Country director of World Bank Kenichi Ohashi has said that the performance of Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) has been good despite the difficult working conditions.
“Though there were difficulties related to the security and political situation in Nepal, PAF has been successful in reaching out to people at large to help mitigate poverty in the country,” he said.
Speaking at the inaugural of the three-day long national workshop organized to review the progress of Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) on Wednesday, Ohashi also asked the Fund to continue its initiative even in the changed political situation.
“PAF has performed well despite difficulties, such as security and political problems and it must continue its business as usual,” said Ohashi, tagging PAF as one of the better performing projects that the WB is supporting in Nepal.
Executive director of the PAF, Raj Babu Shrestha, informed that the PAF, which is running poverty reduction programs in 25 most deprived districts of the country, is mulling to extend a fresh set of targeted programs in 17 new districts.
Making presentation on PAF activities on the occasion, Shrestha stressed on the need to further build capacity of local communities, so that they could organize effectively and work efficiently for the cause of poverty reduction.
A paper presented on the occasion stated that PAF programs have directly benefited 55,000 households of 25 districts.
Moreover, of the total beneficiaries of those programs, 42 percent are dalits, 36 percent are ethnic groups and 22 percent are people from other castes. Also, 51 percent of them are female and 22 percent are male, according to the paper.
Ram Krishna Tiwari, secretary at the National Planning Commission (NPC), said that the outcome of the workshop would help formulate the 11th five-year national development plan.
Representatives from the grass root level from six pilot districts of Mugu, Darchula, Pyuthan, Sarlahi, Ramechhap and Kapilbastu, partner organisations, officials from various NGOs, representatives from the World Bank, NPC, ministry of local development, ministry of finance and other stakeholders are taking part in the three day long workshop.
The workshop is set to discuss the lessons learned while implementing various projects in the six pilot districts, especially areas like capacity building, income generation, social mobilisation and development of community infrastructure.