Fact Sheet

FATA Development (2006-2015)

Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), a rugged semi-arid mountainous region lying between Pakistan– Afghanistan border and the settled areas of NWFP, comprises of seven agencies ( Bajuar, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, North Waziristan and South Waziristan) and six Frontier Regions (FR Peshawar, FR Kohat, FR Bannu, FR Tank, FR Lakki Marwat, FR Dear Ismail Khan). It has an area of 27,220 Sq Kms (3.42% of the total area of Pakistan ) with a population of 3.5 million and extremely poor socio-economic indicators. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a common border of 1,600 miles (850 miles in NWFP and 750 miles in Baluchistan ) which is mostly inhabited by same tribes on both sides with strong tribal structure, traditions and customs (rivaj).

FATA enjoys special Constitutional Status since colonial times protected by the constitution of Pakistan. The Executive authority of President of Pakistan is exercised through the Governor NWFP.

Pakistan 's long-term strategic objectives for FATA include:

•  Rendering FATA inhospitable to extremists and strengthening rule of law

•  Improving security environment

•  Improving economic and social conditions of the people to mainstream them on sustainable basis

Government of Pakistan, to achieve these objectives, is pursuing a combination of military, political, administrative and development strategies to address the key challenges in FATA that include extremism, poverty, low socio-economic development, limited access to public services and livelihood opportunities and capacity constraints.

Government of Pakistan after a comprehensive consultative process at the grass-root level has formulated a plan for long-term and sustainable development spreading over a period of nine years (2006-15) with an outlay of US $2.06 billion. The Government of Pakistan would chip-in $1 billion whereas the US Government has committed to provide $ 750 million leaving a gap of $ 250 million. Given the magnitude of the challenge, Pakistan would require the support and assistance of the international community.

The Sustainable Development Plan (SDP) aims at accelerating social and economic development of the FATA through pro-poor, participatory and gender sensitive policies and development strategies to bring it into the national mainstream and to promote a just, peaceful and equitable society. The SDP provides a comprehensive and holistic effort to take the development initiatives to common man in the most impoverished and backward parts of Pakistan and to harness human and natural resources to generate employment and building essential socio-economic infrastructure with maximum multiplier effect. It focuses on capacity building, healthcare, education, infrastructure improvement, security force training and enhancement and employment generation.

Implementation Mechanisms:

The Plan envisages a three pronged implementation strategy. First, Civil Secretariat FATA through its line directorates would implement projects in human development sectors (education, health, water supply and sanitation and rural development), natural resource based sectors and communication and infrastructure sectors (irrigation, roads and bridges and housing). The second prong of the implementation strategy is execution of the economic development sectors (industry, mining, commerce and trade, tourism, Reconstruction Opportunity Zones) through FATA Development Authority which was established in 2006 on a public-private partnership model. The third implementation mechanism is the rural support programs through civil society organizations which focus on poverty alleviation with a livelihood-centered approach to rural development.

Preparation of Sectoral Plans under FATA SDP

To operationalize the FATA Sustainable Development Plan, Civil Secretariat FATA has prepared detailed sectoral plans wherein identification and prioritization of the projects are being carried for the Plan period. Creation of linkages amongst various sectors for synergizing the development planning would also be taken into account while finalizing these sectoral plans.

Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation

Civil Secretariat FATA is cognizant of the fact that effective implementation of the SDP requires a well coordinated monitoring mechanism at the Secretariat level to encompass the operations of line directorates at the field level. Accordingly the Secretariat has developed the following monitoring mechanism:

•  The Governors Inspection Team would monitor development activities in FATA.

•  The Secretariat has established an exclusive Monitoring Cell, headed by a Director, to ensure physical and financial monitoring of all the ongoing and new projects.

•  To further augment monitoring mechanism, the Secretariat is establishing a resource hub for gathering project information at the Secretariat, Agency and Department level and is exploring the use of GIS and Remote Sensing for informed decision making.

•  Independent firms would be hired to carry out third party validation of reports generated by the Monitoring Cell and also to have random field checking.

FATA Development by GoP

Government of Pakistan , in the meantime, has increased development budget of FATA from US $ 39 million in 2002-2003 to US $ 123 million year in 2007-08, an increase of 210 % to bridge the development lag and to open up inaccessible areas of FATA.

Development Targets under SDP

These targets set-forth to be achieved under SDP are reflected below:

Government of Pakistan expects that these efforts will strengthen the essential mechanisms---Local Institutions, Governance Structures and Socio-Economic Framework that can facilitate to establish Rule of Law and Enhance Economic Growth with the support of people of FATA and international community.

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