Improving family’s lives in Pakistan
One hundred poor households in the Thar District, Sindh Province, Pakistan, are improving their family's day-to-day life and adding to their family income thanks to CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan and local partner, Participatory Village Development Program (PVDP).
One family's success story is that of Chohti, a 35 year-old Thari woman, her three young children, and husband. The family's previous household income was hardly enough for the family's daily needs. Her husband, Raichand, a laborer dependent on daily wages, was the sole worker in the household. Unable to meet their basic needs, the family had become demoralized and lost all hope to improve their lot.
For Chohti, as a beneficiary of this PVDP-led project, the food security and poverty reduction model literally opened new economic windows for her and her family. Through the multi-activity based model, she was provided the means to build a solid economic infrastructure for her family: rainwater harvesting tanks, fodder trees, bair trees, fuel-efficient stoves, handicraft support, four goats, kitchen gardening, drip irrigation, and water filters.
Chohti believes that these provisions have made her family more secure and less vulnerable. They have been able to put aside savings, plant their trees, and preserve and stock food in anticipation of drought periods. Chohti also continues to do handicraft work, with trendier designs that are in demand in Pakistan’s cities. Their household income has increased and today the young family is more confident and better equipped to face the challenges of the future.