German Ambassador Alfred Grannas visited the office of Sindh Agriculture Forestry Workers Coordinating Organization (SAFWCO), here on Friday.
The ambassador, who led a delegation of German diplomats, appreciated the non-governmental organization’s services for economic empowerment of women living in the underdeveloped areas, according to a press statement issued by SAFWCO.
SAFWCO’s Founder and President Suleman G Abro thanked the distinguished guests and informed them about the NGO’s contributions in the social and economic improvement in lives of communities they had served. He briefed that SAFWCO was established in 1986 for the rights and advocacy of farmers, and with the passage of time the project’s outreach was increased in the areas like community mobilization, education, health, infrastructure and rights based interventions. Abro recalled that SAFWCO started economic development interventions with the Credit and Enterprises Development (CED) programme in 1992, which was further expanded in 2000 with the support of PPAF and WB. A further expansion in the programme was brought about in 2009 to provide financial services to underbanked people, especially women in remote areas.
According to him, the programme acquired in 2016 the NBFC license, while in 2022 a microfinance company was established. He expressed hope to receive support from Germany for the organization’s programmes. SAFWCO Microfinance Company Managing Director Syed Sajjad Ali Shah told the delegation that they were working in 13 districts, adding that they had provided financial services worth Rs 27.8 billion to more than 800,000 people so far.
“Around 60 percent beneficiaries of this financial support were women”, he added. nOther officials of SAFWCO, including Altaf Nizamani, Ramiz Iqbal, Iqra Riaz, Nadia Larak, Maria Rajpar, Mustafa Rajpar and Sadia Shaikh also briefed the delegation.
