Working Together in Pakistan

Pakistan has been facing multiple challenges – first COVID, then the flooding of 2022 and now political upheaval. These have impacted the lives of millions of people. Inflation and prices of household items have sky rocketed. Ashraf Mall shares how the partners of Pakistan Partnership Initiative (PPI) have come together in this difficult time.

The seeds of PPI were sown in 2017 after a study was conducted on the “Landscape of the Church in Pakistan, its Challenges and Opportunities”. The study was commissioned by a group of leaders who felt that the Church and Christian organisations needed help to re-focus, re-strategize and work together to strengthen each other to be Salt and Light in this nation. The vision of PPI is to see a Transformed Church that is serving as a catalyst for Wholistic Development in Pakistan.

I remember in the early days there was mistrust between church groups and Christian organisations. Church leaders said ‘Christian organisations want to turn us into an NGO’ and very few Christian organisations involved churches in their work. Five years on this has completely changed. Organisations and ministries are working through or with the local church. Church leaders now say, ‘Christian organisations/ministries are part of the Church’. Collaboration, networking and working together are a key objective of PPI.

Another key objective is to build the capacity of our partners across Pakistan through training, placement of skilled people and small grants to help Churches and organisations to strengthen their governance, management and policies. The Rt. Rev. Kaleem John (pictured), Bishop of the Diocese of Hyderabad, recently told me how PPI’s training had improved their overall capacity: “we are really proud of this achievement and it gives us a lot of confidence”, he said.

Recently I visited another partner AWARD and was amazed how they had transformed the lives of 16 women and their families through small business. These women are earning more than PKR 30,000 each month and contributing to the development of their families and community. They have not only grown materially but also spiritually and they are making a difference in their community, as active members of their local church. They have also enabled their church to reach out and help marginalised families.

During the COVID period many small businesses closed due to lockdown. Local partners & churches helped 400 small businessmen/women to restart and strengthen their businesses. Around 100 churches were mobilised to identify and coach 5-6 businessmen/women. It is exciting that most of these businesses are still running and have become an active part of the Church.

In the current difficult time PPI partners have come together to help thousands of households to restore their lives, mostly through cash for choice grants to overcome their most urgent needs.

It’s really an encouragement to see how the Church and Christian organisations are working together to serve and strengthen Pakistan.

To learn more about PPI and its work visit: ppicollaboration.org