ISLAMABAD, May 9 (DNA):Advisor to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam would inaugurate on Monday Pakistan’s first Urban Slum COVID-19 Response Programme in collaboration with the UN Habitat.

Other collaborating partners for the initiative “Pakistan Covid-19 Urban Slums Response Programme (PCUSRP),” included Shehersaaz, National Cleaner Production Center (NCPC), Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust (AHKMT), Aman and Rawalpindi Waste Management Company, a news release said.

The decision regarding launch of the a novel initiative, which aimed to respond to growing vulnerabilities of the urban settlements to COVID-19, was made during a meeting held in the Ministry of Climate Change, chaired by Malik Amin Aslam.

Addressing the meeting, the advisor explained that the project had been conceived in response to the need highlighted by the prime minister for protecting lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable segments of the society living in urban slums areas.

The overall objective of the programme was to prevent spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in urban slums areas and empowering local communities to mitigate economic impact of the virus, he added.

Among others, the meeting was attended by the Secretary Ministry of Climate Change, representatives of UN-Habitat, National Cleaner Production Centre, Shehrsaaz and other senior officials of the climate change ministry.

UN-Habitat’s Country Manager in Pakistan, Jawed Ali Khan  briefed the meeting, saying that on the basis of the lessons learnt from this pilot project, the PCUSRP would be launched on full scale in collaboration with federal and provincial governments and other stakeholders.

The UN Habitat would seek cooperation from the interested federal and provincial governments, UN Agencies and donors to join hands in implementing the PCUSRP at the country level,  he added.

The meeting was also briefed that the programme was being piloted in Dhok Hassu and Dhok Mangtal areas of Rawalpindi, targeting 50,000 slum community members.

Jawed Ali Khan said that public awareness and advocacy, access to preventive measures and WASH facilities, provision of income generation opportunities and capacity building and rapid assessment of key challenges and issues of urban slums would the key components of the initiative.