Category: National

ISLAMABAD:  Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) on Friday stressed need to focus on climate change and humanitarian crisis.

PHF also called for tangible steps and actions at program and policy level to deal with humanitarian crisis.

The forum along with its member organizations is actively monitoring the situation and fully engaged with the government of Pakistan to provide a timely response and to conduct the need assessment of the affected population.

PHF member organizations are Islamic Relief, HHRD, Muslim Hands, Human Appeal, WHH, Concern, ACF, Save the children, AKAH, Care International, Muslim Aid, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, IMC, Tearfund, ACTED, CESVI and Qatar Charity are fully present in affected districts of Balochistan Quetta, Pishin, Kachi, Mach, Lasbela, Killa Abdullah, Kalat, Sibi, Jhal Magsi, Kot Magsi, Kalaat, Noshki, and Killa Saifullah), KP (Peshawar, Laki Marwat, Shangla), Punjab (D.G. Khan, Tounsa Shareef, Rajanpur, Jhang, Mianwali, Rajanpur, Lahore, and Rahimyar Khan), Sindh (Karachi, Keemari, Hyderabad, Dadu, Thatta, Badin, Mirpur Khas, Jamshoro, and Soomar Goth), and GB ( Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral and providing relief and rescue operation in full zeal.

Collectively these organizations have reached out to around 109,441 beneficiaries and 15,635 households by providing cooked meals, dry fruit parcels, filtered water, NFIs, Shelter, and Health & hygiene support.

While visiting the affected part of Balochistan, the Country Director of Islamic Relief, Asif Sherazi mentioned that “The areas of Noshki and Panjpai haven’t seen such rains for decades, resulting in damages that require urgent attention. Even the partially damaged houses are not livable forcing people to spend days and nights in open under extremely hot weather conditions.”

He further added “Keeping in mind the scale of damages and losses, we need to work in close collaboration to create long-term impact. As we are in the early recovery phase, there is a dire need to focus more on disaster preparedness at national and provincial levels to minimize the risks in the years to come.”

While visiting Balochistan during ongoing flood situation, we have realized that people are in dire need of shelter, food, and non-food items. Though Muslim Hands provided immediate response and reached out to 27,000 people by providing food staples, cooked meals, clean drinking water and NFIs.

However, the situation is still worst, and an integrated approach is required to cater the needs of flood affectees said, Javed Gillani, Country Director, Muslim Hands.

To better provide the response services, Dr. Farah Naureen, Country Director, Mercy Corps shared, that $40,000 will be invested in District Quetta to cater the needs of 300 families 1950 individuals by providing food and non-food items.

While responding to the situation and holding the meeting with provincial and national authorities to provide coordination support to mobilize resources at all levels for the ongoing flood emergency, Shahid Kazmi, Country Coordinator, PHF shared that “PHF and NHH (National Humanitarian Network) are rapidly providing the response services and are speeding up the efforts for resource mobilization to provide extensive relief operations to and meet the people’s needs at all levels”.

“He further added that the only challenge that INGOs, and NGOs have faced is the lack of emergency appeal and formal request for assistance for scaling up the flood response at different levels”.

“He also shared that on World Humanitarian Day, we must reaffirm our commitment to take tangible steps to combat climate change and focus on the initiatives that help to make this country resilient and prosperous”.

World Humanitarian Day, commemorated every year to advocate for the survival, well-being, and dignity of people affected by crises, and for the safety and security of aid workers.

This year World Humanitarian Day is celebrated at a crucial time, especially in the countries that are suffering from the visible impact of climate change.

The monsoon emergency and the post-COVID-19 situation in many South Asian countries are giving a very tough time. Pakistan is on the top list of those countries that are quite vulnerable to climate change.

Pakistan Humanitarian Forum along with its member organizations is always at the forefront to provide support in any kind of humanitarian crisis in the country.

The forum along with its member organizations played a substantial role during COVID-19 by reaching out to 11.1 million people in Pakistan through intervention in different sectors including food security, water, sanitation and hygiene, and health and education with a total investment of Rs9.7 billion.

This year, unlike recent years, devastating monsoon floods gave a stark reminder that Pakistan is bearing the consequences of the climate emergency.

Increased casualty rate, economic losses, and damage to infrastructure and livelihood causing a huge impact on vulnerable populations calls for an immediate yet coordinated humanitarian relief and response.

According to the latest statistics, over 1 million people are badly affected by heavy rains and floods in Pakistan, mostly in Sindh (436,000 people), Balochistan (360,000 people), and Punjab (119,000 people) provinces. As per the updated statistics of NDMA, a total of 635 people died and 1016 people were injured.

More than 1800 houses were badly damaged, and 110,440 livestock perished. People in the affected region are in higher need of shelter, food, and non-food items along with services required for health, education, and protection.

ISLAMABAD: TVET Sector Support Programme (TVET SSP) has provided toolkits at a ceremony which was organized in Islamabad to provide electrician toolkits to more than 60 returning migrants and local people of Pakistan.

TVET Sector Support Programme (TVET SSP) is facilitating the reintegration of returnees under its component, ‘Reintegration of Returnees in Pakistan’, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Olaf Handloegten, Head of TVET Sector Support Programme and Cluster Coordinator Sustainable Economic Development, Training and Employment (CASEDTE) GIZ Pakistan, expressed his views while addressing the beneficiaries,

“The German Development Cooperation has always considered skills development in Pakistan to be essential and the impact it can create on the social and economic development of this country is potentially immense.

“A steady economy depends on the economic stability of its workers, specifically in the informal sector. Supporting small businesses and self-employment through the provision of in-kind support is definitely a step in the right direction.

“We are hopeful that our intervention areas related to Career & Entrepreneurship Advisory Services, and Employment Promotion will continue to be fruitful for the beneficiaries in Pakistan.”

TVET Sector Support Programme is being implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in partnership with the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), and in close collaboration with the provincial Technical Education and Vocational Training Authorities (TEVTAs) and several not-for-profit, public, and private sector organisations.

The beneficiaries were trained in a full-day workshop on Career & Entrepreneurship Advisory prior to the in-kind support handover ceremony. Beneficiaries from Punjab and KP, who participated in the workshop, will now be able to start their own businesses upon their return to their hometowns.

Muhammad Nazir Khan, a returnee from Oman, while collecting his electrician toolkit at the event said, “Whenever people like us come back to Pakistan, we struggle – there aren’t too many opportunities or support services available for returning migrants. This initiative sounds promising and the toolkits we are receiving today will enable us to run businesses and become financially stable.”

Director General National Vocational & Technical Training Commission, Mujeeb ur Rehman also partook in the event and addressed the beneficiaries.

“The support we have received from German Development Cooperation is substantial and it is an absolutely satisfying sight to see practical measures being taken to reintegrate returnees. Training people on how to start new businesses and providing them with toolkits as a follow-up measure will ensure that the beneficiaries become independent in the long run,” he said. 

The ‘Reintegration of Returnees in Pakistan’ component of TVET SSP, aims to facilitate the socio-economic development of Pakistani returnees and the locals by offering them quick and effective start-up opportunities, especially in Punjab, as it is one of the regions most affected by return migration.

The component will support 15,000 individuals, including 6,500 returnees from Germany and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries through various support measures including Career and Entrepreneurship Advisory Services, Competency-based Training & Assessments (CBT&A), Recognition of Prior Learning, and Employment Promotion.