Press Release - USAID spends $2 billion in Pakistan; to spend $ 510 million more

ISLAMABAD, April 5, 2006: The United States has pledged a total of $ 510 million for both immediate earthquake relief and more long-term reconstruction in Pakistan, the new Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Pakistan Jonathan Addleton said here Wednesday.

He was speaking at the “Learning Forum on the Institutional Management and Certification Programme (IMCP)” organized by Aga Khan Foundation at a local hotel Wednesday.

Mr. Addleton pointed out that the USAID has already spent about two billion dollars in development assistance to Pakistan in the areas of education, health, governance and economic growth.

The IMCP, funded jointly by the USAID and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) – USA is being implemented by NGO Resource Center of AKF and has focused to strengthen management capacity and promote management standards within Pakistan’s NGO sector.

Mr. Addleton said that the project has addressed one of the most important challenges faced by civil society which is the professional management capacity of NGOs. He also considered this process to be a step towards self regulation and self improvement. He said the USAID’s areas of activities in Pakistan are based on a series of strategic objectives reflecting joint agreement between the government of Pakistan and USAID.

“USAID is embarking on a strategy formulation process that will further shape our programmes in Pakistan over the next several years,” he said.

As always, he added, the strategy will be developed and implemented in conjunction with partner organizations, including in the civil society sector.

Mr. Addleton initiated his speech in Urdu and said he was very happy to come to Pakistan after more than 15 years. “My initial briefings on arriving in Pakistan this week have highlighted the importance of strengthening civil society,” he said.

He also heard the views of representatives of NGOs from Sindh, Punjab, NWFP/Islamabad and Balochistan and said good governance and good management practice is important not only to the USAID but to development institutions anywhere.

Mr. Addleton appreciated the efforts of Aga Khan Foundation and said his own USAID career started in Pakistan 20 years ago, at a time when AKF and USAID had just started working together. “Returning to Pakistan these many years later, I am pleased that our relationship has continued to flourish over the years,” he added.

He said USAID is the lead US government agency, responsible for administering US foreign economic assistance programmes world-wide. “These programmes reflect a true partnership between USAID and the countries in which we work,” he remarked.

Strong institutions make for a strong country and the strong NGOs make for a strong civil society, he said.

Earlier, the Chairman of AKF Kamal Chinoy said the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) Pakistan and USAID have been partners in development for almost two decades now, mainly in the programmatic areas of early child education, civil society strengthening and community empowerment. The IMCP was yet another manifestation of USAID’s desire to support the civil society sector to strengthen management capacity and promote management standards within Pakistan’s NGO sector.

He also highlighted various activities of AKF and AKDN. He said AKF Pakistan is working in four thematic areas: education, health, rural development and civil society strengthening, which is a cross cutting programme. For implementing the last thematic area, he said the AKF has set up NGO Resource Centre, which is based in Karachi.

Representatives of more than 50 civil society organizations attended the “Learning Forum” from across the country. In their presentations, the participants termed the IMCP as a success.

Mision Controller of USAID Michael Bradley, Director, Programmes Aga Khan Foundation – USA Ms. Patricia Scheid, CEO Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan) Al Nashir Jamal; Team Leader Civil Society Programe Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan); a representative of third party validators Mr. Kamran Sadiq from SEBCON, and the representatives of NGOs from all the four provinces also spoke on the occasion.

At the end, the USAID Mission Director distributed certificates among the NGOs that have successfully meet the USAID management standards.