Badakhshan Officials and Influentials Call for TUP Scale-Up
Local government officials and other influential members of the community called for the scale-up of a MISFA program for the poorest in Badakhshan, a province in the northeast of Afghanistan where poverty is prevalent.
“On behalf of the people of Badakhshan, I am calling for the scale up of the (Targeting the Ultra- Poor/TUP) project,” said, Ghulam Muhammad Khadem, Head of the District Development Association (DDA) in Faizabad.
Mr. Khadem spoke at the recent TUP project performance awareness event hosted by MISFA and its implementing partner CoAR in Faizabad, the provincial capital, to report on the project’s achievements since TUP was first implemented in the province in mid-2012.
A total of 800 women, who were in the bottom of the poverty scale, were provided a package of inputs, including livestock, animal husbandry training, subsistence support, and basic health and hygiene care.
The aim of the two-year intervention is to graduate ultra poor households out of the safety net program and into income earning activities, such as micro enterprises. In addition, the program also endeavors to link TUP graduates and their families to social services, such as schools, clinics/hospitals, and financial institutions.
An influential member of the community, Mr. Mehrabuddin, praised the success of the program, citing the story of a TUP participant, “A woman once begging for a bit of butter to feed her newborn, is now in the business of dairy production.”
Still, given that poverty rate remain high in the province; Mr. Mehrabuddin urged the government, donors, and all TUP stakeholders to scale up TUP in other key areas in Badakhshan, starting with the Khash district.
“We believe that only through TUP, we can put an end to the poverty in Badakhshan”. Badakhshan is a mountainous province with relatively less farming land, but suitable for livestock raring.
Nasima, a TUP participant, speaking at the project awareness event: “We were in the bottom poor and my children were subjected to domestic violence out of my family’s despair. Now, we know about livestock rearing, hygiene; we have enough to eat, we even have savings, and our children are going to school.”
To read more updates on MISFA’s activities, please see:MISFA Newsletter June 2014
The read about the story of Razia, a model TUP beneficiary who used her loan to starther own embroidery business, please see: Story of Razia
