According to Human Development Report 96 Urban areas account for one third of Pakistan's population; one fifth of the urban population is considered to be poor; that makes nine million urban poor (i.e. earning under two dollars a day) they may be more, maybe up to one tenth of the total population. Ninety per cent of all urban po

pulation lives in the two major provinces, Punjab (56 %) and Sindh (34 %). The North West Frontier Province (7 %) and Balochistan (3 %) are less urbanized; together they have only one tenth of the urban but one fifth of the total population of Pakistan. The share of urban in total population is highest in Sindh (43 %), followed by Punjab (28 %), Balochistan (16 %) and, finally, NWFP (13 %). Small towns (with less than 25,000, but at least 10,000 inhabitants) are of some importance in Balochistan (23 %) and the NWFP (17 %).

Urban poverty, therefore poses a major challenge in Pakistan: morally, intellectually, socially, economically, and politically.  To meet this challenge SEHER launched a Mitigation of Urban Poverty Program (MUPP)  in October 2006.  Its focus areas are selected  the Union Councils (please Refer to Annex A) from both of Zarghoon and Chilton town  since they are two of the poorest areas in Quetta.

SEHER believes that poverty is a multidimensional problem that needs relentless and holistic approach. SEHER’s rich experience of the field and extensive study of the subject revealed the grim reality of dependency trap, which were social, economic and political. Unlike the conventional approach of service delivery SEHER adopted a right-based approach of reaching to poorest of the poor and empower them to combat for their rights and survival. The strategy intrigued development of a model project to translate the idea into practicality terms and finally replicate/expand to other areas.

Mitigating Urban Poverty Program

The MUPP started with conducting a base line survey followed by group formation of the poorest. Twenty such male and female groups were formed.  These primary organizations were strengthened through a dialogical process which encouraged critical thinking and understanding of socio-economic and political dynamics of poverty and later on they were converted into CCBs. The groups worked with twenty animators who were provided basic organizational skills such as conducting meetings, record keeping, opening and operating bank accounts, documentation, conflict resolution, and information on human right conventions, governance and disaster management. The process enabled groups to generate internal leadership as well creat