New business partnership to support Pakistani rural development

6 November 2006

The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) have announced a strategic partnership to engage business as a partner in sustainable development in Pakistan's rural communities.

At a meeting in Islamabad, IBLF, dairy industry leaders and development leaders agreed to create a partnership that would focus on job creation and training, with the aim of increasing livelihood opportunities for women and young people living in Pakistan's poor rural areas.

One in four Pakistanis live below the poverty line and there is widespread youth unemployment. Under the partnership, Pakistan-based businesses in the dairy and related industries will provide financial support and training to small farmers and unemployed people.

Pakistan milk collection (IFAD)The dairy sector is underdeveloped in Pakistan, and IBLF believes that by focusing on the development of the industry, there is potential to create thousands of jobs and bring economic stability in rural areas of Pakistan.

The partnership will promote the exchange of experience and ideas on rural economic development in the region, and develop new opportunities for building local markets in dairy related products and services that can act as a springboard for sustainable development.

Organisations that will participate in the partnership include: Dawood Group, Engro Chemical, Packages Ltd, Nestle Pakistan, TetraPak Pakistan, Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, the Pakistan Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority and the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

Describing the agreement as a marriage between the disadvantaged communities and top business societies, the PPAF chief executive Kamal Hyat said at a press conference that the partnership was "a defining moment in the history of Pakistan's socio-economic development."

Speaking of the new partnership in Pakistan, IBLF chief executive Robert Davies said, "This partnership will enable us to increase both job creation and sustainable development in Pakistan by aligning the growing dairy industry with the challenges and opportunities of poverty and unemployment through raising productivity, accessing micro-loans and bringing rural areas into the reach of the market economy."

Source: http://www.iblf.org/media_room/general.jsp?id=123844