KARACHI - Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) is undertaking special measures to improve incomes and empower vulnerable poor, especially women through imparting skills and developing linkages to showcase and sell their products.
These views were expressed by women getting training at production centre set up by PPAF at Gharo, district Thatta on Thursday. Talking to a group of journalists, they said that such centres were blessing in disguise for poor women who are now getting training in embroidery, tailoring and other trades to generate incomes for their households.
Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) is committed to supporting and promoting social enterprises and entrepreneurship at village and union council levels so that sustainable business entities can widely emerge that can protect and promote social, cultural and environmental standards besides directly contributing to socio-economic well-being of rural communities.
PPAF crowds in investments, technical know-how and resources while building the sector through knowledge sharing, mobilizing service providers & enablers, certifying material, modules, trainers, facilitating processes and skills improvement of service providers.
It adopts three-pronged approach to livelihoods, employment and enterprise development with focus on building local capacities and targeting the ultra-poor households, investing in creating platforms to support and spark economic activities with concerted efforts to work with women, youth and persons with disabilities, investing in research, assessments and studies as to link the grassroots realities at policy level.
PPAF has established 71 Production Centres all over Pakistan where 2351 male and female community members have benefitted to transform their lives.
PPAF, under its Livelihood Enhancement and Enterprise Development (LEED) Group initiatives since 2013, has been playing a key role in graduating those households that are below the poverty line through two-pronged strategy of ‘push and pull’.  The group specializes in provision of a range of livelihoods interventions, extends capacity building and initial grant funds to incubate social enterprises and ensures that it is set up and managed on sustainable business principles. Besides, it supports advocacy efforts to change policy that may have a positive influence for community-based livelihoods.