Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO)

Introduction

From a joint project of the governments of Pakistan and Canada, SPO transformed into a national non-profit company registered with SECP in 1994. Over the years it has grown to become the largest rights-based capacity building organization in Pakistan, both in terms of outreach and scope as well as the impact of work

Work

SPO’s core expertise lies in community mobilization and development of community and public interest institutions for the provision of municipal services for all basic amenities including but not limited to primary health care, basic education, water and sanitation etc. The capacity development also aims at realization of citizens’ civil, economic, cultural and political rights through action research, awareness raising, advocacy and policy dialogues along with capacity building for livelihood improvement especially in cases of seriously vulnerable groups including but again not limited to children and women.

Gender sensitization and female empowerment have also become core SPO areas, promoted through capacity building, female education and SPO’s own implementation of gender equality.  SPO’s growing strength as a contributor to sustainable development in Pakistan stems, in considerable measure, from its growing strength as an organization.

Organizational Structure

SPO is a national civil society organization.  Its national centre is in Islamabad, but it has four regional offices in Multan, Hyderabad, Peshawar and Quetta. Besides that, four sub-regional offices in Karachi, Lahore, Turbat and D.I.Khan and six temporary project offices are contributing to achieving SPO’s goals.  The national center’s role is to co-ordinate activities of all the regional centers and in addition to its corporate functions provides technical support and guidance on issues such as programme policies, strategies, funding and networking.  The regional centers are directly responsible for implementing SPO's strategy in the field. 

SPO is a not-for-profit organization, with well-laid policies and procedures to facilitate the work. SPO is an equal opportunity employer with staff strength of one hundred and twenty permanent staff along with two hundred and fifty short-term project staff, volunteers and interns. SPO is among the few organizations that have a special job quota for physically challenged individuals. SPO has an elaborate Human Resource Development plan for the professional growth of SPO staff. It includes trainings, both at home and abroad, exposure visits, conferences, seminars, study grants etc. SPO has formulated around twenty policies and procedures along with five manuals that guide the team in administrative and programmatic functioning. The systems and procedures reflect upon the stress laid by the organization on transparency and accountability.

SPO has been able to reach out to people in more than sixty districts of the country thus reaching out to fifty five percent of the geographical area of the country through various interventions. Implicit and inherent in the struggle for improvement is the stress on quality.  Not aiming for immediate, short-term results, but doing the spadework that is building capacities, fostering networks, raising awareness for long-term, sustainable impacts.  SPO’s stress on quality can be witnessed both in its program work, and in its own operations and processes.

SPO’s governance lies in the hands of a fourteen member Board of Directors which comprises of thirteen elected members and the Chief Executive.  Members of the Board as well as the General Body are carefully selected to include a wide range of citizens with relevant social development experience and to equally represent all provinces while maintaining a gender balance. The commitment of the members of the General Body and the Board of Directors of SPO to the cause of development goes beyond a ceremonial form to become a practical and purposeful contribution in actual work situations.  All this support provided on a voluntary basis combined with the full-time professional attributes of SPO staff makes for a truly special and highly effective combination.

Honours

Recognized as a leading proponent of participatory development and good governance, SPO is the executive member of the Pakistan Committee of IUCN-The World Conservation Union and executive member of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Network for Electoral Processes (NEP) formed jointly by UNDP and Election Commission of Pakistan. SPO is currently holding the secretariats of important civil society movements including Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) and South Punjab NGO Forum (SPNF).

Funding

SPO began life as a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) supported organization. However, it soon started attracting more funding and sponsorships from a wider range of contributors.  These include bilateral and multi-lateral aid givers like European Commission (EC), Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) etc. and international NGOs like Action Aid, Save the Children UK, Save the Children US and The Asia Foundation. SPO has also been successful in generating its own resources.  SPO is increasingly on the look out to increase its financial strength and reduce its dependence on donor funds. SPO’s financial strength currently stands at Rs. 220 millions for the financial year 2006-07. SPO is actively pursuing expansion in its indigenous resource base.

Viewing holistically in terms of the scope of work and outreach, approach, impact and institutional strength, it really is hard to think of a comparable NGO in Pakistan. SPO has carved out a niche for itself that puts it on the pedestal of prominence in the development sector.