Some 99,204 packets of food items were distributed among 16,534 poor families by Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) officials doing relief operation in Dadu, Jamshoro, Umer Kot and Tharparker districts. Chief Executive Officer TRDP Dr Allah Nawaz Samoo said that Thardeep Rural Development Program conducted a rapid assessment in 100 Union Councils of Dadu, Jamshoro, Tharparkar and Umerkot districts. Briefing to journalists at his office here on Saturday CEO TRDP Dr Allah Nawaz Samoo said that the purpose of assessment was to find out the effects of lockdown on rural economic activity and on the livelihood of poor people. Jai Parkash Shivani Program manager SUCCESS TRDP funded by EU Program, Aftab Baloch Coordinator for Community Investment fund and IGG- Income Generation grant of TRDP, DC Dadu, Raja Shahzaman Khuhro, DC Jamshoro captain Fareed u Ddin Mustaf also briefed about operation work of TRDP in support of district administrations. He said that some 12,330 Anti-Septic soaps to 80 health facilities in programme districts were provided. He said that TRDP Thardeep Rural Development Program has its programme outreach to 700,000 households in 228 Union Councils including 184,160 households from 2,829 rural settlements of 96 rural UCs of Dadu and Jamshoro district. Sharing the details, he said that according to poverty profile collected by TRDP 56% are poor falling below the poverty line. So far under the SUCCESS Programme more than 27,000 poor households of Dadu and Jamshoro ranked below poverty line have been granted more than PKR 600 million for livelihood and income generation supports. Under the current situation such grants for economic activity has opened new windows of business opportunities particularly in the rural areas. As, Face masks making & distribution Trained community members prepared some 2,336 masks’ in rural areas of district and provided to district authorities and community institutions for distribution in programme districts. Sharing the more details, CEO TRDP said that the selection of four districts was based on the fact that these districts comprise both the irrigated lands depending on waters of Indus for agricultural activities and arid zone of Thar and Kohistan that depend on wage labour as the main source of economy. He further said that there were three main findings of the assessment: 1) On supply side the inflow of goods and services from cities to rural villages and towns was severely curtailed. Besides, outflow of agricultural products particularly vegetables and milk from villages to cities was decreased significantly. He said that as a result of both these factors the economic activity in villages was sluggish, there was huge influx of wage labourers who returned back to villages from cities after lockdown and there was lack of cash availability in villages due to supply side problems. He said that It was observed that what was needed immediately was to generate some economic activity in rural villages and restore supply chain to minimum possible level. He said that Thardeep designed mechanism to support communities and start economic activities with three major inputs; a) providing income generation grant of PKR 20,000 to each of the poor households to start small grocery shops in villages. He said that The data of the poor households was available with Thardeep which was collected through poverty score card two years ago. b) Facilitated these poor households to purchase daily consumption items from market with support of district administration. c) Facilitate poor households to get cash from banks where the grant was transferred. He said that thousands of community volunteers working with TRDP in villages ensured that compliance of guidelines given by district administration is properly made. He said that TRDP restored activities in these districts from March 30. He said that Thousands of poor households started small grocery shops providing daily consumption items on the doorsteps of their neighbourhood. He said that by doing so they made ends meet along with providing home delivery of essential household items in their neighbourhood. He said that by first week of April they also started selling milk to towns. This initiative provided communities an opportunity to continue economic activity at the time when it was direly needed. He said that TRDP is now leveraging this initiative with other grant inputs, in kind, such as providing goat and seed for cultivation. He said that the purpose is to build resilience of poor communities in the worst economic time, contribute them to protect their basic household assets such as cattle/ goats or small shop. Mr Jai Parkash Shivani Program manager SUCCESS TRDP funded by EU Program briefed about activities said that TRDP also provided food & non-food items to 3 fire affected families in Tharparkar. Related with Cash support, he said that TRDP continues distribution of cheques (cash) of Income Generation Grants (IGG) component to poorest households. He said that In the current situation, markets are closed, by using income generation grant provided by TRDP, the poor households are starting small grocery shops for securing their livelihoods needs. He said that it is benefitting them and their neighbourhood. TRDP supported grant cheques of PKR: 17,958,800 (17.95million) to 874 poor families at doorsteps to secure their livelihood in programme districts. He said that TRDP distributed cheques of PKR.2,587,200 among 84 households of union councils of Dadu under Programme for Improved Nutrition. The poor families identified through poverty score card. Mr Aftab Baloch Coordinator for Community Investment fund and IGG- Income Generation grant of TRDP, briefed that 42,486 poor households of Jamshoro and Dadu are provided micro health insurance coverage for five years under SUCCESS Program. He said that under the training component of SUCCESS Programme more than 8000 women got vocational and technical trainings and linked with market to use their skills in contributing household income. DC Jamshoro captain Fareed u Ddin Mustaf said that TRDP under programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh interventions are become highly beneficial for the communities in district Jamshoro and Dadu particularly in the critical situation of CORONA VIRUS when there is lock down everywhere, public transport is disappeared. DC Dadu, Raja Shahzaman Khuhro appreciating the TRDP work in Dadu district said that TRDP continues distribution of cheques (cash) of Income Generation Grants (IGG) component to poorest households. He said that in the current situation, markets are closed.