Programme for Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE), is a four-year project funded by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. and implemented by the

Sarhad Rural Support Programme The Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) is the largest NGO, non-governmental organization working to Poverty reduction, alleviate poverty in North West Pakistan. It was established in 1989 with the aim of reducing poverty and ensuring sustainab ...

(SRSP). It was launched in 2013 in all districts of Malakand Division,

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, namely,

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

, Shangla, Buner,

Lower Dir Lower Dir District ( ps, لر / کوز دير ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Timergara city is the district headquarter and largest city. The district was formed in 1996, when Dir District was di ...

, Upper Dir,

Chitral Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...

and Malakand Agency.

Project details

The Programme for Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE) commenced after an agreement worth

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

40 million was signed between the

(SRSP) and the

(EU). The project runs under the principles of financial sustainability and equitable sharing of benefits with the community for

social development Social development can refer to: * Psychosocial development * Social change * Social development theory * Social Development (journal) * Social emotional development * Social progress or social regress The word decadence, which at first meant ...

purposes.

Hydro electricity

Under the PEACE project 62% of the funding is utilised for generation of community run

micro-hydro Micro hydro is a type of hydroelectric power that typically produces from 5 kW to 100 kW of electricity using the natural flow of water. Installations below 5 kW are called pico hydro. These installations can provide power to an i ...

power units in the project areas. Hydro power stations under the project are primarily built in areas where there is no active national grid or where such grid stands disrupted. Communities contribute time and labour, known as " sweat equity", which creates a

sense of ownership Sense of ownership (SO), in psychology, is the feeling of identifying sensations (both internal and external) as affecting, establishing, and belonging to one's identified-self.. At least three different types of bodily self-experiences can be ex ...

and helps sustain the projects. The MHPs are run as a social enterprise and its earnings are spent on the welfare of local communities, particularly women.

Electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

is generated harnessing the small glacier-meltwater rivers that drop steeply off soaring mountains. The European Union under the PEACE project has funded the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) to set up 240 micro hydropower plants, in the Malakand Division. In general, PKR 4/unit is charged for

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

and PKR 7-10/unit is charged for commercial use.

Community infrastructure

A significant portion of the funds are allocated to the building or restoration of basic

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

such as road, bridges, water channels etc.

Environmental aspect

Electricity from hydro schemes cuts down the use of

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

for

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

, heating and

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...

ing, consequently reducing

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

which is a huge problem in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. The hydro schemes also cut

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

, by virtually eliminating the use of

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...

, cutting the use of

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

generators, and also reducing the use of unsustainable wood. A detailed breakdown has not been made of fuels replaced, but an indication of the significance can be made by assuming that the estimated 110,000

MWh A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

of electricity generated each year replaces diesel generation producing around 0.8

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

per MWh. This suggests a substantial greenhouse gas saving of around 88,000 tonnes of

per year. Pakistan is only producing 128 out of a potential of 3,100 MW of electricity from small hydropower projects.

Recognition

In 2015 the Programme for Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE) project earned the

(SRSP) an

Ashden Award Ashden is a London-based charity that works in the field of sustainable energy and development. Its work includes the annual Ashden Awards, advocacy and research in the field of sustainable energy, and mentoring and practical support for award w ...

for Increasing Energy Access. In 2017 the project attracted the National Award given out by the

Energy Globe Award In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat ...

in Pakistan for supplying electricity to

off-grid Off-the-grid or off-grid is a characteristic of buildings and a lifestyle designed in an independent manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. The term "off-the-grid" traditionally refers to not being connected to the electrical gr ...

areas.

References