UN-HABITAT hosted UN Special Envoy Mr. Rauf Engin Soysal’s field trip to village Qasba Gujrat in Muzaffargarh, Punjab. UN-HABITAT Country Programme Manager Mr. Siamak Moghaddam accompanied Mr. Soysal to the village where, after a small welcome ceremony, he was escorted to the beneficiaries and the different stages of construction of the Pakistan Settlements Flood Recovery Project activities. Funded by the Government of Japan, the project aims to build 30,000 shelters in 422 villages throughout the country. The intervention also includes extensive HySter programmes which aims to promote hygiene and sanitation activities in the 20 most affected flood affected districts of Pakistan. Mr. Soysal interacted with the extremely vulnerable beneficiaries of the village and showed his support in our flood one year on activities.
Mr. Soysal said, “The visit to the UN-HABITAT project site impressed me especially because I saw all the different facets of an integrated approach.  It is not only about shelters, but it is also about building back better and giving ownership to the communities.  In many aspects of their work, I saw UN-HABITAT is giving priority to the Pakistani people and building on the ownership of them.  This project UN-HABITAT is running with great success is giving high morale, energy, and self-confidence to the communities.  It is not about assistance, but it is more about building together better structures and better constructions with the people.  The ownership and the leadership of the community are what struck me the most."