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March 9, 2010, 10:42 am | 
Internews Report
BALAKOT: In crisis, there is an opportunity. It goes well for Muhammad Altaf who owns a tailoring shop near Bessain Chowk in Balakot town in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. The devastating earthquake of October 8, 2005 opened a new business avenue for him.
Earlier, Altaf had lost one of his legs in a roadside accident and worked at a Lahore garment factory, earning Rs15,000 a month. After the earthquake, he moved back to his village Danna and set up a small tailoring shop in his house. Orders began pouring in and he had to expand his business by adding some new sewing machines.
The Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) gave him a grant of Rs150,000 for his project on micro enterprises development. Since then, his earnings have swelled. Now he has employed three tailors and pays each of them Rs250-300 per day.
The story reflects two things. One is that jobs keep on generating at the micro level, though may not be in sufficient numbers. Two, it also indicates that purchasing power in certain segments of population has improved. In case of earthquake-hit areas, reconstruction has also created new demands.
According to the estimates of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 1.1 million people lost jobs in the earthquake-affected areas of NWFP and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Total employment in the affected regions was around 2.4 million. In Balakot town of Mansehra losses to business stood at Rs283 million. Its economy is based on tourism, livestock, mining and retail sector.
While the government is yet to achieve any major breakthrough in reconstruction of public and private infrastructure in the affected areas, many believe that the donors’ intervention for restoring livelihood in shape of enterprise and skill development could prove to be a major driving force in stimulating economic activities.
Shakeel Ahmad, Mansehra-based Programme Manager of SRSP says the earthquake had brought both devastation and opportunity to the area. While the government performance in reconstruction phase is not up to the mark, the non-governmental sector interventions in shape of pumping resources worth billions of rupees into the local economy has somehow impacted the pace of development, he claimed.
For instance, SRSP injected Rs12 billion during last couple of years on reconstruction projects with major focus on restoration and rehabilitation of community based livelihood,” he remarked.
Major investment has taken place in the construction sector, impacting positively on the average household income. According to Provincial Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority figures, the government paid Rs7.7 billion by end of 2008 to the people in Hazara division for reconstruction of their damaged houses.
“All this money was absorbed in the local economy,” said Ahmad, adding that with the beginning of construction activities, the average wages of the skilled and unskilled workers have witnessed almost 100 per cent increase. Also donor-backed skill development programmes over the last three years have also improved people’s engagement in economic activities.
The ILO trained around 9,000 youths in Mansehra district in 46 different trades, said Abid Hussain who supervised such trainings in the area. Some new trades were introduced for the first time.
“There were no trained people in running heavy machinery before the earthquake in the entire Naran and Kaghan valleys. Fifty-four per cent of those who acquired various skills were now engaged in relevant jobs, Hussain said.
Also, focus was laid on women’s entrepreneurial skills “Soon after the training, women have started producing candles and slippers for the local market. These economic activities and the improved purchasing power had an impact on the life-styles of the people. Now there is demand for a beautician training centre in the Balakot area,” said Hussain.
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