Monday, July 15, 2013


USAID spending $232m in disaster-hit areas

ISLAMABAD: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing $232 million in grants to communities in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA to help recover them from natural disasters and conflicts.

According to data, USAID will be spending more than $207 million on the Pakistan Transition Initiative for projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA from November 2007 to December 2015 to help communities.

The Pakistan Transition Initiative seeks to build confidence and encourage trust between the government of Pakistan and local communities in conflict-prone areas of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The project seeks to reinforce stability, counter extremism, and extend the writ of the government in these areas by supporting good governance, encouraging broad-based community participation in decision-making, and increasing public access to information about the government’s social, economic, and political programmes and policies.

The objective of the Pakistan Transition Initiative is to support conditions for stability and development in conflict-prone areas of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Pakistan Transition Initiative helps install new village water systems in FATA and supports community-level projects that respond to locally identified needs.

The initiative is meant to increase awareness of government activities, strengthen the ability of institutions to support professional media coverage of public policy issues and enhance the capacity of journalists from FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to report professionally on issues of public interest.

The project will improve the ability of government broadcasters in FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to engage effectively with the public.

Under the programme, 1,679 projects are so far supported that respond to community-identified needs, besides 17,628 interactions between communities and the government.

Four journalism departments in KP universities have received technical assistance and support, 13 press clubs and the Tribal Union of Journalists have been renovated and/or received equipment and training, 1,692 journalists from FATA and KP received training on various media-related topics and five government-owned radio stations in FATA and KP have received technical assistance and capacity-building support.

USAID will also be spending $25 million on the Multi-Donor Trust Fund from July 2010 to December 2015 in areas of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.

The Multi-Donor Trust Fund is providing grants to help communities in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) recover from armed conflict and the floods of 2010, and restore peace to the areas.

Funding activities include restoration of damaged infrastructure and disrupted services and improvement of government service delivery and locals’ livelihood.

Ten donors have committed a total of about $140 million to the World Bank, which is administering the fund.

USAID Trust Fund is awarding grants for road construction, restoration of services and infrastructure, augmentation of livelihoods, and improved reconstruction coordination in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and FATA.

A grant of $8 million has been awarded to the KP for the emergency roads recovery programme, while $6 million grant for the Governance Support Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and $16 million grant for revitalising health services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is pending. app

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

Back to Top