Pakistan

Pakistan has had a turbulent last couple of years with economic shocks as well as rise of extremism. Poor people suffer disproportionately due to these shocks but we envision that positive forces of microfinance and technology will help mitigate them. We envision that by 2015, large-scale microfinance institutions (MFIs) will provide 10 million poor people in Pakistan with a wide range of financial services to empower them to move out and stay out of poverty.

• Nearly one in five Pakistanis, or 27 million people, is living below the poverty line, earning less than $2.50/day.
• Approximately 37 million Pakistanis—more than 1 in 5 people—live on less than $USD 1.25 per day.
• MFIs reach only about two percent of Pakistan’s poorest households.
• Undernourishment affects 37 million people.
• Nearly 10 percent of children will not live to the age of five.

Pakistan has suffered from decades of internal political disputes, low levels of foreign investment, and ongoing costly confrontation with neighboring India that have all made escaping poverty even more of a challenge. As a relatively new and emerging sector in the development industry in Pakistan, microfinance has a tremendous potential for growth in the coming years.  The majority of MFIs in Pakistan are small and in need of basic support in financial management, human resource management and technology management to prepare them to scale up and reach the poorest population.

Local Partners in the Fight against Poverty

• Kashf Foundation
• Urban Poverty Alleviation Program (UPAP)