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The Rural
Support Programmes (RSPs) are working in Sindh Province
since 1992 to release the potential abilities, skills
and knowledge of rural men and women, to enable them to
articulate their aspirations and to effectively marshal
the resources they need to meet their identified needs.
The purpose of RSPs work is to alleviate poverty by
enabling people to break the cycle of poverty, which
begins with lack of opportunity, extends to the
well-known miseries of economic and nutritional poverty
and leads new generations to endure the same conditions.
The process is social mobilization - bringing people
together on new terms for a common purpose. The
conceptual tools used for doing so are social
mobilization which is to provide 'social guidance'
(organizing local men and women who will take on a
leadership role), advocacy, capacity building and
awareness raising. The programmatic tools are training,
support to institutions, micro-credit, infrastructure
development, natural resource management and 'productive
linkages'.
The Union Council Based Poverty Reduction
Programme (UCBPRP) is a pioneering initiative of the Sindh Rural
Support Organization (SRSO) and the Government of Sindh (GoS), for
reducing poverty through the potential of the people. The Union
Council Based Poverty Reduction Programme (UCBPRP) was initiated on
the 1st of February 2009 in 2 districts of Sindh, namely
Kashmore-Kandhkot and Shikarpur, with a total budget of Rs. 3
billion. The duration of the project is 30 months and is being
implemented by SRSO.
In march 2010 after successfully completing its
first year this project has been extended to two more districts
namely Jacobabad and Tharparker by the Government of Sindh and is
being implemented by Sindh RSPs.
The Union Council Based Rural Poverty Reduction Programme (UCBPRP)
in 19 UCs of district Khairpur commenced on 1st July 2009 and would
be completed in 36 months by core- funding of SRSO.
The aims of UCBPRP to target the poor through the process of social
mobilization, harnesses their potential and enables them to build
productive assets, reduce vulnerabilities and improve by and large,
the condition of their village or locality.
Social Mobilization is the first step in eradicating some of the barriers that the
poorest face. This entails organizing rural communities into organizations
of the poor at the community,
village and union council level. In the case of the Union Council Based Poverty
Reduction Programme (UCBPRP), it caters towards
removing common hurdles such as lack of assets, credit, technical skills and
inability to afford health-care, which ultimately prevent the poorest from
climbing up the poverty ladder.
The Project is designed to reduce rural poverty using
the RSPs conceptual package of social mobilization
supplemented by a programmatic interventions based upon
a holistic approach. In addition to poverty reduction,
the project will also help improve social indicators
relating to health, environment and education,
especially for women and children. This will also
introduce micro health insurance for the poor to avert
health related shocks that push vulnerable people to
below poverty line and poor to chronically poor. The
project will also prepare the communities to make use of
microfinance for their livelihoods and creation of
assets, which are the main reasons behind poverty in
rural areas.
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