Since its transformation from a bilateral development project of the governments of Pakistan and Canada to a national not-for-profit organization in 1994, registered under the Companies Ordinance 1984; Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) has grown into a leading Pakistani rights-based civil society organization in terms of its countrywide presence and outreach. SPO’s mission is ‘to strengthen and support community organizations and public interest institutions for achieving and protecting basic human rights, with a particular focus on women, girls, youth, children and minorities. SPO’s flagship program officially referred to as ‘Citizens Voice and Accountability Program’, being implemented in over 55 districts, 2 Tribal Agencies of FATA, and 4 Frontier Regions (FRs), deals with matters related to human rights, democracy and good governance, justice, peace and harmony, and strengthening of public institutions; both, at policy as well as implementation levels. Within its rights-based drive, the program deals with a variety of governance related issues at macro, meso and micro levels by building on the strengths of a well-trained countrywide team comprising over 350 staff, and 3500 partner entities i.e. the countrywide implementation arms of SPO. These civil society entities include and are represented by youth, women and minority groups, organizations and networks, think tanks, and religious and political leadership at local, district, provincial and national levels. SPO operates through nine permanent offices including its National Centre in Islamabad and two Regional Offices each in Balochistan (Turbat & Quetta), Khyber Pakhtoonkhuwa (D.I.Khan & Peshawar), Punjab (Multan & Lahore) and Sindh (Hyderabad & Karachi) besides two project offices; one each in AJK and Thatta in Sindh. National Centre is managed by three project management units, namely, Technical Support, Special Projects, and Disaster Preparedness and Response, besides five support departments including Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting, Admin and Corporate Affairs, Finance, Internal Audit and Human Resource.
