Investing in rural people in Pakistan

Since IFAD began its operations in Pakistan in 1978, the focus has been on combating rural poverty by promoting integrated participatory rural development. Altogether, IFAD has implemented 27 projects in Pakistan, for a total cost of US$2.9 billion, benefiting more than 2,800,598 households.

Building on past experience and lessons learned, with the aim of expanding and scaling up successful models, IFAD’s country programme in Pakistan is evolving and aligned with the government’s development and policy agenda. National and other development resources will be leveraged in pursuit of province-wide and programmatic approaches under a strategy of:

• Transitioning the ultra-poor through proven graduation models centred on women and youth
• Promoting value chain-centred smallholder agriculture development in partnership with the private sector

As a complement to these strategic directions, ongoing and pipeline projects are facilitating and promoting housing security and asset transfers for vulnerable groups, skills development (including vocational training), and enterprise and value chain development; access to financial services and financial inclusion are also being pursued.

The cross-cutting issues of nutrition, gender, youth, and climate change resilience and water resources management are mainstreamed across the entire portfolio through well-defined strategies, interventions and investments.