NGO income generation programmes for Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Non‐governmental organization (NGO) income generation programmes for Afghan refugees in Pakistan comprise waged employment such as public works and production of relief goods, provision of income‐earning ‘starters’ such as seeds and poultry, microenterprise promotion, production and marketing schemes, environmental conservation and vocational training including apprenticeship. In the early 1980s more attention was given to waged employment. By 1990 the emphasis had changed to promotion of self‐employment of vulnerable groups, notably needy female heads‐of‐household and disabled men. Some activities were reserved for disabled men, mostly war victims, to avoid market saturation. Long‐standing international NGO programmes have formed a model for the many Afghan NGOs recently established to rehabilitate Afghanistan after the devastation caused by a decade of war.