ROME, March 8: The United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) office in Pakistan has been awarded an important UN prize for helping to improve women's lives by reducing household burdens.

The award - worth $29,000 - was presented to a Pakistan country officer at a small ceremony at the WFP headquarters in Rome on Tuesday. The prize honours former WFP director Catherine Bertini and also celebrates International Woman's Day.

Caroline Hurford, a WFP media spokesperson from the Rome headquarters, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that Pakistan has made huge and significant improvements to the livelihoods of women by reducing household burdens and providing training in securing new sources of revenue.

WFP officers in Pakistan have focused their efforts on reducing water shortage burdens in the Thar desert region. The project, which kicked off in 2001, has involved the construction of 291 wells, 7,000 water tanks for storage during the brief rainfalls and thousands of lavatories closer to the rural communities. These facilities have significantly reduced the distances women had to walk to obtain water - at times up to 4km a day - for their households, Hurford continued.

The UN food programme has provided assistance in planting more than 11,000 acres of tree saplings, which in addition to reducing soil erosion, provided villages with a means of revenue. The women have been given training and assistance with poultry-farming, bee-keeping, handicraft and tailoring. Their revenues can then be exchanged with special food at the local shops.