Community organizations provided food to more than 60,000 people in 13 flood-affected districts across the four provinces of Pakistan - Khyber Puktunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. The organizations are part of a community network, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), within its Community Empowerment project. Launched in 2003, the project is carried out in 45 districts of Pakistan and aims to help Pakistanis build a better future for themselves and their children
When the devastating floods hit Pakistan nearly 3 months ago, this network of community organizations used its knowledge and linkages with local communities through district bars and press clubs, citizen community board networks, and local council associations to reach and help the most affected communities and people.They provided cooked food for 15 days as well as uncooked food packages to 8,980 households (62,719 people) sufficient to cover the needs for 15 days in 13 districts across Pakistan.
Khairiz Gul from Charsadda was one of the thousands to be helped by the community organizations. He recalls the day the waters ravaged his home. As he waited on the rooftop of his sunken home with his 75-year-old mother, wife and 8 minor children, he remembers the sheer horror of the time. “I saw the water gush into my house. The women and children in my family could not swim; it was a miracle that we survived. Had it not been for the timely provision of food, medicines and clean drinking water, I don’t know what we would have done”, he said.
Given their local presence and knowledge, the network became a focal point for district governments, international donor agencies and other relief organizations who were providing help to affectees. They helped UN Agencies, including UNICEF, and international NGOs such as the International Red Cross Committee and World Wildlife Fund distribute over 2000 hygiene kits, blankets and medicines as well as water tanks and filters in 9 of the affected districts. Cash grants provided through the networks helped 400 families survive in the initial aftermath.
Sardar Ali lived in a mud house in Sharradrabkaroona village of Charsadda with his wife and seven children. His eldest son, Saghier has polio. As the water inundated his home, he sought refugee on the rooftop of a nearby school building. “Our bodies ached as we waded through the flood waters, we had so many scratches and wounds. I was so relieved to find medicines for my family thanks to someone we had known for years through the community organization I had been an active part of”.
The network helped the District Government of Charsadda distribute cooked food twice a day during a period of 20 days to 50,000 affectees in this district alone.
As part of its one-year early recovery programme, UNDP provides communities with access to basic services such as health, education, municipal services and water supply schemes across the affected districts while engaging them fully in the design and implementation of projects to restore community infrastructure. UNDP also provides support to all tiers of local government making district, tehsil and union council offices fully functional again to lead this early recovery effort.
Shirin Gul, from UNDP’s Democratic Governance Unit says, ‘ the social capital created by UNDP’s community empowerment project helped provide a vital link between the locals and relief agencies and will continue to help restore basic social services while keeping communities at the forefront of this effort’.