Education, health sectors: SAFRON, UN Agency inaugurate five projects in Sindh

The Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and the UN Refugee Agency on Friday inaugurated five projects in Sindh in the education and health sectors, under the government-led Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) initiative.
The projects included rehabilitation of four government schools to benefit some 3,000 Pakistani and Afghan students, and the upgrading of a Basic Health Unit in Tharoo Goth, Karachi. More than 5,000 Afghan and Pakistani patients will benefit from this improved facility in Union Council 5, in the port city of Karachi.
The projects inaugurated were jointly implemented by UNHCR in collaboration with the Government Health Department for the BHU, the Government Education Department, and a local NGO partner, SHARP, for the education projects. Neill Wright, UNHCR Representative in Pakistan said, "Refugees constitute just a small proportion of the total 13 million people in Karachi, but in their limited capacity they are contributing to support the economy of Pakistan. UNHCR is delighted to contribute to efforts to encourage peaceful coexistence through RAHA interventions aimed at supporting those communities that have so generously helped refugees for over three decades."
Projects implemented under the RAHA initiative are designed to improve the lives of people living in locations that have been impacted by the 30-year presence of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. By addressing the needs of host communities as well as those of refugees, the RAHA programme seeks to promote social cohesion.
Of the total 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Karachi hosts some 66,000 with the vast majority of the refugees in Sindh being economically independent. The inauguration ceremony was held at Tharoo Goth in UC 5 Songal, Gadap Town, and was attended by representatives of the Sindh government, NGO partners, civil society and refugees.