KARACHI: In order to contribute to sustainable poverty reduction and improve livelihoods of rural communities in Sindh, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) launched a five-year “Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development Across Rural Sindh (PAIDAR)” programme, here on Wednesday.
According to official documents, € 49.5 million budget has been earmarked for this project being funded by the European Union (EU) and to support the Sindh government in the implementation of its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS).
The launching ceremony was held here at a local hotel, which was graced by Faisal Ahmed Uqaili, Secretary Planning and Development, Sindh government as chief guest and remarked that PAIDAR is an important programme and is expected to play a critical role in meeting the objectives of the Sindh Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The project has started in April, 2022 and will come to an end by March 2027. PAIDAR will cover five districts of the province including Larkana, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, and Tharparkar.
PAIDAR will concentrate on fostering economic development, and targeting the most vulnerable, in particular through support for enterprise development, focusing on Rural Growth Centres and Urban Economic Clusters under PRS implementation.
The programme will provide necessary financial and technical support to a significant number of enterprises to aid their development as a vehicle for employment creation, contribute technically and financially to building and upgrading public infrastructure to improve the delivery of basic services for enhancing livelihoods and encouraging local economic development and help the Sindh government to strengthen internal coordination and monitoring and to optimize provincial public resource allocation towards meeting PRS objectives.
Ovidiu Mic, Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan said on the occasion that Pakistan is an important country for the EU. The EUD is pleased to finance the PAIDAR programme to help Sindh government to resolve poverty across rural areas of Sindh at the grassroots level.
The launch event was also attended by Julien Harneis - United Nations Resident Coordinator, Pakistan, Nadia Aftab - UNIDO Country Representative, Stephen Langrell - Team Leader, Rural Development & Economic Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan, Steffen Kaeser, Unit Chief UNIDO HQ and G. Mohiuddin Asim - Director General, Directorate of Urban Regional Policy & Strategic Planning, along with representation from the public and private sectors.
Opening the session, Nadia Aftab introduced the PAIDAR programme, and its objectives and emphasized the importance of interagency collaboration to address the challenges of poverty reduction and economic development.
Speaking to the audience, Julien Harneis shared the importance of inclusivity particularly women in sustainable poverty reduction, and that PAIDAR will be an asset in achieving the SDGs which is also a top priority of Sindh government.
The second part of the intra-day session pertained to the stakeholders’ workshop. Steffen Kaeser, Unit Chief UNIDO HQ, apprised the participants that UNIDO is the lead implementing agency for the PAIDAR programme. He further elaborated that the PAIDAR is a key project under the PRS. It was conceived to mainly focus on fostering the economic development dimension of the PRS, and targeting the most vulnerable, in particular through support to enterprise development, focusing on the development of Rural Growth Centres and Urban Economic Clusters under PRS implementation.
He said that the purpose of this workshop is to take on board all the relevant stakeholders and to improve the implementation strategy of PAIDAR by timely incorporating suggestions, inputs, and recommendations of the stakeholders.
The event featured a detailed presentation on the programme given by Nima Bahramalian, Industrial Development Expert, UNIDO.
Later, the house was opened for discussion and Q&A related to PRS and PAIDAR.
The session was concluded by Stephen Langrell, Team Leader, Rural Development & Economic Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan. He appreciated the active participation of the stakeholders. He also commended the valuable inputs of the stakeholders and assured the support of the EUD for the success of the PAIDAR programme.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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