Embassy of the United States

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Villagers of Rangla purchase from $100 vouchers distributed through GOAL a USAID partner.

USAID Assistance Strengthens Economy in Earthquake Area

Rangla – Rangla, one of the towns most severely affected by the October 8 earthquake, is benefiting from a voucher program sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The program, implemented by USAID partner GOAL, provides vouchers that total one million dollars to benefit about 10,000 families and help boost sales for 174 shopkeepers in the earthquake-affected Bagh District.

About two dozen shopkeepers in the northern Pakistan town of Rangla have seen their sales rise after over 400 families received vouchers worth $100. Upon receiving the vouchers, families head to the markets to buy food rations, tools, hardware, and building materials or use the vouchers to pay off outstanding debts. The head of one family, Alizad, had lost his mud house in the earthquake. With his vouchers, he bought tools and almost two months of rations for his family. He said he would also buy iron sheeting to build a winter shelter with the vouchers he had left.

Shopkeepers signed contracts vowing to adhere to a code of ethics to participate in the Bagh voucher distribution program. Participating shops are monitored to ensure that store owners do not raise prices unnecessarily for customers paying with vouchers.

Andrew Parkes, a GOAL official in charge of voucher distribution, explained that recipients "have to spend the vouchers here in the local economy. Otherwise the local shops close down for lack of business and these people leave. So it’s a cycle."

Programs such as the USAID-sponsored voucher program, implemented by GOAL in the Bagh District, are contributing to long-term sustainability and self reliance in the earthquake affected region.

The United States, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years to improve education, health, governance and economic growth. In addition, the United States has pledged a total of $510 million in earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts to assist the people of Pakistan and to support Pakistani government efforts.