Rural Development and Climate Change Adaptation Project (PDRA-CC)

The Agency for Habitat (AKAH) of the Aga Khan Development Network and the French Development Agency (AFD) have identified a Rural Development and Climate Change Adaptation Project (PDRA-CC) in North Pakistan.

The PDRA-CC's area of intervention is located in the Gilgit-Balistan and Chitral Regions. These high altitude mountainous regions are particularly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters (floods, earthquakes and landslides). In addition, these are very isolated areas that suffer from a high unemployment rate, a lack of basic infrastructure (drinking water, sanitation, roads, etc.), as well as very little access to energy (90% households use firewood and only half of the population has access to electricity).

The program's overall objective is to contribute to rural development in the Gilgit-Balistan and Chitral (GBC) regions by improving the local population's economic and climatic resilience.



The objective of this operation is to confirm the technical and financial feasibility of PDRA-CC for AFD financing.

Within the framework of this partnership, GERES (Renewable Energy, Environment and Solidarity Group), a non-profit association, and AKAH will characterize the local population's needs (vulnerability, condition of women and youth) and verify that the activities and mode of intervention envisaged in the program are likely to meet these needs.

This first analysis will confirm the program's initial concept and sizing as envisaged, or propose structural adjustments, allowing the finalization of its architecture and progress in the project's investigative cycle by AFD.

This intervention will respond to two major issues facing the area:

• Reducing the local population's climatic and economic vulnerability by improving their access to appropriate basic services (e.g. improved furnaces and drinking water networks coupled with efficient sanitation systems, earthquake-resistant habitat)
• Improving the rural population's financial inclusion and the sustainability of development financing in the area through the implementation of less concessional tools.