United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP)

Dir District Development Project (in collaboration with the Narcotics Control Division, Government of Pakistan)

Proposed Duration: September 1985 - September 2001

Objectives:

• To contribute to the reduction and eventual elimination of poppy growing in the Dir district by supporting the Government’s phased programmes of poppy eradication.

Activities:

• Increase farm income from non-poppy crops and livestock by introducing farming techniques and rehabilitating irrigation systems;

• Training of youth and land-less farmers in off-farm income-earning skills to offset loss of income from discontinued poppy cultivation, by facilitating an increase in the level of functional education, vocational capacity and managerial skills;

• Awareness-raising and community development to prevent the production and use of drugs;

• Improve access to roads and electricity so as to integrate the project area into the economic and social structure of the country, and thus effectively enforce the ban on poppy cultivation;

Activities specific to women:

• Establishment of women organizations in 11 valleys of the project area for community participation schemes with startup finance provided to entrepreneurs;

• Construct eleven Girls’ Primary Schools and a Handicraft Centre;

• Provide basic literacy and numeric training in twelve vocational training centers established for women, which provide courses in kitchen gardening, preservation and processing of fruit and vegetables, traditional birth attendance and livestock management;

• Construct seven Mother and Child Health centers and vaccinate women and children in the project area, along with health/medical camps held each year.