World Bank and poverty reduction in Pakistan: A case study of third Pakistan poverty alleviation fund project

Abstract

Despite the fact that Pakistan was able to recently achieve a significant growth rate of seven percent, economic recession marred the country due to mounting food and energy prices. The country has been underperforming in the wake of declining public expenditure and flawed public service delivery. Thus, the government of Pakistan assigned Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), an autonomous private organization, the task of reducing poverty from the country. In PPAF’s bid to curtail poverty from Pakistan, World Bank (WB) financed its three major projects (PPAF I, PPAF II and PPAF III). Out of $646 million, PPAF has disbursed around $571 million to poor communities, retaining 6 percent as total operational costs. In this purview, 92,000 community organizations were framed in 32,000 villages/ rural and urban settlements of 112 districts. This research focuses on third PPAF project, which was launched in June 2009 to empower the poor by providing them savings support, financial and physical assets, information, skills and opportunities for development, and augment inclusive and accountable community 4 organizations. The overall project is geared towards rendering income opportunities, savings support, micro-credit, infrastructure, and market linkages to the poor.