THIS is with reference to the news feature ‘SRSO working miracles in lives of low-income skilled workers, entrepreneurs’ (May 4). The Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) may have worked, but these ‘miracles’ are at the individual level; they have not benefitted larger communities. Things on the surface may look great, but when we scratch the surface we get the whole story that is often not so encouraging.

The SRSO is Sindh’s only rural support programme, which was established in 2003. I joined it in March 2003 and was there till July 2005.

The first baseline survey was conducted in December 2003, and it revealed that the overall poverty ratio of five districts of SRSO operations was around 56 per cent. The SRSO board approved microcredit facilities to address poverty. As operations increased, the Sindh government injected more money, but poverty has not been decreased. Instead, it has increased in the areas where the SRSO is operational. The main reason behind this is improper planning and lack of programme-related initiatives.

For the last 23 years, the SRSO has the same board members, and most of them are aged above 75 years. This is despite the fact that the relevant rules do not permit more than three terms to any board member.

In the last more than two decades, rural support programmes in Sindh have not achieved tangible results. This is because poverty cannot be addressed by merely pumping money. China has proved that poverty can be decreased through multiple initiatives, like the provision of water, sanitation, housing, insurance, health, education and farm-to-market roads.

China has even addressed the issues of electricity and internet in its villages. It is only by facilitating lives that a state can enable and encourage people to come out of the poverty trap. We can take inspiration from the Chinese programme.

Aijaz Ali Khuwaja
Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2025