Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supports people of Sindh through various programmes focusing on energy, economic growth and agriculture, education and health sectors.
Shah said this talking to a delegation of the USAID who called on him at the CM House on Monday. Its mission director John Groarke led the delegation that comprised of deputy mission director Denise A. Herbol and advisor USAID Dr Zulfikar A. Gorar. The chief minister was assisted by Sindh minister of Planning and Development Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, chief secretary Rizwan Memon, ACS (Dev) M. Waseem, principal secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch and other officials.
The USAID has launched a $66 million Sindh Municipal Services Programme (MSP) to improve public infrastructure and municipal services in northern Sindh. The MSP's centrepiece is Jacobabad Mincipal Project which works to improve water, sanitation and solid-waste infrastructure. The MSP is expected to deliver clean drinking water to more than 250,000 people. Since 2014, the USAID has also partnered with the United Nations Children's Fund to support MSP through social mobilisation and capacity development initiatives.
Sindh chief minister said that over 80 percent work on Jacobabad project has been completed. He urged the USAID mission director to replicate the same programme in Johi, Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Shahdadkot and Kambar Ali Khan. He said that the original project was also approved for these five cities. The mission director said that he would go through the project again and assured that Sindh government would be extended technical support.
Shah discussed project relating to economic growth and agriculture. This project supports the development of livestock, vegetable and horticulture sectors in Sindh. The project is designed to increase exports by $265 million, raise income by 20 percent for 16000 producers and create 30,000 jobs. He said this is most important project and his government is giving special attention to its implementation.
The other project which came under discussion was Wind Energy project for which USAID has committed $43 million for construction of transmission lines to connect wind projects to the national grid. Once completed, these transmission lines will have the capacity to benefit approximately 2.6 million people.
The other projects came under discussion included education, health, scholarship programme, JPMC and Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (JISM). Under Sindh Basic Education Programme (SBEP), in partnership with Sindh government, USAID is providing up to $155 million to increase and sustain student enrolment in schools across seven northern districts and five districts of Karachi. Under SBEP about 100 news schools would be constructed and improve reading skills of over 200,000 children. The programme would also address malnutrition.
In health sector, $400 million Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programme was launched in 2012 to support reproductive health and family planning as well as innovative approach to reduce maternal, new-born and child mortality and morbidity. Under the programme 21596 people were facilitated.
The Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (JIMS) is the USAID-funded 133 bed hospital, which provide high quality medical services to more than one million people each year.
The US has been supporting JPMC since 1950. The USAID completed the construction of a 60 bed fistula and OB-GYN ward in 2012 which is capable to provide care for 140,000 women and training to over 1300 healthcare professionals every year.
Thee chief minister also discussed with the mission director the `Resilience Programme' which is actually a Youth Workforce Development Programme (YWDP), aimed at reducing the likelihood of extremism by building the resilience and skills of young people and communities. In Karachi, the project worth $7 million was launched with Amn Institute of Vocational Training. It is a 3-year programme designed to provide training to 3600 underprivileged youth. It also includes Youth Employment Project which aims at providing technical skills to more than 13,000 youth.