Democratic Governance SPO s goal for democracy and governance is to build the capacity of CSOs, Mid level NGOs and political party workers to address local development problems. We assist our partners in establishing campaigns and conducting events to protect and promote human rights, increasing citizen participation, improving institutional viability of civil society organizations (CSOs), enhancing the free flow of information, and strengthening democratic political culture. Through its expertise in networking, coalition building, and advocacy, SPO introduces key tools for local stakeholders to enable them to take on a larger role in the governance of their society. SPO pursues its mission through uniting civil society networks and political party workers around a common vision and deploys SPOs proven methodologies, tools and training modules in order to attain what they aim for within the larger democracy and governance domain (This sentence need some fragmenting). SPO s work in the governance sector promotes citizen participation by holding governments accountable, and assists government officials in developing transparent and accountable governance practices. PERFORMANCE AREAS Trainings Human Rights The ground for human rights education and training continues to mature and expand, demonstrating its potential impact in promoting the global human rights movement. SPO s human rights training begins with the recognition that citizen groups in the real world want to know not just what the human rights rules are, but also how to do their job effectively within the confines of those rules. Accordingly, training course design includes practical information* on proven techniques for the performance of the actual duties of the participating groups Democracy and Governance Democratic governance is central to human development in general and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), providing in particular the enabling environment for reducing poverty. SPO Delivers its training and awareness raising courses, on democracy and governance measurement approaches and methods, for targeted groups which include selected political party workers, civil society organizations and grass root groups. Training modules are used on an individual learning basis and are delivered in face-to-face training sessions.
Organizational Management Well managed CSO organizations are a fundamental building block for promoting changes that have positive impacts on the lives of communities, particularly the most vulnerable. SPO believes that strong institutions represent strong communities. SPO builds the organizational capacity of its partners, who include community-based organizations (CBOs), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), These investments help civil society organizations to achieve policy changes, well-managed, sustainable organizations are better positioned to join hands with their peers to carry out campaigns for long-term, sustainable change; Training is provided in areas including management structure, Planning and management, Decision making, participatory planning and evaluation, financial management, board development, information systems and knowledge networking, conflict resolution, and relationship building with the media, government and commercial sectors. Conducting participatory organizational capacity assessments to identify organizational strengths and weaknesses and to establish baseline information and benchmarks for organizational growth are important part of organizational management training Training Follow-up Participants in the human rights, democracy and governance training courses are selected on the understanding that their responsibilities will continue after completion of the training exercise. Each participant is obligated to conduct his/her own trainings and dissemination efforts after returning to his/ her duty station. In this way, the impact of such courses is multiplied as the information imparted is disseminated throughout the institutions and communities concerned. Advocacy Events After completion of training in the field of human rights, democracy and good governance SPO encourages local organizations and political parties to give input into decisions affecting their
lives. Employing an awareness and issue based advocacy approach, SPO provides technical assistance to its partners to collect data on local service needs and issues and link to government and other local organizations to address those needs. Advocacy events focus on increasing the public demand for transparency, accountability and good governance efforts, through informing citizens of their rights and encouraging behavioral change. Citizen-local government exchanges through dialogues and round tables Activities target efforts to enhance democratic political culture through civic education, conflict resolution, and equity and participation, especially among women and marginalized groups. Activities include: Supporting citizen-local government exchanges through round tables, committees and other forums for discussion Educating women and marginalized groups in political processes, political leadership and campaign organizing Designing and implementing voter education orientation sessions Mounting campaign on policy implementation issues at local level Educating minorities about their wrights Training of Citizens and Importance of NIC Helping marginalized women to obtain NIC to participate in electoral process Working through labor union to address the particular needs of women workers. Organizational Development The types of ventures (interventions) that SPO makes in organizational development (OD) vary from organization to organization, depending upon the needs of our partners. In most cases we start with an organizational assessment process that allows our partners to assess their strengths and weaknesses along multiple dimensions of management, including strategic direction, organizational structure, governance, planning, financial management, human resource management, and monitoring and evaluation.
Based upon the results of these assessments, which are generally done with a cohort of organizations, we develop a tailor-made (customized) capacity-building program, which usually combines training, mentoring, and one-on-one technical assistance. These OD capacity-building investments help partners develop and follow clear by-laws that enhance the transparency of organizational governance; they help NGOs develop a focused mission and strategic plan that builds off of the strengths and responds to the needs within the context in which they operate. Civil society groups learn the basics of developing clear actionable operational plans and budgets. Basic financial management and monitoring and evaluation systems are put in place, preparing our partners to successfully manage programs and grants. SPO generally reapplies organizational capacity assessment tools after the first year of program implementation. SPO provides Choti Funding (micro funds) for financial assistance (grant of rupees 25,000 or less) to partners in order to enable them to organize and plan projects that meet their objectives. Typical Types of Choti Funding Projects 1. Outreach mobilization: door-to-door canvassing, to build membership and outreach to neighbors 2. Targeted outreach strategies to build ties with people traditionally not involved, including lowincome families, minorities, young adults, and people with disabilities 3. Projects that build relationships between diverse groups and local organizations, such as mosques, churches, minorities 4. Small businesses 5. Community-building activities: street tree planting, neighborhood clean-ups, pavement of streets, playgrounds repairs, solid waste management, etc. 6. Culturally specific fairs and/ or festivals 7. Special one-time events and projects, such as publishing community story books, neighborhood forums 8. Addressing small service delivery issues, such as water and sanitation, etc. 9. Addressing human rights and environmental issues
SPO Social Justice Program SPO s Social Justice program refers to the idea of creating a society and its institution that understand principles of equality, values of human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. This program supports mechanisms largely in the public sector, and those devised by civil society in the areas of basic education, primary healthcare, livelihood support to women and relief and rehabilitation in natural disasters in areas where SPO is operational. Lack of public awareness about polices nexus with justice and opportunities are common factors that constrain the ability of poor people to live in dignity, free from hunger and any discrimination. Policy debates are promoted and stronger representation of the interests of women, minorities, youth and civil society groups are kept central when advocating for better services and policy change. Performance Areas Health and Education Monitoring Committees The challenge of improving public services is of central importance to low-income communities, where large sections of the population suffer from high burden of ignorance, disease and poverty. The question of how to organize and implement public service reforms to achieve better service goals, especially in delivering education and health, has no easy answers. One of the measures most commonly advocated for improving governance is monitoring by citizens of the quality of services that the public sector provides (or regulates). Under this program, monitoring committees are mobilized in order to bring government closer to the people by means of performing three distinct functions. (i) More and/or better information (research). (ii) More accountability, (Technical Assistance for district plans) (iii) More public voices and participation, (Debate on policies) Women Empowerment This program brings together different dimensions of issues related to women s livelihood, empowerment and development. Drawing upon SPO s rich field based experience, the program deals with different inter-related strategies: recognizing women s right to resources and strategies concerning their livelihood and education; the challenge of democratic governance and provision of institutional systems to protect women from violence and discrimination; and formation of women s organizations as collective agency in development. A great variety of activities under this program ensure that women take their legitimate place as productive human beings, entitled, not merely to protection and welfare, but to dignity as a political right.
Disaster Risk Reduction Disaster preparedness for risk reduction is viewed from SPO as a goal, rather than a specialized programme that immediately precedes disaster response. Viewed from this broad perspective, SPO encompasses the objectives of increasing the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of disaster emergency response mechanisms at the community, district and national levels. This includes: Strengthening community-based disaster preparedness through training programs, and assisting national disaster management authorities in developing policies and procedures, and planning preparedness activities aimed at ensuring timely disaster preparation and effective emergency response. Effective disaster response requires mutual trust and coordination of efforts and resources among the many agencies and people engaged in emergency response. Building linkages of community organizations with NDMA/PDMA/DDMA and achieving coordination between different agencies is a core strategy adopted for disaster risk management. IDENTIFY, SELECT AND DEVELOP PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS IN DISASTER-PRONE DISTRICTS TRAIN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS IN DEVELOPING STRATEGIES AND PROGRAMMES FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION CONDUCT DISCUSSIONS AND DIALOGUES WITH KEY STAKEHOLDERS TO PRIORITIZE ISSUES AND PROPOSE STRATEGIES FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION Major Activities SUPPORT PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS IN MOBILIZING VOLUNTEERS TO PARTICIPATE IN DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND RELIEF/ REHAB PROGRAMMES DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS AND PROGRAMMES TO RESPOND TO DISASTERS WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON HEALTH AND EDUCATION FACILITATE/COORDINATE WITH DDMA, PDMA AND NDMA IN DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING IMPROVED POLICIES AND PLANS
Peace and Social Harmony Pakistan is a multi-cultural, ethnically diverse country. Social harmony between different people is fundamental to our national well being. Unless different communities live harmoniously together, neither the majority nor the minority communities will be able to prosper in a meaningful way. SPO encourages civil society networks, faith-based organisations and groups representing a wide range of stakeholders, to jointly participate in decision-making processes for the protection of basic rights, irrespective of religious, language, gender, ethnicity and class differences. The programme is based on building social harmony among diverse groups to share and understand each other s point of view and respect differences. SPO Recognizes that advocacy as empowerment of Civil Society Networks lies at the heart of democracy, social justice, peace and social harmony. SPO helps civil society networks to enhance their institutional capability in order to: 1)Access the political arenas where public policy and decision-making take place;2) Articulate and press for desired policy change and reform visa-vis concerned public decision makers;3) Continually monitor policy implementation; and,4) Where necessary, reformulate policies that no longer serve their purpose. Performance Areas Support Network SPO forms and strengthen civil society networks through institutional support and as well as technical assistance.spo helps CSOs to form networks at the district level. The partner s net works are provided nominal financial assistance to mange network secretariats and programme activities. Stakeholders Mobilization SPO supports networks in mobilising potential partners and key stakeholders through meetings, dialogues and seminars etc. so that these groups take up development issues collectively, which are linked and are considered the basic root cause of economic disparity, social injustice and the poor law and order situation. Cultural Events and Peace Dialogues There is no greater threat to national peace and stability than conflict generated by religious and sectarian violence and ethnic hatred. SPO supports civil society networks to promote cultural activities, peace and interfaith dialogues that build friendship and harmony between ideological groups on the basis of who they are, and not how they can be stereotyped or labeled. Lectures on Development Issues SPO provides technical assistance to its partner networks to facilitate a process of consciousness raising and problem solving that places those being affected at the center of their own development. The process aims to break the Culture of Silence and the lectures are used as a methodology for consciousness raising The lectures equip people with the necessary knowledge, skills, appropriate values and attitude, and build their confidence to act and manage their own development.
Policy Advocacy SPO helps partner networks to challenge the status-quo, by gaining a sense of their own power by highlighting their capacity to define and prioritize policy problems issues, and then take action in order to address and resolve them. SPO helps networks apply a set of skills and techniques for the purpose of influencing public decision-making, the ultimate result is to achieve a well-defined policy goal or reform. Policy advocacy is carried out by the means of different activities including: knowledge generation through policy analysis; building of data and information bases; policy awareness raising through dialogue, networking and information dissemination, and mobilizing support of the civil society; and influencing policy at local, regional and national levels by dialogue and engagement. SPO s national and regional staff interacts closely with policy planners, government agencies, donors and the NGOs to influence public policy development. Select and Prioritize Policy Issues Public participation in policy making, policy implementation and monitoring is fundamental to good governance in a democracy. SPO guides its partner civil society networks to identify and select policy issues keeping in view their local contexts. These policy issues include: the absence of a policy, an adverse or inadequate policy, or the improper enforcement of a policy. Planning Advocacy Campaigns SPO helps partner networks to prepare advocacy plans. With the context and policy area already in mind, CSNs frame policy issues, propose alternatives, and evaluate the technical and political implications of alternatives proposed. The planning process involves SPOs support in the following areas Identification of a policy issue Mapping power relations Examining the policy environment Selecting options for policy change Deciding on a policy issue Setting a policy goal Putting together or designing key messages Defining advocacy activities Prepare a work plan and budget Monitoring and evaluation plan Conducting advocacy campaign SPO supports partner networks to choose from among a range of advocacy tactics, techniques, and operational strategies that are most appropriate to implementing an effective advocacy campaign. There are many different ways to advocate policy issues. SPO and its partner s take a very visible approach by conducting public dialogues with the primary audience and citizens. Dialogues are conducted at three levels: district, provincial and national. Horizontal dialogues are conducted at district level, involving individuals, groups and public departments from the same level of decision making or jurisdiction, for discussing a defined set of policy alternatives. Vertical dialogues are conducted at provincial and national levels to address policy challenges that require decisions by more than one level of public authority. Collaboration with National, Provincial and Sectoral Networks SPO seeks an opportunity to collaborate with national, provincial and sect oral networks of civil society groups outside the target areas to strengthen and replicate rights-based movements for increased influence on decision-making processes in favour of marginalised and deprived communities. SPO supports these networks to set up their strategic directions for advocating equal rights, institutionalise democratic governance and practice mechanisms of accountability and transparency at all levels.
A Snapshot of SPO Humanitarian Response Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) since 2005, through its emergency and special projects has been addressing the issues related to emergencies such as landslide, floods, earthquake, hurricane/cyclone, and conflict across the country. It has been systematically working, since year 2005, when earthquake hit Northern parts of Pakistan and AJK. SPO has been actively participating in relief activities following natural calamities and crisis situations such as floods and Yamyin cylone in Sindh and Balochistan in year 2007; Balochistan earthquake 2007, IDP crisis in Malakand Division and South Waziristan in year 2009, Phet Cyclone in Sindh and Balochistn 2010, Flash floods and lake breaking in year 2010 in AJK and disasterous floods in 2010 across the country. Strengthening Participatory Organization has played an active role during these emergency situations and undertook a number of flood relief and rehabilitation projects by utilizing its own resources, as well as, with the support of other donors. SPO was deeply concerned about the sufferings of victims of the disaster and emergency situations, the loss in property, massive displacement of people and destruction of infrastructure. SPO took lead in organizing and coordinating relief efforts for the flood victims and has been able to respond timely to disasters. Facilitating SPO Partners in Relief and Rehabilitation Process In line with SPO s vision and mission, SPO s Disaster Response Strategic Framework proposes to develop community institutions to respond to disasters effectively. These institutions include Community Organizations (COs), Citizen Community Boards (CCBs), Women s Groups, Civil Society Networks (CSNs), etc. It is believed that community institutions not only manage development processes efficiently but also bring sustainability by bringing community ownership into the project interventions. This is essential in the case of disasters, where badly affected communities are often the first level respondents. Moreover, it has been observed that recovery process from disasters becomes faster and sustainable. SPO s response to disasters is natural as it has deep roots within communities it serves since 1994. SPO has an impressive outreach in vast areas of the country through its 1600 partner organizations including Community based Organizations (CBOs), Women Organizations (WOs) and 48 Civil Society Networks (CSNs).
Developing Partnerships with Other Organizations Instead of working in isolation or introducing parallell structures, SPO has always played a role of flagship for partners in the development sector. In its efforts to maximise the relief and rehabilitaion activities in the flood affected areas, SPO collborated and strengthened the efforts of other organizations. SPO team with INGOs, Government Institutions and United Nations agencies, in order to carry out rapid and comprehensive damage assessments in the disaster hit region, since 2005. SPO has an advantage of its vertical and horizontal linkages within the civil society and with the government which helps in relief, early recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction work. These linkages are valuable in working with community institutions that are dealing with a disaster situation. SPO has been working in close collaboration with ERRA, NDMA, SDMA, PDMA, and other government agencies including DDMAs. Area of Interventions In order to facilitate the rescue and relief work, SPO undertook partnerships with different INGOS and partners, following measures have been taken to respond to flood affected communities. 1. Damage Assessments 2. Information dissemination to stakeholders through regular feeds 3. Facilitate rescue operations 4. Food relief 5. Providing psycho-social support to affected communities 6. Establishing women and children friendly places 7. Provision of clean drinking water and, health and hygiene kits 8. Provision of health services on limited scale 9. Provision of temporary and prefab shelters 10. Improved sanitary conditions in the affected areas 11. Actively demonstrate and promote healthy and hygiene practices 12. Rehabilitation of water resources and increased the supply of safe water
13. Provision of NFI/Bedding/ Winterization kits 14. Provision of agriculture input, livestock fodder/ vaccination, CFW, Cash Grants, rehabilitation of water courses, village paths etc for improved and sustained livelihood Advocacy and Developing Coalitions SPO believes in joining hands with local actors in strengthening its efforts to maximize the output of relief and rehabilitation efforts. Forums like Kech Disaster Relief Forum (KDRF) have been established which are involved in raising voices of the communities at the grassroots level in the policy arena. Such forums are open to all stakeholders to ensure the maximum participation of the organizations working in the area. Further, SPO also facilitated districts governments to enhance their capacity and develop district level disaster plans to tackle such situation in the future. Empowering Local Communities by Engaging Youth SPO has been a proactive and dynamic organization in reaching out to the disaster affected people, whether they are the prey of severe drought, floods or earthquake. This is achieved through the engagement of youth of the affected areas who improve quality and speed of the response, as well. One of the hallmarks of SPO s work is to increase capability and mobilize the local communities and youth to take control of the development work in their areas. Through SPO interventions, youth gained confidence in their abilities to take initiatives for common good. The potentials of youth are properly utilized for the identification of vulnerable families and in providing the access to most marginalized children and families for provision of relief goods. The sense of the ownership of community is increased through promotion of volunteerism in youth and by engaging them during assessments and distributions in relief response projects.
SPO through its intensive efforts engaged more than 500 local volunteers into its relief operations and provided them resources which build confidence among the youth to come forward and participate in improving the situation. Overall Outlay of the SPO Work Partnering with range of donors, the funds exhausted by SPO were utilized to support the affected communities by providing food packages, shelters kits, non-food Items including kitchen utensils, hygiene kits, insecticide treated nets, beddings, blankets, etc. It also installed water pumps, water trucking, rehabilitated water courses and village paths, providing sanitation facilities and organized medical camps for the affected people. At places, it also conducted trainings on livelihood, provided seeds, rehabilitation of cultivation land, provided loans for improvement in livelihoods etc. Disaster Risk Reduction, Protection and Gender mainstreaming have been cross cutting themes for all SPO interventions. SPO teams played a central management role for coordinating the complete spectrum of emergency response and had the responsibilities for overseeing the overall provision and distribution of relief items, monitoring and streamlining the relief operations.
Women Empowerment Performance Areas Women Group Formation Women Local resource persons Reflect literacy centers Improving lively hoods through small grants Capacity building through trainings Networking and advocacy Engagement with police and Government officials Women Group Formation Considering all the social, economic and cultural barriers imposed on women, particularly in the most remote rural areas of Pakistan, the initiative of setting up women s groups has been identified as the most effective way of addressing the challenges women face. Accessibility, vulnerability, social and economic conditions are all factors that are taken into consideration before SPO begins work on forming women s groups. Women Local Recourse Persons In developing its strategy SPO (tense) selects female local resource persons to provide technical assistance and mentoring to female groups. Once trained, the female local resource persons (LRPs) under the supervision of SPO programme officers mobilize the communities for forming women s groups. The LRPs assist women s groups in developing their structure, engaging group in literacy classes and awareness raising on violence against women through Reflect method. Training of LRPs is an essential component of the programme. It is important that the LRPs feel confident and acquire the skills, knowledge and resources to work efficiently to enhance the status of women in the target villages. Capacity Building through Trainings Capacity building of the women s groups is carried out by the means of trainings in the areas of organizational and financial management, advocacy and lobbying on issues of violence against women. They build strategic alliances with government, professional bodies and other segments of society. Livelihood Improvement SPO responds to economic challenges faced by the poor women through small grants market-based for livelihoods development activities that increase household income. The groups will develop a plan of action based on their own needs. Small grants are also used as capacity building tools to enable the women to gain experience in project management and reporting. Reflect Literacy Centres SPO provides technical assistance and mentoring to women groups in creating reflect literacy centres for women group members outside the reach of formal education system.learning by reflecting on words, actions
and by solving problems are the most effective educational experiences. Advocacy and Networking SPO helps women groups to positively influence the environment in support of marginalized women, SPO provide public and private institutions with technical assistance for developing a code of ethics, a checklist, reporting tools and mechanisms, in order to effectively respond to women issues in general and VAW in particular. Engagement with Police and Government Official SPO facilitates collaboration across local and national public departments, such as Police, Health Providers, Women s Crisis Centres, Masalihati Anjumans and Dar-ul- Amans, to promote change at policy level and extend the reach of programmatic intervention. To expand outreach, special efforts are made to disseminate information about VAW and related programme interventions among the youth studying in schools and colleges to improve their knowledge about the role and responsibilities of different stakeholders regarding VAW issues. Training of Police Officials Police 0fficial at district level are provided trainings on broader issue of women s rights, gender based violence and its social and legal context. The trainings also highlight sexual harassment issues and exploitation of women by the police.
SPO Civil Society Networks SPO helps its partners to build networks with their peers. These networks serve various purposes. A network of civil society groups, which speaks with one voice, is far more effective in promoting policy change than a disparate group of NGOs. Likewise, the quality of service delivery can be greatly improved if the various providers, whether in the public or private sector, collaborate in delivering a coordinated and comprehensive package of services. This is particularly important in communities heavily impacted by multiple challenges such as poverty, poor health services and social discrimination. SPO uses several different approaches for building and strengthening networks. We often work with cohorts of organizations unified around a common concern.. The strengthening process often involves multiple training events where the leadership and members of network receive trainings and professional consultations on a regular basis to learn together. A common vision is a critical step forward to building an effective network. A technique that we have found useful for this purpose is Advocacy Work plans. The advocacy plans define a common goal and a logical cause-effect framework that serves as a road map to jointly achieving advocacy goals Networks need mechanisms to keep them connected and moving towards their shared goals. These mechanisms can take many forms. They may be a small secretariat that facilitates the process and keeps all network members on the same page. Networks also need some means of maintaining communication among members. In areas where there is electricity and internet access, SPO helps to mange network secretariat and build E mail-based communications.
Policy Advocacy Activities Mobilize resources (e.g people, expertise) Conduct policy analysis including research and data collection Build coalitions and alliances with identified organizations Undertake policy/ implementation monitoring and oversight; policy analysis and resolution of policy implementation problems Educating, relevant public officials, members of CSOs, unions, and the community about laws and policy issues to ensure fair and consistent policy implementation and enforcement Providing counseling services to marginalized communities Capability to select a specific issue/policy/reform to be attended in the campaign Skills in carrying out stakeholder analysis Building coalitions and alliances with other organizations Building relationships with media Networks Capacities An understanding of the course of public policy making Knowledge of human rights, including laws, policies and regulations Knowledge of its political rights and duties as citizens Basic Knowledge of the constitutional democracy and its institutions.
Political Party Strengthening The strengthening of democratic governance requires more than free and fair execution of elections, an independent judiciary and good governance. It also calls for a strong culture of democracy, in particular, healthy, transparent, democratic and accountable political parties. Political parties provide a foundation of democratic governance. Political parties serve as a training ground for future political leaders who seek to win elections in order to join government. Whether inside or outside of government, political parties exist to transform social interests into public policy agendas. SPO believes multiparty coordination and systems are essential for a well functioning democracy and development. SPO approach to democratic governance for human development gives it the leverage to play an important role in strengthening political parties with real links to the community, democratic internal structures and development issues Performance Areas Engagement Strategy Selecting Political Parties for Assistance Developing partnership plans with selected political parties Consultations with Party leadership Selection of political workers for training Participatory Party Review (PPR) SPO conducts PPR with each political party. The results of the overall process include: A partnership plan which commits SPO and the political parties to schedule activities designed to build the capacity of the political workers A greater awareness within the political worker of his/ her relationship to the community and potential as a development catalyst. Political parties becoming aware of their parties strength and weaknesses and what additions or changes are required to effectively foster development within the community. A clear understanding on part of the political worker of the basics of participatory development. Capacity Building The capacity of political parties is carried out by means of trainings in the field of human rights, democracy and good governance and providing technical support for conducting roundtables to address development issues. The training knowledge provides the political worker with necessary tools, information, knowledge and skills, to democratize their own parties from within, strengthens the culture of democracy in decision making and other processes and functions, and bring about positive changes in party manifestoes. These skills are often not accessible to party workers. Forming Steering Committees SPO helps political parties to form steering committees so that they see themselves as a critical mechanism to achieve coordination, for working
together, for the betterment of their districts Round Tables By facilitating political steering committees to conduct round table dialogue process, we support the political parties of the country in elaborating a Shared National Agenda, with the aim of identifying the main socioeconomic problems and adopting actions to address them. However, the purpose of this work also brings the politicians of different parties together, so they could see each other as members of a common political class and understand they have to work jointly in the strengthening of the democratic governance Technical Assistance The following specialized technical assistance is provided to each political party on one to bases Identify and prioritise local development issues Collection of secondary and primary data on the selected issues Stakeholders analysis Skills for designing and conducting issue-based roundtable dialogues Effective use of print and electronic media Lobbying with policy making institutions Multi Party Cooperation for Development Problems of social and economic development are often complex and interdependent; such problems are difficult to resolve by the efforts of any single organization or agency. Multiparty cooperation encourages political parties with diverse philosophies and potential strategies to jointly address development problems.
Citizens Monitoring The factors behind poor health and education services in Pakistan are many and require advances on several fronts. Poverty, illiteracy, the low status of women, inadequate planning and poor management of health and education services and resources are all factors that are responsible for the poor quality of the health and education services in the country. Public services that are being offered by the government to the people suffer from many weaknesses that impair efficiency, quality and impact. Several of the weaknesses can be traced to bad governance and poor monitoring. The programme seeks to improve governance and management in public health and education services through public intervention and advocacy. Monitoring by Citizens Monitoring Committees is a powerful tool for accountability and improving the delivery and quality of services. Performance Areas Action Research SPO provides technical assistance to its local partner NGOs to carry out action research in the field of primary education and primary health care. The research focuses upon areas such as: missing facilities in government institutions, governance issues, gender disparity in education, and problems associated with providing quality health care services and primary education. Research findings are used for constructive and critical dialogues with the concerned public departments in order to find ways of improving existing services in the field of health and education. Mobilization of Monitoring Committees Education and health monitoring committees are mobilized both at union council and district levels. Once trained, these committees act as citizens watch groups for monitoring of primary schools and basic health units. The district monitoring committees initiate a process of interactive dialogues to share what they have learnt on a common platform. These dialogues help in providing different stakeholders a forum for raising governance and other issues with officials responsible for providing facilities, and for addressing missing facilities in schools and health out lets. Technical Assistance for Missing Facilities Most in need primary schools and Basic health unit are identified, for the improvement of facilities in target UCs of district, based on the results of the action research. SPO provides small grants for the improvement of facilities in BHUs and primary schools through monitoring committees. The monitoring committees keep track of improvements that are put in place and assess results from these efforts. District Health and Education District Plans A district plan describes what a district will try to achieve over the medium term and how it intends to achieve it. An essential step in this direction
is to ensure that districts have their education and health plans. Monitoring committees consult district authorities and help them prepare district plans. The following technical assistance is provided to district government for preparation of district education and health plans. Providing inputs to district government in formulation of district health/ education vision Provide monitoring and research data from the field and support its incorporation in the preparation of the district plans Facilitate the orientation of functionaries preparing the plans Support in consolidation and utility of plan Organize Focus Group Discussions for building a common understanding on planning processes. Prepare training materials and district planning guidelines; hand holding support for the monitoring committees for preparing their health and education plans; and guidance and assistance in presenting these plans before the district government Awareness and Advocacy Campaigns SPO supports partner NGOs and District Monitoring Committees (DMCs) to engage, convince and influencegovernment officials and decision makers about possible solutions of problems associated with quality of primary education and health services. Awareness is generated among the communities about how the poor quality of services or bad governance adversely affects community members, women, children, and how it is a violation of the fundamental human rights. SPO provides awareness raising material on the roles and responsibilities of local health monitoring committees, school management committees and general public through posters, pamphlets etc. In addition, cable channels are used to highlight issues related to health and education.