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COMMENT: NGO sector in Pakistan: issues and challenges —Bilal Naqeeb

The situation demands the attention of key stakeholders including the government,
funding agencies, NGOs and research organisations to learn the new dynamics of the
corporatised voluntary sector and sort it out for the survival of voluntarism

Unlike other countries in the South Asian region, the NGO sector in Pakistan has seen
rapid changes in the development context. A mushroom growth of voluntary
organisations took place during the Zia regime, when the sector was being fed USAID
funding in return for Pakistan’s support in the Afghan War. Back then this sector was
active in the areas of education, health and community infrastructure, with the exception
of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF), which challenged the discriminatory Hudood
Ordinance. This trend continued until 1999 due to the wrapping up of local bodies
institutions by elected governments in the 1990s. It then switched to strengthening local
governance systems (LGS) in 2001 when Pervez Musharraf’s government introduced the
Devolution of Power Plan for the reform of the local government system. Most of the
programmes of large and medium scale organisations were aligned with LGS in a variety
of ways. Parallel to the implementation of the two phases of the system, the political
scenario due to the occurrence of 9/11 was drastically changed. Since then, militant
forces are threatening peace and development in Pakistan. The driving force that changed
the direction of NGOs were funding agencies that signed agreements with federal
governments for the provision of funds in selected areas of interest, without considering
the needs of sustainability for ongoing programmes.

Growth and expansion is a positive sign in the development of institutions. Aligarh

institutions in British India, Orangi Pilot Project in Pakistan and BRAC in Bangladesh are
examples of successful, replicable models that were initiated by individuals and adopted
by several organisations. During the last decade, apart from national
organisations/programmes mostly established by the government or international donors
and the traditional philanthropists, there are a large number of organisations striving to
expand their local programmes on a wider geographic scale. The motivational factor is
rarely to achieve multiplier effects of the successful implementation of pilot projects, but
to have extended financial portfolios that can proportionally justify the infrastructural and
human resource costs of the organisation. The geographic scale of work is largely
associated with the management capacities of NGOs, which are ideally at par with the
corporate sector.

Due to a lack of unbiased and sincere efforts for legislation by numerous governments,
the growth of voluntary sector organisations could not be achieved. This is one of the
major reasons that registration laws (except SECP) merely provide control for
accountability purposes. On the other hand, funding agencies, through their own
assessment criteria, are encouraging corporate culture management in social sector
organisations.

The prime condition for building partnerships is a legal status that can be acquired by
registering under any of the four registration Acts, including the Societies Act 1860,
Trust Act 1882, Social Welfare Department 1961, and under section 42 of the Companies
Ordinance 1984. Practically, there is no major difference on ground in the
implementation of any law in terms of setting up objectives, determining the scope of
work, geographical coverage, scale of programmes and budgetary limitations. In most
cases, the organisation is conceptualised by an individual who gathers the people to form
the governance structure as per the requirements of the selected registration Act. In the
process of adopting parents for an organisation, understanding the responsibilities of
governing bodies and competencies was often compromised, resulting in poor
governance.

Any organisation that wants to enter the bidding process is supposed to demonstrate
efficient systems including financial management, internal audit, corporate legal
assistance, HR management, programme quality controls, property management, internal
and external communication, IT infrastructure, etc., at par with a corporate entity. On the
basis of data collected, the estimated costs of the development, installation and
orientation of new systems, policies and procedures approximately ranges from Rs
800,000 to Rs 2,000,000 for medium to large scale organisations. A project of a limited
time span can leave behind a liability to maintain a costly structure beyond the project,
for survival in the business of development. An estimated cost of bearing a corporatised
organisation with 10 to 15 staff members ends up with a liability of no less than Rs 6
million per year in the post-project period.

In order to generate sufficient funds to maintain the organisation, minimum funding

under different projects is needed, five times more than its operational costs because of
capping the costs of salaries and operations at 20 percent of the total budget.

For the achievement of sustainability, organisations are advised to make their

programmes saleable so that they can generate resources to maintain staff costs and
operations. In these circumstances, only service delivery organisations in the areas of
education and health can mobilise indigenous resources. Organisations that promote
rights-based advocacy or carrying out capacity development can rarely survive until and
unless funding agencies allow and support an endowment fund, which is regretted by
most of the funding agencies due to various reasons.
The situation demands the attention of key stakeholders including the government,
funding agencies, NGOs and research organisations to learn the new dynamics of the
corporatised voluntary sector and sort it out for the survival of voluntarism.

There is a clear need for the classification of NGOs and the establishment of effective
monitoring mechanisms that must be mandatory. The Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy
developed, proposed and advocated a legal framework in 2002 that aimed to address most
of the above-mentioned issues but, due to mistrust between NGOs and the government
based on past experiences, it could not be formalised. If it could be sorted out, it might
have had a significant impact on the sector. Most quality control mechanisms and
services such as impact assessments, programme evaluations, development and
installation of standard operating procedures, etc., could be provided through selected
agencies instead of being housed in each organisation and sourcing out heavy
consultancies for the development of information systems, etc.

Organisations engaged in offering packages for Organisational Development (OD) to

growing community based organisations must take into account that the OD process must
not be limited to the development of standard operating procedures and for the
compliance with assessment criteria of the donors, but to achieve a greater degree of
transparency and accountability.

Bilal Naqeeb is a development practitioner, working in the areas of social sector

programme planning and management. He can be reached at bilal.naqeeb@gmail.com