Sarhad Rural Support Programme SRSP

Under the PEACE programme, Jeepable suspension bridge of Sadiq Abad union council Chapar was one of the schemes that remained as the hot topic of discussion among the SRSP management as well external evaluators and technical advisors. The said scheme was one of the long awaited demand of the respective community as well as the political leaders of that area. Keeping in view the dire need of the community the scheme was initiated with a cost of 3,744,846 PKR (donor share) in October 2014. The community that remained dormant during the construction of the project just because of the fact that as per EU policy, contractor was involved whereas the community wanted to undertake the project by themselves. But once the bridge was completed successfully and technically tested and approved for transportation, we observed wonders happened in no time. The whole scenario changed and people who were not that much vigilant during the construction of bridge started construction of earthen link r

" A one day District Level Stakeholders workshop on " Dispute Resolution Councils" was organized in District Dir Upper on 22nd December 2016. The workshop was organized under UNDP Pakistan's Strengthening Rule of Law Project (SRLP) and implemented by SRSP. The awareness raising events on DRCs are under ADR output of SRLP which is funded by the European Union. The event was participated by District Nazim, EDO Finance, EDO Education, DRC members, Government and Non Government Organization representatives, Civil Society, LSO Office bears. "

A recognition ceremony was organized for ILMBASSADOR’s volunteers under “Take a Child to School” project funded by British Council. The event was organized to acknowledge efforts of community volunteers towards increasing enrollment of Out of School Children (OOSC) in the Government Schools. The activity has been conducted in three Districts e.g Swat, Chitral and Shangla. During ceremonies volunteers received their shields and took the oath to continue the mission to enroll OOSC in their respective areas. District Education Departments participated and appreciate the contributions and support of community volunteers and SRSP in the enrollment of students in the Government Schools.

Under this activity the program arranges inter/intra district/province exposure visits for government and local bodies’ elected representatives to encourage learning from a diverse range of experiences. This activity will also help in building effective linkages between communities and the government. This activity is based on premise that while civil society organizations have the ability to demonstrate new approaches, it is the State, which has the resources to scale-up the interventions and reach majority of the population. Thus, these exposure visits will provide government representative an opportunity to engage with communities for development initiatives, solving problems and developing productive partnerships. An exposure visit was organized by district Swat office on 30th November 2016 in which 22 local elected members participated.

“A poor grass cutter, Raieez, aged 32, died last summer due to heat wave as he couldn’t reach hospital in time because there was no road linking his village to the hospital” recalled Mohammad Irshad, a local of village Asghar Shah, located 40Km from main headquarter Batkhela District Malakand. The village’s main livelihood is agriculture and it was difficult for the villagers to carry their farms’ produce to the local markets. In addition, the children had to walk approximately 4Km a day to their schools. Now the joy of the beneficiaries is immense since the road has been constructed by SRSP under EU PEACE project. The road is benefiting more than 250 households, vehicles have access to village and farmers can load food crops to the market. Establishment of road has improved access schools and hospitals.

SRSP is extending Social Mobilization support to Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s in implementation of Community Driven Local Development Policy through its District Governance and Community Development Program (DGCD). The initiative is financially supported by the European Union and is implemented on pilot basis in six districts (Chitral, Dir Upper, Dir Lower Malakand, Shangla & Swat) of Malakand Division. The program aims to achieve sustainable improvement in coverage and quality of public service delivery through active involvement of local communities. Broad Based Community Visioning Exercise: CDLD initiative seeks to involve communities in the development process in order to improve public service. In this regard community based visioning exercises are considered to be the first step towards informing communities and involving them in the process. The BBCV Exercises are held in communities to explain the goal and purpose of CDLD and inform them about the program process.

Women of Malakand division were deprived and were away from enterprise opportunities. To create new opportunities for them at households level SRSP and the Government of Australia initiated a series of interventions under GEF (Gender Equity Fund) Project. Beside other activities the project is focused on women working at household level. Therefore, a total of 20 women are trained on different types of Pickle making and preservation techniques at village Shonial and kishawra of district Swat. In three days training women have learnt about different types of vegetables pickles including mustard oil, cooking oil, vinegar and hygienic measures for blanching, preservation, and packing. The trainees were also provided with training kits as startup for micro enterprises.

SRSP with the collaboration of PPAF through its Italian Govt. funded program, Programme for Poverty Reduction (PPR) launched an opening ceremony of district level cricket tournament to promote peace, tolerance and harmony within the communities at Bajaur Sports Complex, Bajaur Agency.The distinguished guests at the event were, Assistant Political Agent Nawagai Mr. Tariq Ullah while Lt Col: Muhammad Tahir Kaim Khani (wing commander 146 Chitral scouts), Lt Col: Hamid Mehmood, Mr. Fazal Akbar Agency Sports Manager, Mr. Muhammad Ismail President Bajaur Cricket Association, SRSP team, community organization leadership and youths of Bajaur Agency.During this event sports kits were also distributed among the seventeen cricket clubs. These clubs were nominated prior to the event by community organization through resolutions in CO/VOs meetings.

Ambassador Jean François Cautain Tuesday said that the European Union (EU) was committed to the development of marginalised areas in Pakistan in conformity with its national policies.He was addressing a large gathering of communities at Shinko village in Madian valley of Swat district after inaugurating a 130 kilowatts micro hydro unit, which has been built by the communities through the EU-funded PEACE project being implemented across all districts of Malakand division through the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP). The EU ambassador said he was delighted to meet communities who had shown unparalleled resilience in addressing the calamities of flood and conflict. Shinko MHP was identified by Best Society-1, village Shinko, UC Beshigram. Total capacity of the MHP is 130 KW and benefiting 875 households. Total out lay of the MHP is Rs. 14.513 million, out of which Rs. 13.965 million is the share of SRSP and Rs. 0.548 million is Community share. The scope of the work of the MHP is;