Cohort 4

Cohort 4

Cohort – 4 - Punjab , June 1-2, 2005 – Lahore

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have positively contributed for the socio-economic development of Pakistan which can be further enhanced by enhancing their management capacities to meet national and international standards, this was strongly recommended at the conclusion of a two day workshop by the participants of ‘Capacity Building for NGO Management Standards’ here on Thursday.

The workshop attended by over 50 senior managers and board members of 15 major NGOs from Punjab, it was organized by the NGO Resource Centre (A project of Aga Khan Foundation) as part of its Institutional Management and Certification Program (IMCP), supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Aga Khan FoundationUSA.

Kanwal Bokkhary, Team Leader, Civil Society Strengthening Programme, AKF,P in the welcome address highlighted the role of the Aga Khan Development Network in the socio-economic and cultural development of Pakistan. She briefed about the thematic focus and programs of the Foundation in Pakistan.

While discussing the management capacities and standards, participants highlighted the problems being faced by NGOs in order to effectively manage their organizations and contribute at a large scale for the social development interventions in Pakistan in the areas of health, education, economic growth and good governance.

Participants elaborated problems related to human resource, governance structure, monitoring, information technology and communications in the realm of program effectiveness aspect of the project. They discussed these issues in details and also suggested the ways to improve these issues keeping in mind their organizational structure.

The workshop resolved that for an effective civil society and progressive country, role of NGOs is increasing with growing NGO sector in Pakistan. It was emphasized that NGORC efforts for the strengthening of the sector would contribute in the process of national development.

Mr Qadeer Baig, Deputy Director NGORC explained about the IMCP program, its features and objectives. Highlighting the aim of the workshop, he said that it will strengthen and increase the competitive base of Pakistani NGOs to meet the requirements for a direct USAID award, as this workshop deals with the approved USAID NGO Management Standards for Pakistani NGOs.

While briefing about the IMCP approach, Baig said that NGORC will provide consulting and information support to potential NGOs working at national level to meet required ‘NGO management standards’, which ultimately will increased capacity and systemization that will generate increase resources from international donors and local philanthropy.

He also emphasized on the role of human resource in the NGO sector, he beefed about the features of human resource system and their implementation at organizational level in a holistic manner.

Mr Sabahat Saeed Khan, IT Specialist highlighted the features of risk assessment and analysis, information technology and communications. He shared the experiences related to above areas in order to enrich organizational outreach and effectiveness.

Jawwad Shekha highlighted the features of financial management and financial audit for having transparent and accountable organizations. He also shared the best practices of the financial management from the NGO perspective.

Features of financial accounting and reporting aspects of NGO financial management were highlighted by Aamir Hasan Ali, he also reflected on the areas for improvement in order to have good financial management system in place.

The workshop was attended by NGOs working at national level in Pakistan, but are based in Punjab and have more focus in working in the areas of education, health, good governance and economic growth.

Participants of the workshop appreciated the efforts of NGORC for the socio-economic development and hoped to continue have support in future.

The workshop was facilitated by Qadeer Baig, Sabahat Saeed Khan, Aamir Hassan Ali and Jawaad Shekha.