participatory basis and then maintained by the owners and users themselves.
  • Wider reach: our field teams engage equine-owning communities directly to reach more beneficiaries across workplace areas.
  • Community Change Agents: we build the capacity of local Community Change Agents to disseminate and motivate good animal management practices within their own communities.
  • Research and innovation: we use research to better understand, and find a way through, the toughest and most hard-won welfare challenges in workplace communities.