FAO sign LOA with RRU to help return of remaining TDPs

Alamgir Khan

PESHAWAR: In an effort to facilitate the returning process of Temporary Displaced Persons (TDPs) of the merged districts, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) signed a Letter of Agreement (LOA) with Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) here on Wednesday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations under the JICA and USAID funded projects signed a Letter of Agreement with the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Unit (RRU). The country representative of FAO, Rebekah Bell, and Mr. Pervaiz Sabat Khel, director general of the provincial disaster management authority Khyber Pakhtunkhwa signed the document.

The FAO aims to support the return of remaining TDP’s to merged districts of the province and strengthen the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) capacity.

Under the projects “Restoration of livelihoods in merged districts of KP” funded by JICA, “Restoring subsistence and commercial agriculture in merged districts of KP” funded by USAID, FAO will provide support to RRU for 03 months (January 2021 to March 2021) so that there is no break in operations and the vital return process of TDP’s in the newly merged tribal districts.

Speaking on the occasion, Country Representative of FAO, Rebekah Bell thanked the secretary relief and DG PDMA for their support to FAO working in the merged tribal districts on various projects in KP and ensured to continue working together in close coordination with the government departments in KP.

“4th Food System Summit will take place in September, 2021 for which national agricultural dialogue will be conducted by June 2021. The summit is about to shift from food security into the food system and Pakistan will be also representing that platform for which nominations will be required from the food security sector” said FAOR Rebekah Bell.

DG PDMA thanked FAO for their support and partnership with PDMA and requested to extend their support, he added that “The project development of the very early warning services may be taken to the next level and submitted to the quarter concerns at earliest,” said, Mr. Pervaiz Sabat Khel Director General, Provincial Disaster Management Authority Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“FAO strategic partnership with PDMA aims to support the return of TDPs and Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of their damaged infrastructure in the Merged Tribal Districts. Also to protect the basic assets of the TDPs that have been restored in the return areas, to foster PDMA response to COVID-19 emergency and to support the DRM Unit of PDMA in Climate Actions” said, Waleed Mahdi International Project Coordinator.

FAO projects funded by JICA and USAID are additionally contributing to restoring livelihood assets of TDP’s and enhancing food and nutrition security in the Newly Merged Tribal Districts of KP Province and targeting the same TDPs/Returnees to recover their Agriculture-based livelihoods and productive assets. The joint efforts of the government and FAO will continue to support livelihoods of the farming community in merged tribal districts of KP.