ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) one of the largest organizations working towards poverty alleviation took prompt action by dedicating over Rs 400 million to its Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund.

PPAF senior officials told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the amount was allocated to address problems related to food security and socioeconomic needs of the ultra-poor rural households impacted by the pandemic. PPAF decided to provide a package of economic support to ultra-poor households for reviving economic activity and developing resilience so that households are able to not only survive this crisis but that they also do not drop further down the poverty ladder.

PPAF reached out to some of the most vulnerable households in 109 union councils of 19 districts of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through its partner organizations.

Commenting on the initiative, the CEO of PPAF Qazi Azmat Isa said that the PPAF is always at the forefront to help the ones in need. COVID-19 created unprecedented challenges for the people of Pakistan. Massive economic pressure was put on the poor and they struggled to make ends meet. In such a situation, PPAF reached out to help the poorest of the poor in some of the remotest areas of the country to enable them to combat the crisis and support them in these troubled times.

PPAF’s partner organization Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) provided economic revival assistance to poorest households in 31 union councils of Tharparkar. CEO TRDP, Dr. Allah Nawaz Samoo said that the TRDP has given the highest assistance for livestock fodder in the target areas while ensuring that each of the targeted 20451 households is provided with a seed bag. Since the cultivation season was approaching therefore, we predicted that demand considering the reality those prices of the seeds will go up massively, hence we tried to address a critical need of farmers and gave timely economic relief.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020