Pakistan is home to more than 180 million individuals, many of whom suffer deep-rooted poverty. They lack access to basic services and frequently endure the consequences of natural and man-made disasters.
Working closely with local NGO partners, local authorities, UNHCR, and other UN bodies, ICMC has been involved in coordinated response and assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs), Afghan refugees and extremely vulnerable individuals (EVIs) in Pakistan since 1998.
Villages and communities across Pakistan have benefited from ICMC’s work, with projects stretching from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (Northwestern Frontier Province) in the north to the Punjab region in the south.
The local population is actively involved in consultations and community forums as these projects are conceived and developed. This enables the beneficiaries to engage with ICMC in a transparent manner and to jointly expand local capacity. Such an approach ensures that the needs of the most vulnerable are recognized and addressed.
Aimed at transitioning assistance from emergency relief to sustainable development, ICMC’s activities in Pakistan are broad in both scope and reach.
- Protection and Gender Awareness
ICMC’s work in Pakistan aims at preserving the basic rights of refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and extremely vulnerable individuals. Efforts are made to raise awareness on child protection and gender-based violence, and strengthen the capacity of local communities to be sensitive and responsive to the needs of vulnerable individuals.
- Emergency response
ICMC projects support relief efforts to people affected by natural disaster and/or conflict. Most recently, ICMC has been responding to the needs of flood victims, including local communities and Afghan refugees.
- Shelter
ICMC has provided transitional and permanent shelters and non-food items, including clothing and kitchen equipment, to hundreds of extremely vulnerable families affected by the floods. Shelter solutions, which are appropriate to the specific context, allow the protection, privacy and safety needs of affected households to be addressed, as well as enabling them to re-launch their livelihood opportunities.
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
By providing latrines, water pumps and washing pads, ICMC is able to build up the infrastructure related to water and sanitation in the target communities and ensure access to clean drinking water.
- Primary Health Care
As part of its programme strategy to address access to basic health services, ICMC has set up mobile and static medical camps to address the basic health needs of flood victims and which have benefited more than 80,000 people. ICMC has also distributed hygiene kits and conducted sessions with women and children to promote personal hygiene practices and improved nutrition.
- Agriculture and Food Security
Among other activities, ICMC is providing short-term food aid to the most vulnerable households during the initial relief period and agricultural inputs and cash-for-work opportunities aimed at restoring agricultural lands and small-scale infrastructure to achieve longer-term self-reliance.
- Livelihoods
ICMC’s work with the most marginalized involves conducting local market assessements and employment opportunity studies in order to provide training and small business start-up grants for hundreds of EVIs in Pakistan.
- Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Pakistan is an earthquake and flood-prone country. ICMC helps to minimize the negative impact of these and other catastrophes by providing training to local communities on Disaster Risk Reduction and by incorporating DRR features in reconstruction efforts; for example, flood-resistant water pumps.
ICMC’s work in Pakistan is carried out with the generous support of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Caritas Italy, Caritas Germany, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) managed Emergency Refugee Fund. ICMC welcomes interest from donors who may be able to support additional efforts to address the needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
