December 9, 2010
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Even with the relatively quiet coverage by the international press on Pakistan flood rehabilitation, the fact still remains that this is still a time of tremendous need in Pakistan. 2,000 people have died from the floods, but in the flood-affected communities the death toll could rise if the related destabilizing threats are not tackled – water-borne diseases, food insecurity, destroyed economic opportunities that need to be restored, children who lost their schools, and homelessness at the onset of winter. In short, the UN Secretary General called this situation a “slow-moving titanic.”

Photo Credit: BRAC Pakistan
Even with the relatively quiet coverage by the international press on Pakistan flood rehabilitation, the fact still remains that this is still a time of tremendous need in Pakistan. 2,000 people have died from the floods, but in the flood-affected communities the death toll could rise if the related destabilizing threats are not tackled – water-borne diseases, food insecurity, destroyed economic opportunities that need to be restored, children who lost their schools, and homelessness at the onset of winter. In short, the UN Secretary General called this situation a “slow-moving titanic.”
In the face of such dire assessment, what make us hopeful is the resiliency of people in the flood-affected communities where we work. Informed by BRAC’s experiences with post-natural disaster work in Bangladesh and elsewhere, BRAC has fully embarked on rehabilitation work in Pakistan.
Our note today from our flood response manager says “I have started to distribute goats to flood affected families. Cow distribution will be started after a week.” Many flood victims depended on poultry and livestock for their livelihood until they were washed away by the floods. With your support, we have started an asset recovery program of poultry and livestock for such families. In essence, BRAC has commenced an element of its traditional Target Ultra Poor program where the ultra-poor – i.e. those who are too poor for microfinance – are given an asset (like livestock) and trained to generate income off that asset.
With the end of Qurbani Eid (the feast of sacrifice) the prices of livestock have fallen substantially in the market, which will enable our funds in the asset recovery program to go farther. Our starting targets are distribution of 600 goats and 300 cows. The need is still immense and we have to scale this up. With your support we will, inshallah (an oft-used phrased by Muslims which mean “God willing”).
Rehabilitation work in other areas continues apace, the most significant being the fresh new liquidity that our microfinance program is supplying to BRAC members. Our target is to originate over $1.5 million in flood loans to flood affected BRAC members to assist with their livelihood recovery. To encourage farmers to plant during the just-passed Rabi season, BRAC has distributed over 30,000kg of wheat seeds.
BRAC first made a long-term commitment to Pakistan in 2007. We reiterated our long-term commitment to Pakistan last September, pledging to fundraise and carry out over $17 million of flood rehabilitation and livelihood development in areas of microfinance, agriculture, health, and WASH over the next 5 years. With 2010 ending and 2011 only a few weeks away, we are dedicated to scaling up our work in the country to maximize our impact. Please continue your support with a donation to BRAC (https://www.brac.net/donations/view).
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Zehra
Zehra
13 years ago

So why not give people the money to buy the goats (or whatever else their need it) rather than distributing the goats yourself? Thanks, Zehra.

Anonymous
Anonymous
13 years ago

The flood devastation left the poor even poorer than they were before the floods. In other words, many of the poor fell in to the ultra-poor category. So with the livestock transfer, BRAC in essence is employing our Target Ultra Poor (TUP) approach. Traditionally with TUP, BRAC transfers an asset to an ultra-poor person, provides training, and other social support. After one year or so of BRAC working with this client, the intent is for her/him to become mainstreamed into our livelihood development program. In the case with the cow and goat distribution in Pakistan post flood, we are targeting… Read more »