Saturday, June 02, 2012

PPAF stresses strategy to cope with natural calamities

LAHORE: Speakers at a roundtable stressed the need for developing a viable framework for micro-finance sector to protect the vulnerable and the poor from the disastrous effects of natural catastrophes.

They also stressed the need for evaluating the utility of micro-finance as a mechanism to rehabilitate flood victims by using financial instruments such as micro-credit, micro-insurance, savings and micro-assets. The roundtable captioned ‘Strategising for Resilience Against Disasters - a micro-finance dialogue’ was organised by Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) at a local hotel on Friday. Various stakeholders, including regulators, implementers and representatives of micro-finance institutions, attended the dialogue. Addressing on the occasion, National Disaster Management Authority Chairman Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir said that disaster mitigation framework was being developed to cope with natural calamities, with involvement of insurance companies and other financial institutions.

PPAF Director Zubyr Soomro said that micro-finance served the section of society that lived at the bottom of the pyramid and they tended to be prone to disaster risk than the rest of the population. Therefore, he added, they needed special attention to sustain their livelihoods, which was of immense concern for entire populations across the country. staff report

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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