Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) has disbursed Rs.8.49 billion during six months for its core operations, launched to ensure betterment in lives of the common man.
The disbursements included loan with micro credit and enterprise development facility Rs. 6.766 million, water and infrastructure Rs. 365 million, education and health Rs. 361 million and capacity building disbursements were Rs. 438 million. A senior official, quoting figures on Monday, said the other disbursements included social mobilization Rs. 220 million and disbursements for livelihood enhancement and protection were Rs. 339 million.
The overall operational and financial outreach during period remained satisfactory, the official said. He said in addition to disbursement for core operations, Rs. 576 million (Rs. 273 million from donors funding and Rs. 203 million from PPAF own resources) were disbursed for project and flood relief activities. He said by end of December last year, the total cumulative disbursements by PPAF were Rs. 100 billion and added credit and social safety nets enterprise development accounted for 59 percent of total disbursements followed by relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities 20 percent, community physical infrastructure 10 percent, human and institutional development (including social mobilization) seven percent, livelihood enhancement and protection one percent and health and education three percent.
The official said PPAF’s interventions are being carried out nationwide with 50 percent of the resources deployed in Punjab, 19 percent in Sindh, 16 % in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 4 % in Balochistan; 9 % in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 1 % each in Gilgit Baltistan and Islamabad Capital Territory. Giving further details, he said by December last, PPAF funding had been disbursed in urban and rural areas of 129 districts through around 297,000 community organizations and 114 partner organizations, of which 12 were focusing exclusively or predominantly on women.
The official said on cumulative basis, PPAF has financed 5,352,838 micro credit loans and added more than 27,417 infrastructures, health and education projects were initiated and a total of 488,249 staff and community members were trained. He said in earthquake affected areas, PPAF, which is a flagship element of country’s poverty reduction strategy, provided financing to 122,000 households to build earthquake resistant homes and trained over 108,000 individuals in seismic construction and related skills.
