PPAF, UNHCR sign partnership deal

KARACHI: Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have signed an agreement for jointly taking forward the poverty graduation approach with the ultra-poor / vulnerable poor Afghan refugee population residing in Pishin and Swabi districts of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, respectively, a statement said on Wednesday.

The initiative aims at making an effort to graduate the Afghan refugee population and their host families up the poverty scales and simultaneously providing them with sustainable livelihoods, it added.

The Poverty Graduation Pilot for Afghan refugee families will help develop the capacities, opportunities, assets and productivity of Afghan refugees and their host families to reduce their vulnerability to shocks, improve their livelihoods and strengthen their business operations.

UNHCR Representative in Pakistan Ruvendrini Menikdiwela and PPAF Chief Executive Officer Qazi Azmat Isa along with officials from the two organisations attended the signing ceremony, it said.