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Afghanistan and Pakistan: Overseas Aid

Volume 502: debated on Monday 7 December 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the Prime Minister's Statement of 30 November 2009, Official Report, columns 831-54, on Afghanistan and Pakistan, what programmes funded by his Department are expected to (a) create 20,000 jobs in 2009 and (b) raise the incomes of 200,000 people by 2013; on what basis each estimate was arrived at; and if he will make a statement. (304323)

The Department for International Development (DFID) has recently launched a £36 million, four-year programme called Supporting Employment and Enterprise Development (SEED), which aims to create 20,000 jobs and raise the incomes of 200,000 people by 2013.

SEED expects to create 20,000 jobs as follows:

Jobs created from lending to small and medium sized enterprises: 2,000

Jobs created through vocational training: 3,000

Jobs created through support to the World Bank's Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Programme (AREDP): 10,000

Jobs created through the new challenge fund: 5,000

SEED expects to raise the incomes of 200,000 people as follows:

Incomes improved through AREDP interventions: 100,000

Individuals who benefit from improved business practices and hence increased incomes as a result of challenge fund support: 100,000