For the past quarter century, development initiatives have been framed around the belief that the wealth of a nation is not exclusively measured through economic indicators, but through the wellbeing of its people. Instead of promoting economic growth alone, human development enhances human abilities: health, knowledge and a decent standard of living. It entails creating the conditions in which all people can flourish: human rights and security, environmental sustainability, gender equality, and participation in political and community life.

The Italian Agency for Development and Cooperation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) together with EvK2CNR signed a memorandum of understanding in a ceremony at the Ramada Hotel today, agreeing to work on a project titled “Improvement of the Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) Management System as a Model for Mountain Ecosystems in Northern Pakistan”. The project will also cover the Deosai National Park.

There have been an increasing number of community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) initiatives in Pakistan since the 2005 earthquake. Actors adopted various approaches that all yielded different results, depending on the tools and methodologies used. Many of the approaches emphasize particular types of vulnerable groups, e.g., women, and specific geographical areas i.e. rural areas over urban areas.

For generations, pine nuts harvested from chilghoza forests in northern Pakistan have provided an essential source of livelihoods for communities living on these harsh, arid mountainsides. Yet today, as demand grows, pine nuts are increasing collected unsustainably. Instead of leaving a few cones so new plants can sprout, and thus allow the chilghoza forests to experience natural regrowth, communities gather all the cones they find. This is partly because impoverished, remote communities often lack understanding of markets and quality controls, and thus operate with low returns and tight margins.

Model police station (MPS), Khawazakhela, Swat was inaugurated today by Mian Muhammad Asif, Additional Inspector General of police and Mr. Amir Goraya, Assistant Country Director, DGU, UNDP Pakistan.

Umarkot was known for the fact that more than 80 percent of its rural population practiced open defecation, exacerbating water-borne diseases like diarrhoea. This meant families were spending abnormally large amounts of money on medication.

Amelia is a certified volunteer community-based paralegal associated with the Community Development Programme (CDP) in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and a bachelor’s student at the Kohat University of Science and Technology.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Transition and Recovery Programme (FTRP) is based on an iterative and solution-driven approach to addressing the issues faced by displaced people. Economic revitalization is a major focus and the Programme has completed numerous vocational and business management trainings to help returnees. One such training was in hospitality management and was organized by the Hashoo Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its primary purpose was to develop demand-oriented skills in hotel management and create job opportunities for FATA’s youth.

UNDP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Secretariat partnered with the Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company (TUSDEC) to help FATA returnees rebuild their livelihoods and increase their chances of obtaining employment. Using financial support from the governments of the United Kingdom and Japan, this initiative successfully imparted demand-oriented vocational skills to 625 youth—300 women, 325 men—in Bara, Khyber Agency. The three-month training was arranged locally and took place at the Dogra Technical Training Centre in Bara.

UNDP and its government partners, the KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority (PaRRSA), KP initiated the restoration and rehabilitation of damaged community infrastructure with US$ 11.67 million from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD). The project aimed to empower communities by enabling them to participate in the identification of schemes and monitoring of reconstruction work.

In my village, after the father grows old, the eldest brother is responsible for providing financial support to the family,” says Samiullah Khan, a young man aged 23 living in Haibak Sherza Khan village, Bannu district, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In Chitral, 751 people were trained in CBDRM essentials. Forty village disaster management committees were established with 489 members drawn from local communities. In addition to mobilizing communities to protect themselves against disasters, the project also implemented structural mitigation schemes such as dykes and retaining walls, with 20 percent of the cost contributed by community members.

After experiencing devastation from the military operations of 2009, swiftly followed by floods in 2010, the village of Shin in Swat district, Pakistan received little assistance to help rebuild its infrastructure. The small settlement faced a number of problems, such as the poor condition of the link road which led to poor school attendance, difficulty in transporting farm produce to markets, and taking patients to hospital.

Shahnaz, a 32-year-old widow and her family of seven are among thousands of internally displaced person (IDP) families who lost their house, possessions and livelihoods upon their return to Bara, Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

UNDP Pakistan hosted a Social Good Summit on 22 September 2016 in Islamabad. The one-day panel discussion was part of a larger global event held annually during United Nations General Assembly week. The flagship event took place in New York during the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly and over 100 country offices followed suit with their own summits. A dynamic panel of young social activists, entrepreneurs, young parliamentarians, innovators, and sports enthusiasts came together to discuss the sustainable development goal (SDG) theme, “What type of world do I want to live in by the year 2030?” The discussion was streamed live on Mashable, a global partner.

The Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Engineer Iqbal Zafar Jhagra inaugurated the FATA Development Authority’s (FATA-DA) Job Placement Centre (JPC) for youth in Hayatabad, Peshawar on 26 October 2016.

The FATA Secretariat, UNDP Pakistan and WFP Pakistan implemented a community-based livelihoods recovery project in Bara, Khyber Agency as part of the implementation of the FATA Sustainable Return and Rehabilitation Strategy. One of its key features was a cash card distribution programme.

The Youth Employment Project at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan signed a partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) to provide entrepreneurial skills training to youth in the neighbourhoods of Lyari, Korangi and Sultanabad in Karachi. These youth do not usually possess the skills to earn livelihoods given their limited education and means. UNDP is therefore providing garment manufacturing skills to help them find work in garment-related trades, although the majority of young women and men continue to struggle to find employment. SMEDA and UNDP are responding to this challenge by helping young people become self-employed.

In the last two years alone, the world has produced more data than in the previous 3,000 years. This vast amount of data needs to be efficiently digested if it is to be useful. At the same time, the incredible explosion of information is an unprecedented opportunity to harness the power of solid evidence in making...

09 March 2016, SWAT DISTRICT — The first phase of a major project to improve community resilience in crisis-affected areas of Malakand division was celebrated today by the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the opening of the Dop Jabba Link Road in Swat...

On 11 May 2016, UNDP Pakistan brought together members of the National Assembly, Senate and prominent representatives from civil society in a focus group discussing the essential parliamentary duty of holding government to account. The discussions in Islamabad will add a Pakistani perspective to the Second Global...

Recent years have brought immense suffering to the people of Pakistan through both natural disasters and a prolonged internal conflict. The effects of the conflict are felt throughout Pakistan but the epicentre lies in the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)...

Peshawar, 27 January 2016 – The Government of Fata has a signed a new agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, at a high-profile event organized at the Governor’s House, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa today. This new partnership...