Ehsaas Amdan Programme: Engro Foundation, PPAF to launch Rs70m livelihood initiative

KARACHI: Engro Foundation with Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) has announced to launch Rs 70 million livelihood initiative under Ehsaas Amdan Programme.

As part of the Rs 1 billion Hussain Dawood Pledge, Engro Foundation, the social investment arm of Engro Corporation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PPAF to contribute Rs 70 million to the Ehsaas Amdan Programme.

As part of the commitment, Engro Foundation will be designing a livelihood programme, focused on smallholder farmers in the livestock sector. This collaboration with PPAF, the lead implementing agency for the Ehsaas Amdan programme, will support the Government of Pakistan’s poverty alleviation programme for deserving families, whose incomes have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the Ehsaas Amdan Programme, assets are given to the deserving to enable them to graduate out of poverty. These assets include livestock (goats, cows, buffaloes and poultry), agricultural inputs, body of Chingchi rickshaws, and inputs for small retail outlets and small enterprises etc. The programme is being implemented in 375 union councils of 23 poorest districts across four provinces of Pakistan.

Ghias Khan, President and CEO of Engro Corporation and Trustee of Engro Foundation informed that the economic implications of Covid-19 have pushed millions into poverty and resulted in up to 3 million job losses in Pakistan. “We hope that our humble contribution and collaboration with PPAF will deliver positive change through the government’s Ehsaas programme, which has been globally recognized as a model poverty reduction program”, he added.

Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO, PPAF said that Engro’s commitment to the Ehsaas Amdan Programme is commendable, as it will improve opportunities for women in rural areas. This initiative is a steppingstone to creating sustainable income opportunities for the poorest of the poor. Hundreds of underprivileged women have already benefitted from this programme, and this joint venture will enable us to extend its outreach further, he added.

It may be mentioned here that under the Rs 1 billion pledge made by Chairman Engro Corporation Hussain Dawood and Dawood Hercules Corporation, Covid-19 relief efforts are being supported in services, kind and cash on multiple fronts, including disease prevention, with a major focus on testing and diagnostics, protecting and enabling healthcare practitioners and other key workers, who are at the frontline of the fight against this pandemic; enabling patient care and facilities and bolstering livelihoods and sustenance of the most deserving in society.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021