Improving Livelihoods and Enterprise Development (I-LED) programme is striving to revive the economic condition of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir, who have been greatly affected by the October 8, 2005 earthquake and USAID has granted $28 million to run the programme.
Dr Mohammad Riaz, Deputy Program Director of USAID funded I-LED programme revealed this while distributing tractors in Rawat Islamabad & Haripur, Manshera Districts among victims.
In the first phase, 38 tractors of multiple specifications have been distributed among the victims of district Bagh and Mansehra (Siran and Kaghan valleys).
Engineer Nadeem Ahmed, General Manager Marketing, Al-Ghazi tractors, told that one week training will also be imparted to the beneficiaries in which they will be briefed about operating and maintenance of tractors.
I-LED programme is basically working under the umbrella of Citizen Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA) which has actively promoted public-private sector partnerships as a way to jumpstart economic growth and assist those communities affected by October 8, 2005 earthquake.
The aim of the programme is to increase income of earthquake victims by linking them to markets with economic growth potential. There are three main components of the project, include livelihood, value chain and local economic development. Livestock ie poultry and dairy, agriculture/horticulture and tourism have been prioritised as main areas of project intervention.
Support for CNFA's I-LED programme is part of USAID's four-year $200 million earthquake reconstruction programme that is building hundreds of schools and health facilities, and supporting better quality health and education services and improved economic activities in the quake-affected areas of NWFP and AJK.