Page 25 - Presbyterian Connection, Spring 2024

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SPRING 2024
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PRESBYTERIAN WORLD SERVICE & DEVELOPMENT
PRESBYTERIAN
25
Pakistan HERD Program Wraps Up
By Emma Clarke, PWS&D Communications
“The food aid took away our worry.”
In December 2023, PWS&D wrapped up a two-year project in Pakistan. The program—focused on Humanitarian, Early Recovery and Development (HERD)—was innovative in that it connected responses to urgent short-term humanitarian needs with longer- term sustainable development goals. Supported by the Canadian government, it assisted 3,766 households in the Umerkot Dis- trict of Sindh province.
Through the HERD program, the same families who accessed six months’ worth of emergency food support also received seeds during the early recovery stage. They were also given instruction in farming practices adapted to climate change, including lessons on choosing drought resilient crops. Additionally, training was provided for women artisans to help them diversify their income
beyond agriculture. This broader income base helps provide sus- tenance when crops fail due to climate events, such as dramatic floods or extended droughts.
Consider the difference it makes a when family receives monthly food support during the lean season. They are less inclined to sell farming inputs and livestock, a practice which provides for immediate needs but creates disadvantages in the long-term. Similarly, if a family recovering from a disaster does not have to spend everything they earn on food, they can begin to rebuild their home.
The HERD program made a dif- ference for the Mangrio family.
Prior to 2022 floods, Shabana Mangrio had a thriving cloth- ing business, while her husband Saleh ran his own shop, selling snacks and other small provi- sions. They also farmed their three-acre holding and cared for 15 goats. When the deluge hit, their home was destroyed. Sha- bana’s work as a tailor suffered
In Pakistan, Saleh Mangrio runs a grocery store, while his wife has her own business as a tailor. PHOTO CREDIT: CWSA/ SAHAR ZAFAR
The Mangrio family was able to rebuild their home after it was destroyed by the floods in 2022, thanks to food support that met their immediate needs. PHOTO CREDIT: CWSA/SAHAR ZAFAR
because very few people in her community were able to buy new clothing. Left with few options, the family borrowed money to re- build their home.
This family was given seeds through the HERD program in the summer of 2022, which Saleh used to sow their plot. With food taken care of by the aid program, Saleh was able to use his earn- ings from the harvest to repay the loan.
As Saleh recalls, “[The har- vest] was not what it should have been, had the rain stopped after irrigating the soil. Nevertheless, the yield was enough for me to sell some for cash and repay my debt. This was possible because of the last two instalments of food
aid.”
Responding in Pakistan is vi-
tally important because the coun- try is ranked as the eighth most climate-affected in the world on the 2021 Global Climate Risk Index. With much of the country reliant on farming for their liveli- hoods, recurring drought and recent floods have severely chal- lenged families’ abilities to earn an income, not to mention main- tain their safety. Sindh region is unfortunately considered to be at a crisis level for food insecurity.
Prior to the project, only a small number of the surveyed participants in Umerkot were considered adequately food se- cure. By the end of the project, a significant percentage of those
surveyed showed improved food security, according to a measure call the Food Consumption Score.
Asked what he thought was the greatest advantage of partici- pating in the program, Saleh un- equivocally said that it had made him debt-free for the first time in many years.
“Normally, when crops fail, even if we recover the cost of the seed, it is a loss because the reduced harvest cannot feed us. Most times we end up selling our livestock only to pay for food items. When I sold my goats late last year, I was not consuming the money but investing it in housing for the family. That was a win for us (thanks to the project).”
PWS&D is now working with Community World Service Asia and the Foodgrains Bank on a three-year follow-up project for communities in Umerkot to help them better adapt to climate change impacts and to sustain the improvement in food security resulting from the HERD project. Households will receive kitchen garden inputs and training on conservation agriculture, live- stock management and micro- entrepreneurship. The project will also involve construction of water storage structures to help address water scarcity, which is a common problem in most villages.
The development and relief agency of The Presbyterian Church in Canada WeRespond.ca