'Poverty alleviation possible only with simultaneous uplift in all sectors'
SAQIB FAROOQ
ISLAMABAD (December 29 2006): Former governor State Bank of Pakistan and chairman of the National Commission for Government Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain has said that the poverty could only be alleviated if work in all departments of human development like education, health, clean drinking water, infrastructure improvement, is done simultaneously and not through micro-financing alone.
He was the chief guest at the Micro-entrepreneurship Awards 2006 (MEA) organised by the Citigroup Foundation, a philanthropic arm of Citigroup and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) here on Thursday.
The 20 winners and runners-up selected from ten categories of the Citigroup-PPAF were given prizes. In addition, 20 especial recognition awards were also given to the Loan Officers and representatives of the Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). The winners received prize of Rs 2 million.
Two top prizes for the categories of Best Male Micro-entrepreneur and Best Female Micro-entrepreneur were awarded to Anopo (Tharparkar) and Ghazala Yasmin (Faisalabad) respectively.
Other awards were given to winners and runners-up in the four 'Best Rural Micro-entrepreneur' and four 'Best Urban Micro-entrepreneur' categories. Dr Ishrat termed the winners of the Micro-entrepreneurs awards to be the real heroes of the country as they have shown the way to success to others and have also encouraged the working groups with their success stories to further intensify their efforts for alleviating poverty.
However, he was of the view that poverty cannot be completely eradicated from the society as even in developed countries 15-16pc people live under the poverty line. Giving example of United States, he said that about 42 million people in US are not extended health facilities and they have no resources of their own to acquire medical treatment.
He said that micro financing has provided an opportunity to the poor for borrowing, as before this programme, poor were not granted loans. Only the rich had access to the banking facility of loans, which were conditional and the poor could not meet those conditions. Micro-financing extends these loans unconditionally, ie without any pre-requisites but only after careful scrutiny of genuine borrowers.
He deplored that the rich, who borrow money from banks and in most cases are defaulters but the poor do not indulge in such practices. He said that the recovery rate of loans in micro financing to the poor is very good.
He asked the SBP, which is the licensing authority to the financing institutions/NGOs, to only issue licenses to the deserving organisations, which work truly for the public and the nation. Continuing, the former governor said that there is no substitute of education, but we cannot wait and sit idle till the whole country is educated, we must continue our efforts providing micro loans to the poor to alleviate poverty, which ultimately becomes a source of facilitating education, he added.
Sponsored by the Government of Pakistan and financed by the World Bank and other leading donors, the PPAF has disbursed more than Rs 22 billion for various projects (with 100 percent repayment ratio on lending for micro credit) since 2000. The PPAF, through 68 partner organisations, has worked in 22,000 villages of 108 districts and has formed 60,000 communities, estimated to impact more than 10 million individuals directly or indirectly.
The PPAF's cumulative operational activities entail approximately one million micro credit loans, 12,000 infrastructure projects, 250,000 trained individuals, 85 health and education facilities as well as financing for 76,000 housing units in the earthquake-affected areas.
Pakistan Citigroup Managing Director and Country Officer Zubyr Soomro, said that Khushhali schemes and PPAF contribute 93pc to poverty alleviation. The Citigroup Foundation's grants are awarded primarily in three areas: financial education, educating the next generation and building communities and entrepreneurs.
Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) Kamal Hyat, Chief Operating Officer PPAF Ahmad Jamal, Kamran Akbar General Manager, Human & Institutional Development Unit, members of Awards Advisory Council including former UN Goodwill Ambassador Faryal Gauhar, Economic Growth Adviser US Aid Aazar Bhandara, Director Finance Save the Children (US) Babar Aziz, Financial Management Consultant M R Khan, Chairperson CARE Foundation Seema Aziz, senior financial analyst IFC Ayesha Muzaffar, micro-entrepreneurs, representatives from micro-finance institutions as well as important officials from the ministries, central bank, diplomats, dignitaries and members of the screening committee were also present on this occasion.
http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=512448&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=
SAQIB FAROOQ
ISLAMABAD (December 29 2006): Former governor State Bank of Pakistan and chairman of the National Commission for Government Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain has said that the poverty could only be alleviated if work in all departments of human development like education, health, clean drinking water, infrastructure improvement, is done simultaneously and not through micro-financing alone.
He was the chief guest at the Micro-entrepreneurship Awards 2006 (MEA) organised by the Citigroup Foundation, a philanthropic arm of Citigroup and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) here on Thursday.
The 20 winners and runners-up selected from ten categories of the Citigroup-PPAF were given prizes. In addition, 20 especial recognition awards were also given to the Loan Officers and representatives of the Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). The winners received prize of Rs 2 million.
Two top prizes for the categories of Best Male Micro-entrepreneur and Best Female Micro-entrepreneur were awarded to Anopo (Tharparkar) and Ghazala Yasmin (Faisalabad) respectively.
Other awards were given to winners and runners-up in the four 'Best Rural Micro-entrepreneur' and four 'Best Urban Micro-entrepreneur' categories. Dr Ishrat termed the winners of the Micro-entrepreneurs awards to be the real heroes of the country as they have shown the way to success to others and have also encouraged the working groups with their success stories to further intensify their efforts for alleviating poverty.
However, he was of the view that poverty cannot be completely eradicated from the society as even in developed countries 15-16pc people live under the poverty line. Giving example of United States, he said that about 42 million people in US are not extended health facilities and they have no resources of their own to acquire medical treatment.
He said that micro financing has provided an opportunity to the poor for borrowing, as before this programme, poor were not granted loans. Only the rich had access to the banking facility of loans, which were conditional and the poor could not meet those conditions. Micro-financing extends these loans unconditionally, ie without any pre-requisites but only after careful scrutiny of genuine borrowers.
He deplored that the rich, who borrow money from banks and in most cases are defaulters but the poor do not indulge in such practices. He said that the recovery rate of loans in micro financing to the poor is very good.
He asked the SBP, which is the licensing authority to the financing institutions/NGOs, to only issue licenses to the deserving organisations, which work truly for the public and the nation. Continuing, the former governor said that there is no substitute of education, but we cannot wait and sit idle till the whole country is educated, we must continue our efforts providing micro loans to the poor to alleviate poverty, which ultimately becomes a source of facilitating education, he added.
Sponsored by the Government of Pakistan and financed by the World Bank and other leading donors, the PPAF has disbursed more than Rs 22 billion for various projects (with 100 percent repayment ratio on lending for micro credit) since 2000. The PPAF, through 68 partner organisations, has worked in 22,000 villages of 108 districts and has formed 60,000 communities, estimated to impact more than 10 million individuals directly or indirectly.
The PPAF's cumulative operational activities entail approximately one million micro credit loans, 12,000 infrastructure projects, 250,000 trained individuals, 85 health and education facilities as well as financing for 76,000 housing units in the earthquake-affected areas.
Pakistan Citigroup Managing Director and Country Officer Zubyr Soomro, said that Khushhali schemes and PPAF contribute 93pc to poverty alleviation. The Citigroup Foundation's grants are awarded primarily in three areas: financial education, educating the next generation and building communities and entrepreneurs.
Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) Kamal Hyat, Chief Operating Officer PPAF Ahmad Jamal, Kamran Akbar General Manager, Human & Institutional Development Unit, members of Awards Advisory Council including former UN Goodwill Ambassador Faryal Gauhar, Economic Growth Adviser US Aid Aazar Bhandara, Director Finance Save the Children (US) Babar Aziz, Financial Management Consultant M R Khan, Chairperson CARE Foundation Seema Aziz, senior financial analyst IFC Ayesha Muzaffar, micro-entrepreneurs, representatives from micro-finance institutions as well as important officials from the ministries, central bank, diplomats, dignitaries and members of the screening committee were also present on this occasion.
http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=512448&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=
