Express News: The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund seems to be losing momentum. The $250 million programme was recently downgraded by the World Bank in a report issued by the Washington-based lender’s supervisory mission.
The anti-poverty program was downgraded to ‘moderately satisfactory’, the lowest grade it has received in 12 years. It had previously been rated ‘satisfactory’. The current PPAF, the third since the program began, was launched in 2009.
The loan has been given to help provide access to credit to the lowest income strata, improving access to municipal services and construction of health and school facilities in the communities inhabited by the lowest income groups. The World Bank has set the targets to expand microcredit coverage to 230,000 new borrowers and increase the ratio of female borrowers from one-fifth to one-fourth of the total borrowers.
The PPAF was established in 1999 to expand access to microcredit in the country. It has been targeting districts that score low on the Human Development Index (HDI) besides working for livelihood enhancement in food insecure pockets of the country.
Well, all aid payments should be carefully monitored. I recall a UN meeting in Baghdad where each UN agency was represented by one official and UNHCR was represented by six. Very efficient, spending the bulk of funds on themselves, with insufficient amounts reaching the intended beneficiaries. (just one example).