EU, govt launch programme aimed at rural uplift in Sindh

Karachi
The European Union (EU) delegation to Pakistan, the government of Sindh and the Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) launched the European Union funded six-year Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS) programme in Karachi on Wednesday.
According to a statement, the objective of the SUCCESS programme is to reduce poverty through undertaking the Community Driven Development (CDD) based on the proven social mobilisation approach of the Rural Support Programmes (RSPs).
The programme will cover eight districts, namely Tando Muhammad Khan, Sujawal, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Larkana, Kambar Shahdadkot, Dadu and Jamshoro.
EU Ambassador in Pakistan Jean-François Cautain, Additional Deputy Secretary Sindh Ajaz Ali Khan, Chairman RSPN Shoaib Sultan Khan, Chief Executive Officer RSPN Khaleel Ahmed Tetlay, Chief Executive Officer National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) Dr Rashid Bajwa, EU officials, representatives of partner organisations for the SUCCESS programme, government officials and civil society representatives attended the ceremony.
Ajaz Ali Khan said the SUCCESS was a salient innovation and it could help bring actual change in the society.
He said it was encouraging that the programme would involve and be led by women.
He further said the Sindh government was committed to the programme and was intended to back it until end.
He observed that one of the fundamental issues in Sindh was to accommodate talented and educated youth into the industry and job market. “SUCCESS will also bring new opportunities for rural youth who would be able to work in their home districts.”
Jean-François Cautain said the philosophy of the rural support programmes, with their 30 years long experience widely documented in its successes across Pakistan, convinced the EU to recognise the multiple opportunities offered by the three-tiered social mobilisation approach in different fields as promotion of a culture of participation, inclusivity and solidarity, direct provision of front-line services, planning and development, business creation, savings, conflict resolution, dialogue and interaction with local authorities.
The ambassador further said the SUCCESS programme was developed at the request of the government of Sindh to extend the geographic coverage of their Union Council Based Poverty Reduction Programme (UCBPRP) to eight rural districts of Sindh.
“This clearly shows the commitment of the Sindh government to this approach.”
The programme includes a small component of Technical Assistance (TA), amounting to 1.5 million Euros, to be provided to the provincial government.
The TA will assist the government in designing a dedicated policy and budget framework for the community-driven local development, to be implemented from 2018 onwards.
The SUCCESS programme, as the UCBPRP, will be focusing heavily on women as their primary beneficiaries, he stated.
Giving opening remarks, Shoaib Sultan Khan shared with the audience that back in 2009, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah listened to the strategies of the RSPs and approved the UCBPRP for the two most backward districts of the province, namely Shikarpur and Kashmor. He further said the UCBRPR worked only with women and empowered them not only economically, but also on attaining self-confidence and power of their own potential to improve their status.
He termed it a fortunate incidence saying that a group of EU Delegation officials led by Brend de Groot visited rural Sindh, going to coastal areas, desert areas and the upper parts of the province.
The group was impressed by the RSPs’ mobilisation process, especially the empowerment of women achieved under the UCBPRP.
At Groot’s behest, Shoaib added that a meeting of EU officials was arranged with the chief minister and resulted in the formulation of the SUCCESS programme, which would cover eight districts on the line of the UCBPRP.
According to him, the Sindh government is planning to cover the remaining districts of the province according to a union councils based strategy through provincial funding under its annual development fund.
Khaleel Ahmed Tetlay said that with the SUCCESS programme, the RSPN, the NRSP, the Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) and the Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) will be working in eight districts of Sindh to mobilise 770,000 rural poor households into 32,400 Community Organisations (COs), 3,240 Village Organisations (VOs) and 307 Local Support Organisations (LSOs).
He stated that the SUCCESS programme would keep its focus on fostering sustainable and financially viable network of community institutions and to contribute to poverty reduction, and also to link the community institutions with the government service delivery departments.
Dr Rashid Bajwa said the SUCCESS was a historic programme in terms of poverty reduction as milestones had been achieved earlier, including the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) experience, setting up of the NRSP by the government of Pakistan and other provincial rural support programmes.
He was of the view that the programme would change the dynamics of the lives of poor in rural Sindh and would transform them into productive citizens.
He congratulated the Sindh government and the EU for taking the decision which would have sustainable impacts.