Islamabad, May 18, 2005 – 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 Wednesday.

The workshop attended by over 50 senior managers and board members of 13 major NGOs from Islamabad and NWFP, 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.

Al-Nashir Jamal, Chief Executive Officer, Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan in the welcome address highlighted the role of the Aga Khan Development Network in the socio-economic and cultural development of Pakistan. He 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.

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.

Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmad, Project Officer, Certification, NGORC 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.

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 Islamabad and NWFP 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, Mohammad Ashfaq Ahmad, Aamir Hassan Ali and Jawaad Shekha. While Syed Ali, Controller USAID, Bushra Manzoor, Financial Analyst, USAID, Pakistan, Kanwal Bokharey, Team Leader, CSP, AKF,P were resource persons of the event.

At the end of the workshop, Syed Ali Controller USAID distributed the certificates among the participants.

Similar workshops on USAID Management Standards will be taken to other cities of Pakistan in the coming months in order to help social sector organizations all over the country to gain from this effort.