EU supports UNIDO to create livelihoods in Pakistan
Celina Ali
Islamabad: In the margins of the General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Pakistan and the EU organised a joint side event this week to showcase how through key UNIDO expertise, the EU is helping people in the Sindh province to rebuild their lives after last year’s devastating floods.
The five-year PAIDAR programme aims to achieve sustainable poverty reduction in the rural communities. It is the biggest EU-funded UNIDO activity amounting to €50 million.
Pakistan witnessed devastating monsoon rains in 2022, resulting in severe flooding that affected millions of people in particular in the southeastern province of Sindh. PAIDAR – Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development Across Rural Sindh – is playing an important role in helping reduce poverty in a comprehensive manner and improving the livelihoods of people within the flooded area.
Ambassador of Pakistan, Aftab Ahmad Khokher, informed that in the coming 4-5 years PAIDAR will focus on fostering economic development by supporting the development of enterprises, as well as of Rural Growth Centres and Urban Economic Clusters. The most significant principle of the project is to create a sense of community ownership, which will contribute to the socioeconomic development of society.
Nima Bahramalian, an Industrial Development Expert at UNIDO Division of SME Competitiveness, presented PAIDAR and its technical functions. In his presentation, he underlined the EU’s pivotal role in Pakistan as a development partner, highlighting that the EU’s scaled-up valuable partnership with UNIDO since 2005 has facilitated the successful mobilization of public and private partnership investment to make a sustainable change with PAIDAR.
Asad Rehmen Gilani, Federal Secretary for Board of Investment at Prime Minister’s Office of Pakistan, expressed his gratitude to the EU for having swiftly come to Pakistan’s assistance. He noted that Sindh people are facing a constant challenge with floods and encouraged collective action in response to climate change.
Director General of UNIDO, Gerd Müller stressed the importance of supporting the Government of Sindh for sustainable development, focusing on economic and social challenges facing the poor after the devastating floods. He stated that PAIDAR represents a model for fighting poverty worldwide.
Ambassador of the European Union, Carl Hallergård, welcomed the partnership with Pakistan and with UNIDO. PAIDAR can serve as a catalyst for positive change and bring us closer to realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. .
PAIDAR is a five-year programme funded by the EU and implemented by UNIDO to support the Government of Sindh in Pakistan in the implementation of its Poverty Reduction Strategy in particular in two aspects: Fostering economic development, enterprise development and job creation, and optimizing public service delivery. To this end, the programme will provide necessary technical assistance, capacity building and financial support to a significant number of micro and small enterprises. It will help build and upgrade public infrastructure to improve service delivery and it will strengthen capacity of the Government of Sindh to implement its Poverty Reduction Strategy.
