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| November 12, 2002 | Tuesday | Ramazan 6, 1423 |
Donors asked to increase contribution
NEW YORK, Nov 11: Pakistan on Sunday called on international donors to increase their contribution to the micro-finance sector for the alleviation of poverty in developing countries. Addressing the inaugural session of the Microcredit Summit + 5 in New York, Sehba Musharraf, the Chairperson Regional Steering Committee for the Advancement of Rural and Island Women—a group of 17 countries of Asia and Pacific Region, stressed that in Pakistan a Microcredit infrastructure was in place and the role of donors will be critical.
She said an integral part of these initiatives in Pakistan is the Khushhali Bank, a well-capitalized institution established to act as flagship of the programme.
Ms Musharraf said: “The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, one of the largest funds of its kind, has been established with the assistance of the World Bank to promote the development of marketing skills and financial empowerment, especially of women,” adding “these new institutions now give effective support to many programmes including the National Rural Support Programme which assist the poor at the grassroots level.
Elaborating on the Microcredit programme, she said, several initiatives are currently underway in the Asia Pacific region. In the RSC-AP member countries, Pakistan, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Iran, the Philippines and some of our esteemed Central Asian neighbours, are all concentrating on micro-finance services to the poor.
“In Pakistan, as in many developing countries, poverty combines with illiteracy and backwardness resulting in more adversity. As a result, the poor become victims to unscrupulous and exploitative money lenders, who hold entire families to ransom for life. There is a need, therefore, for a responsive financial system which reaches out to the people and delivers services at their doorsteps,” she said.
She pointed out that “a recent research study has also been conducted to determine the impact of Microcredit at the household level. Accumulated evidence suggests that the lives of the beneficiaries and their families have significantly improved.”
On Pakistan government’s efforts to empower women, Ms Musharraf said: “The new local government plan set up last year in Pakistan has resulted in the emergence of over 40,000 elected women councilors most of whom belong to rural areas.” She said that this will help in enhancing the outreach of the Microcredit services to the households of the rural poor.
Ms Musharraf said: “Pakistan has taken a holistic approach to tackle the poverty issue. Focus of the approach is to help the farmers to increase the yield of their crops, provide job opportunities by establishing small-scale industries, and generating self-employment by providing Microcredit facilities.”
However, she observed: “Clearly, action is needed on a number of fronts, as only a multi-pronged approach can tackle the problem of poverty,” adding, “Microcredit is one instrument that holds the greatest promise for transforming the lives of the economically underprivileged.”
The session was attended by about 1,000 delegates from countries around the world and was also addressed among others by the President of Mexico, Vincente Fox, Vice-President of Gambia and Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand.
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