CHITRAL, Nov 29: The Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) has launched a number of programmes for poverty alleviation through community mobilization.

Talking to Dawn here on Tuesday, regional programme coordinator Mohammad Saleem Shah said that the organization had a two-pronged task: to organize rural communities into social organizations and provide them resources to help them develop physical infrastructure.

He said that Chitral was the largest district in the province, but the functionaries of SRSP had covered each part and there was no village left unattended.

He said since its inception in 2001, the organization had undertaken 124 projects. The projects belong to the sectors of communication, drinking water and sanitation and irrigation while hydro-power production has now been included.

Regarding the funding of the projects, he said that Department for International Department (DFID) funded it for its pilot phase costing Rs6,651,921 while the last three phases were being financed by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF). He said due importance had been given to the projects of drinking and irrigation water which posed basic problems of the communities.

He said that in Chitral there was great potential of hydro- power generation due to the availability of water resources. The SRSP had come to help the communities to exploit the resource so that the electricity at cheaper rate could solve people’s problems.

He said the communities are being aided financially and technically to construct micro hydel power houses in the villages.

Regarding practical training to the community members in different fields, Mr Shah said that specialized training programmes had been arranged periodically for the members of more than 550 social organizations which also included women.