AHAN Team

INTRODUCTION

Pakistan has a total population of 156 million people of which around 68% still live in the rural areas. Economic growth depends on the overall economic activity in the rural areas. With the continuous drop of the share of agriculture in GDP, it is imperative that non agriculture/farm based avenues for economic opportunities be explored.

Pakistan, in order to meet its goal of reducing poverty, needs to expand non-farm economic opportunities in addition to agriculture in rural areas in order to create diversified non-farm sources of income so that rural poverty rates start to decline. In addition, rural-urban migration rates are placing pressure on the urban infrastructure and environment. Thus, there is a pressing need to provide non-traditional work opportunities in the rural areas.

The project envisages to study, indigenize and emulate OTOP (One Tambon, One Product) of Thailand and OVOP (One Village One Product) of Japan and other similar programs for income generation of rural and per-urban population with a view to identifying the best practices and adopt the same for design and implementation of Rural Enterprise Modernization initiative of the Government of Pakistan (AHAN) program keeping in perspective the overall policy to use the private sector as the engine for rural enterprise development.

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (AHAN) / Rural Enterprise Modernization Project is to reduce poverty by:-

The project envisages to enable the rural business to access a range of business development services, including appropriate technologies and financial capital. The direct benefits are expected to flow from increased employment and income earning opportunities in the rural areas, particularly for wage earners, women and poor producer groups with potential to engage in a higher level of commercial activity. It is expected that through these measures there will be increased value-addition in the products sold, improved commercial linkages between rural MSEs and the larger urban business. Increased demand for goods and services will add to overall benefits

INITIATIVE

The initiative envisages enabling the rural businesses to access a range of business development services, including appropriate technologies and financial capital. The direct benefits are expected to flow from increased employment and income earning opportunities in the rural areas, particularly for wage earners, women and poor producer groups with potential to engage in a higher level of commercial activity. It is expected that through these measures there will be increased value-addition in the products sold, improved commercial linkages between rural Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and the larger urban business. Increased demand for goods and services will add to overall benefits.