Samjho lives in village Hyder Farm, union council Khejrai, district Umer Kot of Sindh province with her family comprising of eight people including her husband and six children. The sustenance of her family was dependent on agriculture. Being in a desert surrounding region with limited rain the farm yields were not sufficient to fulfil the nutritional needs for survival let alone generating any income.

Samjho’s family needed external aid to break the poverty cycle. In 2020, through her village organization, she got to know about the Government of Pakistan’s the National Poverty Graduation Programme funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Fund (IFAD) being implemented by Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund through its partner organization Thardeep Rural Support Programme (TRDP).

During the eligibility assessment, her family was identified among the poorest households. TRDP developed a livelihood investment plan in consultation with her family and the village procurement committee procured her the necessary assets – grocery products (costing PKR 58,990/-) – for her shop.

She with her husband is happily running their small enterprise in their neighbourhood. The idea of having a shop was fruitful and within 1.5 years they have created assets worth PKR 72,000/- which includes a donkey cart, a goat, a solar panel, and a ceiling fan.

“Using the donkey cart, my son is transporting fresh vegetable from farm to market directly for better gains. He is also collecting plastic and iron waste from nearby villages to sell them to the junkman.” shared Samjho.