PUNJAB RURAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME (PRSP)

The Punjab Rural Support Programme (PRSP) is a non-government, non-profit, and non-commercial
organization registered as a company limited by guarantee under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance,
1984. It aims to alleviate poverty and provide social and economic empowerment in the rural areas of The
Punjab through community participation which has already been successfully demonstrated by the Agha
Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), and the
Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP).

The participatory approach adopted by these Rural Support Programmes (RSPs) does not accept the
notion that the poor are resigned sufferers of the historical and multi-dimensional phenomenon of
poverty. Rural Support Programmes assume that the poor suffer from, inter alia, a lack of access to
opportunities for social, physical, and economic improvements in their lives. The frustration this causes
over time breeds attitudes that are commonly perceived to denote resignation. However, RSPs do not
accept that the poor can be pulled out of this vicious circle of exclusion only through strong and sustained
state interventions. Historically, the experience with state interventions has been that they are neither
sustained, nor focused. The participatory approach works for the empowerment of the poor through
sensitization, mainstreaming, skill enhancement, and capital formation. The AKRSP assisted the rural
poor of the northern areas and Chitral in tripling their incomes within just 15 years.

Board of Directors Chairperson

Dr. Rashid Bajwa

Chief Executive Officer, National Rural Support Programme (NRSP)

Vice chairperson

Nadeem Hussain President and CEO, Tameer Microfinance Bank Ltd.

Directors

Roshaneh Zafar President, Kashf Foundation

Hussain Tejany President, The First Micro Finance Bank Ltd.

Suleman G. Abro Chief Executive Officer, SAFWCO

Dr. Sono Khangrani Executive Director, TRDP

Naghma Rashid Executive Director, DAMEN

Teizoon Kisat Deputy Managing Director, Orix Leasing Pakistan

Ghalib Nishtar President and CEO, Khushhali Bank

Munawar Suleman President and CEO, Pak-Oman Microfinance Bank

Tabinda Jaffery Chief Executive Office