Amnesty International has hailed the spirit of charity in Pakistan. While pandemic ravaged countries, the spree of giving in Pakistan mitigated the impact of lockdown.
Amnesty International tells the world about the large scale donations in Pakistan. Amnesty International appreciated the generosity of Pakistan in a short video message on Twitter. This generosity helped Pakistanis survive the coronavirus lockdown.
Charity during coronavirus
A girl named Kanza from Karachi explains how affluent people across Pakistan gave enormous donations- money, food, and ration bags to needy and jobless people during coronavirus lockdown. Coronavirus lockdown suspended business activities across Pakistan. This affected the working class and daily wage laborers.
Hence, to support these communities, government and civil society ran widespread charity campaigns across Pakistan.
What can we learn from the people of #Pakistan in this time of crisis? Short version of the answer: A LOT. pic.twitter.com/hqCzcUjdLG
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) May 20, 2020
Several businessmen involved in philanthropic activities said that the rage of pandemic coronavirus in Pakistan encouraged the middle and high class to spike charity during the lockdown. The plight of the poor urged people to open their pockets for them.
However, despite the hike in charity, the actual value of the total giving in Ramazan 2020 may be Rs.150 billion, a drop of 12 percent from the last year’s estimate of about Rs.170bn. This is because coronavirus pandemic has affected the liquidity of people; reduced their ability to donate. The share of the middle class in Ramadan donation shrunk as families saved money for the current uncertain environment.
Read more: Ease in lockdown causes huge surge in Pakistan’s coronavirus cases, deaths
Karachi continues to be the donation capital of Pakistan during coronavirus lockdown and Ramdan. Seven of the ten biggest charity organizations operates from Karachi.
Rate of charity in Pakistan
Pakistan is the most charitable nation says the Stanford Social Innovation Review published in 2018. The generous contributions make more than one percent of the GDP of Pakistan, says the report.
Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy shows Pakistanis give around Rs 240 billion (more than $2 billion) annually to charity. These figures imply that almost 98% of people in Pakistan give in one form or another. Also, Pakistan stands twice what India gives as a percentage of its GDP.
As the Pakistani government has struggled to manage both the poverty of its citizens and the prevention of the coronavirus, charity organizations have stepped up to help with food insecurity and hygiene supplies. https://t.co/KV2tk56lom
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) May 16, 2020
Islamic rituals of Zakat, fitrana, Sadqa, and other forms of social rituals promote charity and donations in Pakistan.
The study says people in Pakistan prefer giving charities to individuals than organizations. 67% of the respondents in the survey preferred giving charity to individuals. While only 33% of respondents preferred to give charity to organizations.
The report says Pakistan has the potential to use this philanthropic aspect for inclusive development. This circulation of money should be redirected to impact-oriented projects in the economy.
Read more: Pakistanis want businesses to be reopened despite COVID-19, IPSOS survey
Hence, Pakistan needs to channel the individual tendency of giving toward more-structured efforts. This will make Pakistan an integral player in achieving global sustainable development goals.
It advises Pakistan to create an exhaustive strategy through which it can tap into the philanthropy activities in Pakistan. This will speed up development in Pakistan. Pakistan needs to work on factors that inhibit the trust of people on the charitable organization.