PESHAWAR - The field activists of the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) in three flood-hit districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shared their success stories and experiences at a workshop here on Wednesday.
Under the Australian government (AusAid)-funded Livelihood Strengthening Programme, the SRSP had completed several projects in the flood-hit Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera districts and activists from these districts had gathered the venue to share their experiences.
Speaking as chief guest, KP Law Minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah said that the government had built the SRSP capacity to deliver in poverty alleviating programmes because of its long track record.
“As the government alone can’t overcome the growing poverty, it needs reliable partners like SRSP to meet the challenge,” he said, adding, under the Bacha Khan Poverty Alleviation Programme (BKPAP) people were successfully organised at grassroots level to launch innovative projects to eradicate poverty.
Arshad Abdullah recalled that after the July 2010 floods, there was chaos all around and the SRSP played a crucial rule in the initial as the rehabilitation and the reconstruction process.
Meanwhile, sharing his achievement, one of the activists, Mukarram Khan, from Peshawar said that several unemployed youth from his flood-affected Grahi Sherdad village in Peshawar were imparted various trainings under the Livelihood Strengthening Programme. “Now, two of the electricians are working in Afghanistan and many others have opened their own shops in the village,” he said proudly.
He also said that they achieved tremendous success in filed of agriculture after acquiring training under the projects. Muhommad Kashif of Bara Banda Union Council in Nowshera, said that the concept of saving was alien to them until they formed the village organisation under the SRSP.
“The SRSP has given us a vision and created awareness among people to find ways to resolve issues. Earlier, SPRSP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masoosdul Mulk briefed the gathering about the purpose behind the workshop.