SPO is successfully implementing its project titled ‘Global Funding  Public Private Mix Model’ as a Sub-Recipient (SR) with Mercy Corps in 6 districts of Balochistan under  Public Private Mix (PPM) model. The project started in January 2019 and will conclude in December 2024 and is being implemented in districts Pishin, Sibi, Jafarabad, Panjgur, Kech and Lasbela of Balochistan.

The objective of the project is to increase the number of notified TB cases from 366,061 in 2016 to at least 453,409 by end of year 2020 while maintaining the treatment success rate at 91 %. The project also aims to increase the enrolment of Multi Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases from 19.2% in year 2016 to at least 30% by end of year 2020.

SPO under its Health sector component is closely working in collaboration with the Balochistan TB Programmewhich supervises and monitors the implementation of TB control activities at the Provincial level. At the district level, SPO implemented the activities under the supervision of District TB Coordinators (DTCs). SPO is in process of registering 2,213 TB patients through private General Practitioners (GPs) and laboratories. Similarly, 144 TB patients are in progress to be identified through 72 community gatherings by organizing 72 chest camps in selected districts. SPO as part of its advocacy campaign, organized community gatherings and chest camps in various high prevalence areas for active case finding. By involving community notables, it aimed to spread the message to larger numbers of men, women and children to participate in chest camps. SPO aims to continue its efforts for a TB free Pakistan.

SPO is successfully implementing its project titled ‘SEF Assisted Primary Schools (SAS)’ with the financial support of the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF). The project started in April 2016 and is being implemented in district Sukkur and Shikarpur in Sindh.  

The objective of this project was to empower the under-privileged communities to bring about social change by creating and facilitating new approaches to learning and education. This initiative was based on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework and the objective of the project was to raise the quality of education and improve the literacy rate by ‘reaching the unreached’ in the remote and under-developed areas of Sindh.

SPO provided modern pedagogical tools by establishing audio/visual rooms, provided technologically well-equipped classrooms to facilitate the students, designed interactive learning materials and classroom activities, distributed free school uniforms, and installed solar panels in school buildings for alternative energy solutions.  In order to teach students about the importance of climate change, SPO engaged students in tree plantation campaigns so they learn to protect their natural habitat. The impacts of SAS include 820 children, including 28 girls and 522 boys enrollment in three schools under SEF-Assisted Schools. Moreover, three students of SPO Nawab Khan Buriro received scholarships from IBA for their academic performance.

SPO is successfully implementing its project titled ‘SEF Middle and High School Programme (SMHSP)’ with financial support of Sindh Education Foundation (SEF). The project started in April 2016 and is being implemented in district Sukkur and Jacobabad in Sindh. It is an ongoing project with contractual renewal on annual academic year basis.

The objective of this project is to gradually increase the provision of quality post-primary education in the remote areas of Sindh and to extend free and flexible learning opportunities at the grass-roots level. Through this intervention, SPO is focusing on providing quality post-primary education through the creation of a thriving learning environment for young learners.

SPO is providing free textbooks and additional learning materials to enhance student writing and learning skills by promoting activity-based interactive learning. Also, in order to give students all basic necessities, SPO ensures to provide basic facilities such as, safe drinking water, clean and hygienic classrooms, and well-maintained toilets. SPO engaged Telenor Pakistan for assistance in establishing IT laboratories for the Middle and High school programme. In order to engage students in extra- curriculum activities, SPO organized a plantation drive for the beautification of schools. SPO is working on the professional development of teachers to maximize better learning outcomes. Till date, more than 1,000 children, including 203 girls and 797 boys are enrolled in the Middle and High schools. The enrolled children include but are not limited to street children and children from different marginalized communities.  The programme supports the SDG Goal 4 which calls for inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

SPO is successfully implementing its project titled ‘Adolescent and Adult Learning and Training Programme (AALTP)’ with financial support of Sindh Education Foundation (SEF). The project started in April 2017 and covers district Sukkur and Jacobabad in Sindh. It is an ongoing project with contractual renewal on an annual academic year basis.

The objective of this project is to provide accelerated formal primary education for vulnerable adolescents and basic functional literacy for adults together with a certified Skill Development/Vocational Training course for each learner to enable them to secure opportunities for human capital development and socio-economic growth.

SPO under its ‘Social & Economic Development’ programme distributed free textbooks and additional learning material for beefing up student’s writing and learning skills. In order to provide a safe and clean learning infrastructure, SPO ensured the provision of basic facilities such as safe drinking water, clean and hygienic learning environment, and well-maintained toilets and an easy access to well-equipped Audio/Visual Room for learning. Till date, more than 450 adolescents have been enrolled in Adolescent and Adult’s Learning and Training Programme, including girls and boys. Moreover, SPO has successfully enrolled 82 adults in its Skill Development Programme where they completed their courses on industrial tailoring, embroidery and mobile repairing. The learners of the programme were recently awarded stipends of PKR 10,000 by SEF. In addition, the alumni of Skill Development Programme have already established their own small enterprises in their respective towns.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Strengthening Electoral and Legislative Processes’ (SELP) in partnership with the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability (TDEA). The project started in August 2018 and concluded in April 2020 and was implemented in districts Bahawalnagar, Sahiwal and Lodhran in Punjab.

The overall goal of this project was to strengthen women’s political participation by registering them with National Database & Registration Authority Pakistan’ in three districts of Punjab.

successfully registered 32,450 with NADRA and helped them to be eligible to cast their votes. More than 12.5 million women in Pakistan are not registered with NADRA as of 2019 and the number of unregistered women has been increasing day by day. The situation has led to gender deficit in the eligible voters’ lists which, obviously, is a great concern to State departments and for CSOs. SPO successfully initiated an identification process in May 2019 and till date 19000 unregistered women were identified. Community groups were engaged through social mobilization activities. As a result of SPO’s continuous efforts, 2000 identified and verified unregistered women were facilitated to obtain CNIC from NADRA Registration Centers (NRCs). Furthermore, the mobilization sessions were conducted to sensitize community influential groups on women’s rights and improved women’s access to social services which are linked with their possession of CNICs.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Engaging Youth for Building Community Resilience and Promoting Social Cohesion’ with the financial support of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). The project started in October 2018 and concluded in March 2019 and was implemented in districts Multan & Rawalpindi in Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory.

The overall goal of the project was to engage 200 youth (age 18-29) as beneficiaries in a period of six months in Multan and Islamabad/Rawalpindi in the year 2018-19. The project aimed to mobilize the youth for promoting peace and social cohesion, using national volunteering and engaging volunteers from community with the support of community groups.

SPO further facilitated youth action plans which aimed to sensitize and mobilize both men and women participants from the community to play their role in preventing violence against children living in their areas. For this, a trained force of volunteers engaged education and medical institutions, parents and communities living in slums of selected Union Councils. The fourth SAP successfully addressed the water conservation at community level by engaging youth, men, women and PWDs demonstrating water conservation practices by developing water conservation models of wash basin. More than 25,000 plants were distributed among students and residents of selected Union Councils which enabled plantation in public places.  SPO engaged Members of Provincial Assembly, Punjab, District administration and religious leaders through an advocacy campaign. The charter of demands to introduce reforms in the Punjab Youth Policy was developed. Furthermore, the process of policy formulation was shared with youth by engaging policy experts at Provincial level. More than 30,000 participants were engaged during implementation of SAPs including 14,900 women.

SPO also partnered with the Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122 which provided support for training community youth volunteers for better preparedness for natural disasters and to enhance community-level resilience. These community volunteers were registered with Rescue 1122 Community Emergency Rescue Teams (CERT) to provide prompt response in the event of crisis and disasters.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Policy Advocacy and Research to Strengthen Implementation of Pro-Women Legislation and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Response Services in Sindh’ with the financial support of Australian Government & Australian Aid. The project started in January 2017 and concluded in December 2019 and was implemented in Sindh.

The objective of this project was the establishment and strengthening of pro-women structures and to improve the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and protection services in Sindh under the pro-women laws enacted by the Government of Sindh in previous years.

SPO carried out different activities including a two-day Strategic Planning and Capacity-Building Workshops of the Provincial Advocacy Network – Provincial Steering Forum (PSF) to devise a strategy to achieve project milestones. 43 Women Medical Officers, 12 Police officials, 15 Prosecutors and four District Judges were provided orientation on “Standard GBV Guidelines” through one-day workshop held in Karachi and Hyderabad respectively. In this connection, an Illustrative manual/display chart of medico-legal services was designed and distributed among key relevant stakeholders to facilitate GBV survivors in the Medico Legal Examination (MLE) process. The Sindh Commission on the Status of Women was facilitated to hold consultations with District administration, in-charge officials of Dar-ul-Amans and civil society representatives on the status of safe houses established at District level on the directive of the Sindh High Court. As a result of consultations, the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW) drafted and submitted detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for shelter houses to the Social Welfare Department for further deliberations. The Sindh Cabinet approved SOPs along with a grant of Rs. 10 million for the establishment and strengthening of safe houses at District level under the supervision of District administration on 25^th February, 2019.

Project interventions reached twelve million beneficiaries directly or indirectly out of which five million were women and seven million men. Twenty-six thousand persons were direct beneficiaries through this project in Sindh. Extensive media campaigns through electronic, print and social media about the issues and challenges in implementation of pro-women laws i.e. Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013, Sindh Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2013 and Anti-Women Customary Practices Act, 2011, were launched during the reporting period. Five TV talk shows, seven issue-based articles, FM messages, campaigns in targeted districts of project were conducted.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Promotion of Social Well-being of Sanitary Workers (PSWSW) in Sindh’ with the financial support of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). The project started in July 2018 and concluded in December 2019 and was implemented in districts Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh.

The overall goal of this pilot project was to minimize the social stigmatization associated with sanitary work through lobby with key stakeholders to ameliorate the well- being of sanitary workers and to provide them the primary awareness on health hazards, importance of using safety kits along with provision of technical support.

SPO facilitated consultative process with sanitary workers around the key issues hampering their wellbeing at work and in general life. Key areas highlighted by these consultations include: Health hazardous, accidental death; absence of safety kits / equipment, job insecurity due to contract based employment, poor implementation of labor laws, poor socio economic conditions, discrimination on the basis of profession, caste, religion, low literacy rate and absence of voice among sanitary workers.

SPO successfully implemented the project titled ‘Engaging the Legislators for Universal Access to WASH Rights’ in collaboration with WaterAid from December 2016 September 2019 in Sindh and Punjab.

The overall goal of the project was to progressively engage the legislators/opinion leaders and bring the WASH agenda to the Assembly floor for discussion and debate. Several advocacy meetings and trainings for legislators were organized to sensitize law makers to draft and pass a bill that recognizes WASH as a fundamental right.

SPO under its ‘Social & Economic Development’ programme implemented this project and initiated policy reforms addressing issues concerning universal access to water and sanitation rights in Sindh and Punjab. This project proactively engaged legislators from the provincial assemblies of Sindh and Punjab in policy dialogue, capacity building to understand the significance of WASH rights, and lobbying with government representatives and decision makers to allocate a sufficient budget for the sector. SPO achieved all of its targets and will continue to ensure the timely implementation of such policies.

SPO successfully implemented the project titled ‘Improved Access to Fair, Legitimate and Effective Justice in Pakistan’ in collaboration with Oxfam from January 2017 to June 2019. The project covered three districts of Punjab which were Khanewal, Bhakkar and Muzaffargarh.

SPO through the project contributed in making the justice system more inclusive and accessible to every citizen. In order to attain the overall goal, SPO formed 27 Ba-Ikhtiar Groups to address the plights of citizens and their needs. Community members and Local Government representatives were among the members of Ba Ikhtiar groups. The members were given awareness raising sessions and capacity building trainings.  SPO also established District Advocacy Forums in Bhakkar, Khanewal and Muzaffargarh. The advocacy groups were tasked to identify the common issues, consolidate the Charter of Demands and address the identified issues through annual advocacy action plans. The project outcomes were promising and SPO will continue its efforts to provide accessible justice to local communities.

Among its achievements in this project, SPO created safe-spaces for women and disadvantaged groups to share their grievances and gain access to Formal and Semi-Formal Justice Providers (SFJPs) at Union Council (UC), District and Provincial level.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Promoting Girls Education Programme, Balochistan Education Project (BEP)’ with financial support of Global Partnership for Education & Government of Balochistan. The project started in August 2016 and concluded in March 2019 and was implemented in districts Quetta, Qilla Abdullah, Pishin, Mastung, Loralai, Kohlu & Barkan in Balochistan.

The objective of this project was to increase school enrollment and retention in the project-supported schools with a special focus on girls’ participation and to develop a mechanism to improve the quality of school management in the targeted districts of Balochistan.

SPO verified 68 sites to upgrade the schools and developed School Improvement Plans. Project teams of SPO also conducted numerous visits in 08 districts in both regions to identify the abandoned buildings, provided data sheets to GPE for their approval to utilize the 68 identified abandoned buildings. Moreover, during the reporting period, SPO project teams formed 246 Parents-Teachers School Management Committees (PTSMCs) after visits to the respective communities.

SPO established 171 primary schools for girls and boys and successfully enrolled 7,500 children, out of which 5,500 out-of-school girls were enrolled in 98 schools. It is important to mention that the majority of the schools were established in some of the remotest areas of Balochistan such as Musa Khel, Barkan, Qilla Abdullah and Pishin.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Enhancing CSOs Contributions to Governance and the Development Process in Pakistan – Effective Citizenship and Responsive Governance’ with the financial support of OXFAM. The project started in March 2018 and concluded in March 2019 and was implemented in districts Karachi East & Badin in Sindh, and district Lasbela in Balochistan.

The objective of the project was to empower the local government, encourage inclusive governance, enable social accountability and develop effective coordination and over sight mechanism in three districts of Sindh and Balochistan (Karachi East, Badin and Lasbela).

SPO under its ‘Good Governance component began the data mapping process by involving the Local Government Department, the Election Commission of Pakistan at Provincial and District levels along with District administrations. The data mapping tool was designed and shared with Oxfam GB. Various one-on-one meetings were conducted with Local Government officials at the provincial level to obtain support letters which were later submitted to the District administration and the Local Government officials based in district Lasbela of Balochistan, district Badin and district Municipal Cooperation (DMC) Karachi East to seek required data of elected representatives and relevant department officials as per the shared template.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Right to Education for the Marginalized Communities of District Badin and Tharparkar’ The project started in September 2017 and concluded in November 2018 and was implemented in district Badin and Tharparkar in Sindh.

The overall goal of this project was to raise awareness among particular communities in Sindh to obtain their Constitutional right to education, as stated in Article-25A of the Constitution and to establish an active citizenry of education stakeholders to promote education governance in terms of accountability, improved services, teachers’ attendance, enrollment, retention and quality of education services at the district level.

SPO conducted a baseline survey to chalk out a thorough analysis of both districts and published a report under the title of ‘State of Education in Badin and Tharparkar’, portraying the real picture of education in both districts. The report reflected unsatisfactory conditions of in-school children with either limited or no access to o toilet facilities whatsoever; no potable water; no school buildings and electricity etc. as the main reasons for high student drop-out. Unavailability of toilet and boundary walls was found to be the main reasons for keeping girls out of school. SPO worked with School Management Committees (SMCs), Community Gate Keepers, political and social activists, District Administration, District Education Department and community representatives for the smooth and timely conduction of activities. SPO also engaged print and electronic media for the dissemination of messages on rights-based awareness among the public about Article-25A Voice messages were aired through local FM channels and public messages through leading daily newspapers of the area. Engaging opinion-makers in article writing on education and arranging publishing in various dailies of Pakistan and conducting a provincial-level press conference as well as TV talk shows were major activities by the mainstream media were engaged to promote public awareness.

SPO successfully implemented ‘AAWAZ Voice & Accountability Program’ with the financial support of DFID from June 2012 to March 2018. The project covered Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through a consortium of other organizations that included DAI (Managemnet Organization) Aurat Foundation (AF), South Asia Partnership- Pakistan (SAP-PK) and Sungi Development Foundation.

The AAWAZ programme was implemented in 130,000 villages, and in settlements of 130 Union Councils in 13 Districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The program exceeded all output indicators and was given an A++ grade in the 2016 external annual review conducted by DFID.

SPO implemented this long term programme to ensure open, inclusive and accountable democratic processes nationwide. Through this program, citizens were able to access information about their rights and responsibilities. SPO also enhanced their capacities in dispute management within their communities and helped them to identify the gaps in essential services provided by the government. The citizens were linked with Government Departments at both local and provincial levels for better provisions of needed social services.  The program objectives were met successfully.

SPO successfully implemented its project titled ‘Improving Women’s Participation in the Electoral Process’ with the financial support of Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability (TDEA). The project started in June 2017 and concluded in April 2018 and was implemeneted in district Bahawalnagar and Toba Tek Singh in Punjab.

The overall goal of the project was to enhance engagement of CSOs for women voter registration through individual and collective action and to increase the registration of women voters through direct and indirect facilitation and support for CNIC registration.

SPO conducted a number of activities focusing on identification, listing and registration of women for CNICs. The team conducted 50 mobilization and coordination meetings with women community groups, political parties’ representatives, District Election Commission, NADRA, Local Government representatives, influential/religious leaders, Lady Health Workers/Lady Health Visitors and media to promote women’s CNIC registration in Districts Bahawalnagar and Toba Tek Singh.

SPO achieved the desired outcome of identifying 86,000 women who did not possess CNICs and facilitated 41,675 identified women to obtain CNICs from NADRA facility.

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