Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) is scaling up its National Poverty Graduation Programme (NPGP) worth $150 million to support 157,000 households through the asset transfer programme to pull them out of extreme poverty.
These households are beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) that will be provided assets, skills training, vocational training and/or access to interest free loans for improving their living standards in the period of 2018-2023. The programme is supported by the International Fund for Agriculture Development and the Government of Pakistan for over 5 years.
The poverty graduation model used under NPGP costs around $150 million for three main components i.e. Asset Creation, Interest Free Credit and Training on Livelihoods and vocational skills. The National Poverty Graduation Programme (NPGP) by PPAF allows distribution of assets to 157,000 households in 375 Union Councils across the country. Please reconcile the accuracy of figures in the bold fonts.
BISP and PPAF have recently inked a MoU to collaborate together and share data, information and research. It is because of the fact that the stipend received by these BISP is enough to help them survive but not enough for them to improve their lives in meaningful way. The collaboration between both the institutions ensures mutual cooperation for joint ventures to graduate the poor, especially living in extreme poverty zones of the country. Samia Liaquat Ali Khan, Senior Group Head Quality Assurance, Research & Design, PPAF informed that PPAF utilises BISP's National Socio-Economic Registry data to support BISP beneficiaries for graduating out of poverty through its assets transfers, financial services, and investment opportunities.
Up till June 2018, PPAF has provided 111,476 assets to households under various programmes. The cost of each asset is approximately Rs50,000 while skills' training is recommended to enhance the household's ability to utilise the asset effectively for improving income, he added.
PPAF assessment stated PPAF programmes show that over 60 percent of these households have moved up the poverty ladder and are engaged in income-generating activities to support themselves on the sustainable basis through micro-level businesses to meet their living expenses sufficiently.
PPAF provides them with an asset that can be used to generate incomes, which are mainly livestock or agriculture associated goods and proven to be sustainable cashable resources in rural communities. The purchase of assets is done in a participatory and transparent manner by PPAF's community procurement process - an essential step of this programme.
However, around 20-25 percent of households will always require some form of social protection (monthly/quarterly stipends that BISP provides), as these households due to various constraints are unable to graduate out of poverty.
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