National Poverty Graduation Programme

Pakistan is a lower-middle-income country. Thirty per cent of the total population is poor, and an additional 20 million people have been declared vulnerable. Sixty-one per cent of the population live in rural areas and 44 per cent work in the agriculture sector. Women in rural Pakistan are particularly disadvantaged in terms of access to basic social services and livelihood opportunities.

The aim of the National Poverty Graduation Programme (NPGP) is to assist the ultra-poor and very poor in graduating out of poverty on a sustainable basis. This will be done by simultaneously improving their overall food security, nutritional status and resilience to climate change. The proposed approach combines three distinct elements: social mobilization, livelihood development and financial inclusion.

The programme will be implemented in 17 districts nationwide. It is expected that 214,000 loans will be disbursed to approximately 160,000 households. In total, the programme is expected to reach over 2 million individuals.