Social Issue

In June 2016, the Pakistani Ministry of Planning, Development, and Reform reported that the Multidimensional Poverty Index had dropped from 59% to 39% between 2004 and 2015.

However, poverty is still established in 54.6% of the country’s rural regions.

Our Response

Microloans are a powerful tool to provide opportunities to excluded and marginalised communities.

The Thardeep Microfinance Foundation (TMF) became a nonprofit institution in October 2016, splitting off from the microcredit unit of the Thardeep Rural Development Program. The TMF currently operates in ten districts in the province of Sindh, with 52 branches mostly located in rural areas.

The objective of TMF is to provide loans to micro-enterprises and people dedicated to agriculture and livestock. Most agricultural loans are used to grow cotton and wheat, and to raise livestock. TMF also launched a loan programme to promote renewable energy in 2015, and in this case, most of these loans are for solar-powered systems for wells and irrigation systems.

Expected Social Impact

With this investment of the Netri Foundation, it is estimated that Thardeep will be able to provide 10,500 loans, with the idea of supporting communities to develop their businesses.