Living and working in a progressive, emerging market outside my homeland, I stand privy to innumerable chatters surrounding the state of our nation.
Often such conversations tend to blame those holding the echelons of authority for any and all ailments suffered by our country and yet I rarely see anyone volunteering to leave the cosy surroundings of a first world setting to head home to contribute towards bettering the state of our motherland.
Almost always, my retort to the negativity I hear is that amidst all the headwinds that prevail, Pakistan stands resilient and fights back.
A resounding reference keeps going back to the devastation caused by the floods of 2022 and how more could have been done for the people affected.
It was William Blake who had said, “To generalise is to be an idiot; to particularise is the alone distinction of merit.”
Blake’s observation triggers me to attempt to apprise a wider audience of the impressive efforts underway by the Government of Sindh (GoS) to turn the face of fate in favour of the people of the soil and while much can be written of the endeavours that are currently underway, the Sindh Peoples Housing Foundation (SPHF) deserves special mention.
It is no hidden fact that Pakistan remains vulnerable to flooding including riverine, flash, glacial lake outbursts and coastal flooding.
The Preliminary Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) published by the Sindh Flood Housing Emergency Reconstruction Project states Pakistan to be at a particularly high risk of flooding standing at at staggering 8th in the world.
Floods are listed as being the dominant hazard in Pakistan despite a history of other disasters such as earthquakes, heatwaves and droughts.
The 2022 floods left more than 2.1 million homes damaged or destroyed, more than 10 million people without access to safe drinking water and submerged one-third of the country in water while 15,000 people were dead or injured and 8 million stood displaced. Over two million homes, 13000 kilometres of highways, 439 bridges and more than four million acres of agricultural land were destroyed or damaged. Such was the magnitude of this catastrophe.
In the wake of the destruction caused by the floods, the GoS has established a public sector company, the SPHF to build resilient housing.
Under this approach, each beneficiary is responsible for creating their own house albeit with receiving financial assistance from the GoS.
A grant amounting to rupees 300,000 is transferred directly into the beneficiary’s account to support the construction of their new home.
Beneficiaries are provided housing grants directly and are even awarded land title.
This combination creates a foundation for the recipients to rebuild their lives whilst having a shelter over their heads.
A lot of the beneficiaries of this project have been women and the GoS deserves special accolade for remaining conscious of such inclusion. Of the approximately 1.3 million validated beneficiaries of this program, 426.378 are women.
The program aims at addressing not just the housing needs of the individual beneficiaries but also aims at enhancing their overall socio-economic status. The entire details are available on the SPHF website (www.sphf.gos.pk) including a copy of the SEP and Project Appraisal Document.
It is a detailed report of facts that lead to the establishment of the project and also gives an overview of some of the broader factors that we need to be mindful of when bracing ourselves to face the effects of global warming and climate change.
Throw us adversity and we turn it into palatable advantage. Scepticism does not yield results, actions do. For the efforts that stand undertaken, the GoS deserves an applause.
And as the sun sets on this regime and while we await another dawn, one can only hope that the seeds of change sown thus far continue to foster and remain in good hands.
Published at Express Tribune on 7th August 2023