Alleviate poverty by funding small ventures

From the Dawn Newspaper 

CHITRAL, Nov 26: Poverty alleviation in Chitral is possible through initiating small businesses which need microfinance facility and proper training to workforce. Such ventures can also engage women to help them financially, says Atif Alam, who works in the enterprises section of a Chitral-based NGO.

Talking to Dawn here on Friday, he said according to data collected by some organisations in five selected union councils of the district, one employed person had to feed more than ten persons who depend on him for their sustenance.

He said the situation of unemployment had aggravated in the absence of technical education, limited market capacity and poverty which hindered them to initiate some business ventures even on small scale. The topography of the district and the lack of basic infrastructures and above all the seclusion of the area from rest of the country for six months of the year further impeded the development.

Mr Alam said that the hand woven woolen cloth, rugs, wood carving, embroidery and some other items of home decoration can fetch a handsome income if properly marketed and will engage hundreds of men and women as full-time workers. He said that kitchen gardening, drying the superfluous amount of fruits, honey beekeeping, poultry and cattle farming were the ventures which needed initial capital for investment and proper training to derive maximum benefit. — Correspondent