2nd Summit of HRDN MemberOrganizations 2013

June 19, 2013

Hotel Hill View, Islamabad

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 03

Session 1 04

Speaker 1 05 Speaker 2 05 Speaker 3 06 Question & Answer session

06

Session 2 08

Speaker 1 09 Speaker 2 09 Speaker 3 10 Question & Answer session

10

Remarks by Guest of Honor 11

Vote of Thanks 11

Annexure

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Annex 1: Agenda of the Summit 12

Annex 2: List of Participants 13

Executive Summary

Human Resource Development Network held its second Summit ofmember organizations on Wednesday, 19th June 2013 at Hotel HillView, Islamabad. The Summit had participants from a number ofmember organizations working nationwide and across borders. TheSummit was also attended by international participants includingrepresentatives of foreign donors and INGOs.

The Summit comprised of two sessions. The first panel focused onthe challenges faced by the development sector in Pakistan. Thesecond panel sought to highlight collective solutions for thesustainability of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) inPakistan. With a questions and comments session after each panel,the summit resulted in a fruitful discussion between theparticipants on the above mentioned topics.

The summit was chaired by Ms. Darlene Foote (Deputy Director ofDemocracy and Governance – USAID); the ceremony was commenced bya brief welcome from Mr. Rehan followed by the recitation of afew verses from the Holy Quran by Mr. M. Ismail. This wasfollowed by a welcome note from the executive director of HRDNMs. Fauzia Malik. She thanked all the worthy guests, CEOs andparticipants for taking time out of their busy schedules and

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highlighted the role of this summit as an important avenue forinteraction between member organizations. She also highlightedthe objectives of the summit as a platform to identify challengesfacing the member organizations and to formulate keyrecommendations to deal with them.

The Executive Director also gave an introductorypresentation on the workings of HRDN and the services that itoffers. She highlighted the strong membership base comprising ofover 1000 individual and organizational members in Pakistan andabroad including over 150 organizations. She also drew attentionto its various products, services and upcoming and past events.She urged participants to offer technical support, institutionalfunding, support for the recently established HDRN endowment andvolunteerism to HDRN.

SESSION 1Page | 4

Challenges faced by the DevelopmentSector

Session 1

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The First Session of the Summit focused on the “Challenges faced bythe Development Sector” and was chaired by Mr. Charles Cutshall(Pakistan Civil Society Advisor with USAID). The panel consistedof Mr. Zaffar Junejo (Chief Executive Officer, TRDP), Mr. Zia-ur-Rehman(Chief Executive Officer, AWAZ CDs) and Mr. Khan Muhammad (ChiefExecutive Officer, CERD). Mr Cutshall introduced each of thepanelists and expressed his enthusiasm at hearing from thepractical and hands on experience of the esteemed panelists.

Speaker 1:

Mr Zaffar Junejo enumerated many challenges being faced by thedevelopment sector including;

Lack of long term vision and consistency, Inappropriate budgetary allocation, General inefficiency, Nepotism and corruption

He also mentioned how the non-harmonious relation between federaland provincial governments and within provinces adversely impactCSOs activity. Focusing on issues of governance, he mentioned howpoor security and inadequate provision of public goods and thenon-secular outlook of the government is playing an active hurdle.There are no effective policies for controlling population andrural-urban migration is depleting the valuable human resourcesrequired for rural development.

He brought the discussion closer to home by talking in depthabout the current scenario of the civil society organizations. Herelated how the structure has evolved from the era of conceptnotes to thematic funding and finally the joint bidding wherevision is eroded under the pressures of Donors, the burden ofpaperwork saps energy and leaders are made into nothing more thanmanagers and fundraisers. In the current situation, development

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has become a finance intensive job as opposed to a humanintensive job which is more suitable for a country like Pakistan.In this situation organizations are caught in the dilemma ofshowcasing their efforts while engaging in meaningful dialoguewith donors and government agencies.

Speaker 2:

Mr. Zia-ur-Rehman discussed both the internal and externalfactors which are deterring humanitarian organizations fromreaching out to the poor and marginalized. He repeated thechallenges such as;

security threats and, lack of better human resource

He lamented the lack of clear cut ToRs in the relationshipbetween NGOs and the government, and the inability of bothparties to properly hold each other accountable.

Internally, CSOs are plagued by their vague relationship with thedonors, which have made them into “implementing contractors” who arecoming up with models that are donor driven as opposed to thoseactual needs by the society, Thus the projectized approach will notallow pro-people models, themes and approaches to emerge.

He also discussed the culture of dependency of the society andNGOs need to break away from this crippling condition. Herecommended expansion towards the private sector cautioninghowever, that the lack of technological expertise within thesector would hamper progress. In conclusion he called on thedevelopment sector to join hands, understand their issues andpressurize the government to provide a single policy framework.

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Speaker 3:

Mr. Khan Muhammad brought a personal touch to the discussion byrecounting his own journey in the NGO sector which began 27yearsago. He talked about how times have changed and the role of theNGO sector has been obscured and a less community oriented approachis being followed.

He also shared his thoughts as that the NGO sector is no longerconfined to its strength of the trust of community but is forcedto engage in tendering, submitting proposals and bidding like a marketdriven approach. The short term nature of projects leads to highturnover rate of staff. Reflecting on his own experiences atKurram agency he mentioned the devalued role of the NGO sectorwith a lack of recognition for its efforts and a lack ofinvolvement at the policy making level.

Question and Answer session:

The panel was followed by questions and comments. Participantsraised concerns regarding the individual challenges faced bytheir respective organizations. It was stressed that Pakistancould not be treated as a homogenous unit and the complexsociopolitical climate of the different regions led to differentpriorities and issues. Participants called for more collaborationbetween CSOs and the society as a whole to eliminate competitionbetween these organizations and work to maximize benefit. Thepanelists responded to these concerns agreeing that there is aneed to challenge the vested interests and energy consumingprocedures, and work together with the core intelligence ofserving the community.

The chair thanked the panelists and Ms. Darlene Foote awardedshields to each of the panelists.

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SESSION 2

Collective solutions for the sustainabilityof Civil Society Organizations in Pakistan

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Session 2

The second session was titled as “Collective solutions for thesustainability of Civil Society Organizations in Pakistan” and was chaired byMs. Neva Khan (Country Director Voluntary Service Overseas). Thepanel consisted of Mr. Agha Ali Javad (General Manager National RuralSupport Program), Ms. Manizeh Bano (Executive Director, SAHIL) andMr. Naseer Memon (Chief Executive Officer, SPO).

Speaker 1

Mr. Agha Ali Javad used the Rural Support Programmes as aprototype of a sustainable organizational structure in thesetumultuous times. He recognized the challenges as;

Distorted Donor-NGO relationship, Looming security threats and, Lack of funding

He explicated on how the rural support programmes were dealingwith these issues. He outlined the active role of these programsin “creating linkages with the government and setting up endowments and creditlines”.

He further explained that there are avenues for generation offunds through their microfinance project which can then be usedfor other projects. He counted the community orientation of thisproject as its major strength. They seek to build an indigenousstructure that integrates itself with the society through multi-sectoral community institutions and interactions with communityactivists leading to greater and sustainable impact.

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He also talked about the diverse environments in which theseprograms function and the broad aims that they tackle whichallows them to be flexible and impactful. The vast structureallow them to take on a large number of projects that impactpeople from the household level to the national level. They havea strong network of RSPs that further interacts with othernetworks like the Pakistan Microfinance Network and HumanResource Development Network to create a culture of collaborationthat can effectively deal with the challenges outlined in theearlier session.

Speaker 2

Ms. Manizeh Bano related the story of SAHIL as a case study insustainability. She highlighted the importance of selecting acause that an NGO’s leadership can sincerely commit to and alsoto find like-minded team members. She talked about how it wasimperative to develop an understanding of the current situationand start small scale to start building a resource base fromexperience. In creating a sustainable structure for NGOs, anefficient work methodology has to be formulated. Ms. Bano stressedon;

Prioritization of work, Innovation, Teamwork, Development of expertise and, Expanding one’s knowledge base by maintaining a learning environment

From a more practical standpoint, she focused on the values oftransparency aided by documentation and regular reporting andmonitoring. She concluded by shedding light on the ethicalfoundations of the structure and stressing their importance inthe work of an NGO.

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Speaker 3

Mr.Naseer Memon reviewed the challenges faced by the CSOs in thecurrent fragile and unstable social setup. He argued that “aid isdriven by foreign policy and regional politics” and the structure is plaguedby corporate organizations claiming to be volunteerorganizations. Working with a rights based organization, Mr.Memon elucidated on the different challenges his organizationfaces in terms of the hostility of various stakeholders and thelack of volunteers spurred by unrealistic expectations of theeducated youth. Reflecting on these issues, Mr. Memon stressed onthe definition of a minimum threshold for CSOs so that they don’tlose their right of choice in selecting projects that are in syncwith their vision. He argued that “an organization need not be big insize to have a big impact”.

Question and Answer session:

During the question and answer session, the participants activelycommented on the two major dimensions of the topic discussed, itwas suggested that the purpose of the existence of the NGOsshould be kept in mind and it is equally important to walk on thefootsteps of the mandate of the organization as compare tolingering on to donor driven approach, on the other hand it wasalso briefly discussed that it is of utmost importance to de-mystify the concept of sustainability as the meaning,interpretation and definition is relative and changes with thelevel of understanding. The panelists summed up the discussion bysuggesting working together from a single platform by reaching tothe core purpose of the existence of NGOs.

The chair concluded the session by clearly stating that“community do not exist for us rather we exist for the community” and it is

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very important to strengthen our motivation to createsustainability at community level, she forced on the point that“we all are part of the solution”.

The chair thanked the panelists and Ms. Darlene Foote awardedshields to each of the panelists.

Remarks by Guest of Honor

Ms. Darlene Foote (Deputy Director of Democracy and Governance –USAID) passed her gratitude to the Board. Executive Director andmembers of HRDN for providing an intellectual forum to discussthe critical issue of sustainability in the context of CSOs whichis now under the skin of the most of the development sectororganizations. She further expressed the issues as having limitedoperational place in the context of Pakistan, Poor Governance androle of international community. She also explained that NGOsface both danger and opportunities, but NGOs must work with samepassion out of the ideal situations.

While focusing on the security concerns, she clearly stated thatNGOs should provide equal protection to their staff through RiskAssessments, Security Management and also through securitybriefing; she mentioned that is of utmost importance for NGOs tokeep on working by adapting to a more sensitive approach becausetheir skill set match perfectly well with the community needsespecially in the case of conflict management.

She also expressed that CSOs play an important role to;

Improve the weak governance Build capacities at every level

It was also stated by the respected guest of honor that NGOs havethe neutrality of affiliations and they are close to publicperceptions hence NGOs lead the path of development. While

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concluding her speech she responded to an earlier comment passedduring the initial sessions that like said Pakistan is not ahomogenous society same as the case with the donors.

Vote of thanks

The vote of thanks was delivered by the respected Mr. SahibzadaJawad who represents its NGO (SAIBAAN Development Organization)in the Board of Directors of HRDN, being the member of HRDN hegladly expressed regarding the success of the Summit, he statedthat such initiatives should be taken seriously and collectivelyto work together as a powerful force and resource of the society.He asked the Executive Director to formulate an Action Plan overthe brain storming, ideas and fruitful discussion gathered inthis very Summit.

While concluding his remarks, he thanked all the worthy guests,guest of honor, CEOs and executives on making this summitsuccessful and fruitful in terms of knowledge exchanged and ideasprovided.

Annex 1: Agenda of the Summit

Human Resource Development Network (HRDN)

Draft Agenda for

2nd Summit of Member Organizations 2013June 19, 2013 – Wednesday at Hotel Hill View, Islamabad

Sr.

Agenda Time Facilitator

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1 Registration 09:00 – 09:30

HRDN Team

2 Recitation 09:30 – 09:35am

3 Welcome note and Objectives of the Summit

09:35 – 09:45am

Mr. Roomi S. Hayat – Chairperson HRDN

4 HRDN presentation 09:45 – 10:00am

Ms. Fauzia Malik – Executive Director HRDN

5 Panel Discussion:“Challenges faced by the development sector in Pakistan” Chair: Mr. Charles Cutshall, USAIDQuestion and Answers

10:00 – 11:00am

Mr. Zaffar Junejo – Chief Executive Officer, TRDP (7minutes)

Mr. Zia-ur-Rehman – Chief Executive Officer, AWAZ CDs (7 minutes)Mr. Khan Muhammad, Chief Executive Officer, CERD (7minutes)

Tea Break6 Panel: Discussion:

“Collective solutions for thesustainability of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Pakistan”Chair: Ms. Neva Khan, VSOQuestion and Answers

11:00 – 12:00pm

Mr. Agha Ali Javad – General Manager, NRSP (7 minutes)Ms. Manizeh Bano – Executive Director, Sahil (7 minutes)Mr. Naseer Memon – Chief Executive Officer, SPO (7 minutes)

7 Remarks by Guest of Honor 12:00 – 12:15pm

Ms. Darlene Foote - DeputyDirector, USAID

8 Vote of Thanks 12:15 – 12:30pm

Sahibzada Jawad – Executive Director, SAIBAAN

Lunch and Closing 12:30pm

Annex 2: List of participants

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S.No Name Designation Organization1 Qasim Rabbani Project Manager Bunyad

Foundation2 Qazi Asad-ur-Rehman Director MAE Community

DevelopmentProgram

3 Neva Khan Country Director Voluntary service Overseas

4 Ahmad Hussain Deputy Director ESMA- AJK5 Saleema Munir Partnership

ManagerCRS

6 M. Ajmal Malik Chairman CHIP7 Charles Cutshall DG Advisor USAID8 Mushtaq Mirani Executive Trustee SRSP9 Naseer Memon CE SPO10 Tabassum Baloch Manager PPAF11 Anita Bakhtiar Manager PPAF12 Wadood Jamal CE SAAD13 KhurramRiaz Partnership

CoordinatorIRC

14 Azhar Saleem CEO HDF15 Naseer Khan Partnership

OfficerUNICEF

16 Khan Muhammad CE CERD17 Nisar Ahmed Country Director Human Appeal18 Tehsin Abid Asst. Manager HRD CWS- P/A19 Musarrat Said HRDM Khwendo Kor20 Abid Channa CEO Sukaar

Foundation21 Zaffar Junejo CEO TRDP22 Nadeem Akhtar ED Hayat Foundation23 Sahibzada Jawad ED Saibaan24 Sataki Arai Consultant Grassroots

Grants Project Japanese Embassy

25 M. Zia-ur-Rehman CE Awaz26 Ch. Sajjad Ali GM NRDP27 Agha Ali Javad GM NRSP

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28 Manizeh Bano ED SAHIL29 Omer Kiani NMO SAHIL30 Saad Gilani Sr. Programme

OfficerILO

31 Samina Ashraf DPO-NRSP NRSP

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