The dramatic rise of COVID-19 has disrupted lives across the world and Pakistan is no exception. UNDP ranks Pakistan at 152 out of 189 countries in the Human Development Index, making its population one of the more vulnerable in terms of coping with the crisis. We are witnessing job losses, loss of daily wages, paucity of medical care affordability among others. These factors put people at the bottom of the pyramid most vulnerable.
While this holds true for majority of Pakistan’s 200 million population, there are still some segments of this population who are the most vulnerable even within this strata. Balochistan is the South-Western province of Pakistan which covers almost half of Pakistan’s land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan. According to the National Human Development Report, it ranks at the bottom. 31 out of 32 districts in Balochistan are among the worst areas in terms of access to education, healthy life and standard of living. Moreover, the province has a rigid terrain so many non-governmental organizations do not go into the far flung villages and settlements.
We have formed Balochistan Youth Against Corona (BYAC) with Mr. Sikander Bizenjo (our incoming curator at Karachi) as the co-founder of the group along with Ms Banari. Their core team includes Yasir, Khalid and Rimsha. The group has so far served monthly rations to over 550 families in Quetta, Nushki, Wadh, Panjpai, Uthal, Khuzdar and Naal. Similarly, over 100 protective gears, including personal protective equipment (PPE), N95 masks and face shields have been provided to doctors in Quetta. This has been very different than the traditional campaigns due to the following reasons:
- Involvement of Global Shapers
- Reaching to the most deserving and in need
- Local involvement (all the team and volunteers are from the province who understand the local dynamics and can easily be trusted by the community)
- Complete transparency (everyday updates on website, Twitter and FB)
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