ISLAMABAD (PR): Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund has added another feather onto its cap by winning the prestigious Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks Award (GDIB) for the fourth consecutive year. GDIB awards are a mechanism to encourage and support progressive organizations that are aligned with GDIB standards and implement diversity and inclusion initiatives along with ensuring sustainable performance. GDIB is hosted by The Centre for Global Inclusion USA and the Diversity Hub Pakistan conducts GDIB awards every year in Pakistan. PPAF has been regularly recognized for its policies by Diversity Hub and this year the organization bagged awards in five categories, Best Practice in D&I Vision, Strategy & Business Case, Best Practice in D&I Structure and Implementation, Best Practice in Community, Government Relations, award for Recruitment, Retention, Development, Advancementand Social Responsibility and Best Practice award for Products and Services Development. CEO PPAF, Qazi Azmat Isa congratulated his team on this monumental achievement, he said, “Winning the prestigious GDIB award for the fourth time in a row reaffirms our faith that PPAF is headed in the right direction. For the last 20 years we have been working for the betterment of our people and the focus has always been to act as a socially responsible organization. I hope everyone at PPAF continues to work with the same zeal in the future as well.” A five-member jury panel reviewed the award submissions from Pakistan, jury members included Ms Ayesha Aziz MD Pak Brunei Investment Company, Ms Moneeza Butt PartnerKPMG, Dr Sadia Nadeem Dean FAST School of Management, Dr Jawad Syed Former Dean Suleman Dawood School of Business (LUMS) and Zahid Mubarik CEO HR Metrics Pakistan. GDIB was developed by 95 Expert Panelists from around the world, and co-authors Julie O’Mara (Former National President American Society for Training & Development) and Dr Alan Richter. It recognizes organizations that exhibit commitment towards D&I and are consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Commitment towards sustainability initiatives and D&I initiatives have gained profound importance globally. PPAF is amongst the few organizations in Pakistan which has constantly worked towards this cause. This has helped the organization in better use of resources along with ensuring timely fulfilment of organizational goals.

As one of the largest sources of pro-poor spending in the country, the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund is the lead agency for poverty reduction in Pakistan. It embodies the spirit of public-private partnership to address the multi-dimensional issues of poverty with a view to achieving social and economic change. PPAF outreach extends throughout Pakistan as it has partnered with 130 organizations working in over 100,000 villages/settlements with more than 133,000 community organizations and 440,000 credit/common interest groups at the grassroots level in 137 districts.