To meet humanitarian needs in Pakistan, responders must overcome numerous challenges, including operating in insecure environments and addressing multiple hazards simultaneously.
To do so, USAID developed the Responding to Pakistan’s Internally Displaced (RAPID) Fund following a spike in conflictinduced displacement in 2009. Managed by an international non-governmental organization (NGO), the RAPID Fund helps USAID respond quickly to emerging crises by distributing small grants to local Pakistani NGOs, thereby tapping into their understanding of local needs and ability to access affected communities, even in remote and insecure areas. Since establishing the RAPID Fund, USAID has awarded nearly $18 million to support more than 100 activities that benefit an estimated 2.6 million conflict- and flood-affected people in Pakistan, half of whom are women.
In addition to addressing health, nutrition, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene needs, USAID utilizes the RAPID Fund to restore the livelihoods of people displaced by conflict or natural hazards. Livelihood restoration activities have included providing farming tool kits, seeds, and cash grants to assist in reestablishing small businesses that were destroyed by the 2010 and 2011 floods or conflict. USAID also provides temporary work programs through the fund, which have enabled 240 community infrastructure projects to date, including the restoration or construction of irrigation channels and retaining walls—projects that also reduce the vulnerability of at-risk populations to future disasters. To date, RAPID Fund economic recovery and livelihood projects have served more than 100,000 beneficiaries.
The RAPID Fund is making a difference in the lives of people across Pakistan. As one beneficiary attests, “I had no answer for my daughter when she asked how we would rebuild our house that was destroyed by the conflict; I could see no way out. It was the toughest day of my life…but after receiving support from the RAPID Fund, we rebuilt our home and are hopeful that someday soon our lives will return to normal.”