Aga Khan Foundation organized the “Learning Forum on the Institutional Management and Certification Programme (IMCP),” being implemented by NGO Resource Centre at a Marriott hotel in Islamabad on April 5, 2006.

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

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

The main objective of the programme are:
• Strengthen and increase the competitive base of Pakistani non-profit organizations (NPOs) that meet the USAID Management standards for Programme Effectiveness and Financial Management and
• Capacity Building of NPOs to meet requirements for NPO certification for tax exemption by Government of Pakistan.

The Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Pakistan Jonathan Addleton, Mision Controller of USAID Michael Bradley, Chairman of AKF- Pakistan Kamal Chinoy, Director Programmes Aga Khan Foundation – USA Ms. Patricia Scheid, CEO Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan) Al Nashir Jamal, Team Leader Civil Society Programme Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan) Kanwal Bokharey, IMCP Coordinator Sabahat Saeed Khan, 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.

Speaking on the occasion, the USAID Mission Director said the United States has pledged a total of $ 510 million for both immediate earthquake relief and more long-term reconstruction in Pakistan.

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.

He said that the IMCP 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

The Team Leader Civil Society Programe Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan) Kanwal Bokharey presented an overview of the IMCP.

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

PARALLEL SESSIONS

During the Learning Forum, four Parallel Sessions with the partner organizations were held. The activity was coordinated by IMCP Coordinator Sabahat Saeed Khan.

The organizations were divided on geographic basis. Each group was coordinated by Sabahat Saeed Khan (Balochistan), Rezwana Khan (Punjab), Anis Danish (Sindh) and Jawwad Shekha (Islamabad/NWFP).

Each group focused on the following questions:
Question 1: What are the key changes taken places in the partner organizations as a result of IMCP?
Question 2: What are the core strengths of IMCP with regard to process and content?
Question 3: What are the areas of improvement?

At the Closing Session, representatives of each group gave presentations based on views of participants on the programme.

All the NGOs appreciated the efforts of NGORC in implementation of the programme. They underlined the need for continuation of such interventions in the future.

Presentation by Partners

Islamabad & NWFP
Punjab
Sindh
Balochistan