Category: Activities

Moving from Disaster to Development – December 2012

(Gender Mainstreaming & Disaster Management) A three days training workshop on “Moving from Disaster to Development” with subtitle of “Gender Mainstreaming & Disaster Management “29-31 December, 2011, was organized by SPO Training Unit, Hyderabad. The main objectives behind the organization of this training were To develop a skilled human resource who should be well aware of such situations and can effectively help community, properly assist their organization and should help others with all their learned skills and shadow of international standards necessary to follow in all emergency activities and To impel SPO Training Unit towards an institutional approach where it should be known as a platform for different individuals to come and augment their skills in their appropriate field/ profession.The three days training workshop with 25 participants from different organizations was started with participatory approach and continued till end with same methodology. The training was comprised on gender mainstreaming and disaster management. Concept, basics, types, causes and cycle of disaster were discussed, introduction of HAP and Sphere standards were shared, gender concept, practical & strategic needs, vulnerability, its analysis, assessment and special care of vulnerability groups; gender roles, gender analysis under gender lens and gender mainstreaming in disaster were practically discussed in detail. All the participants were satisfied by participating in the training, they learned from scheduled sessions and were eager to join upcoming trainings to be organized by SPO.

Effects of Conflicts on Achievements of MDGs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Jan 2012

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is unlikely to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) by the 2015 deadline in light of the current socioeconomic conditions and natural and manmade disasters, said speakers at a panel discussion on Tuesday. Panelists also regretted that development of social sector had never been a government priority as most of national revenues were spent on defence and debt servicing for the country being a security state.The discussion was arranged by the Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO), the largest rightsbased civil society organisation, on `Effects of Conflicts on Achievements of MDGs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa`. Regional head of SPO Arshad Haroon told participants that MDGs were eight international development goals that all 193 UN members and at least 23 international organisations had agreed to achieve by 2015. According to him, the said goals are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary educa-tion, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality rates, improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development. `Disparity exists in imparting education to boys and girls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as there are 14,770 schools for boys and only 7,838 for girls,` said academician Dr Fakhrul Islam. He said education sector was unlikely to achieve MDGs and that the situation was no different as for women`s share in employment as women made only 10 per cent of the workforce in the province against the desired 15 per cent. Dr Fakhr said in political sphere, there were still areas where religious and secular forces joined hands with each other to stop women from casting vote in elections. He said the Musharraf regime reserved seats for women in parliament, provincial assemblies and local councils but their participation in elections against general seats was very low. Chief executive officer SPO NaseerMemon said the Human DevelopmentReport-2011 placed Pakistan after Nigeria on the list of countries with the largest number of children out of school, while the country topped the list of four polio endemic states.He said unfortunately, Pakistan`s social sector spending was the lowest (two to 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product) in the region as even Afghanistan allocated seven per cent of GDP for the sector. Mr Memon said without proper planning and keeping in view of shortage of natural gas, Pakistan achieved the goal of conversion of vehicles to CNG as currently, around 2.4 million vehicles were running on CNG, the second biggest number af ter Brazil. He said there were three Ds defense, debt servicing and development but the major chunk of the budget was allocated to defence and debt servicing, while development sector was not a priority. Former chairman the international relations department of University of Peshawar Dr Ijaz Khattak said Pakistan was a security state, where entire focus was on security and that in such situation, accomplishment ofMDGs was next to impossible. He said a debate should be held on what kind of security the country needed and whether national priority should be protection of children by provision of education and better health facilities or border security. Noted pediatrician Dr Tufail Mohammad said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was nowhere near the goals of reducing child mortality rate and improving maternal health. He said unfortunately, there was not a single specialised children specific hospital in the entire province. He said around 48 per cent of the total population in the country were below 18 and were counted among children. Director Area Study Centre of University of Peshawar Dr Sarfraz said health system in the province in particular and country in general was mostly focusing on disease prevention, control and cure, but in all three spheres, the government had miserably failed to achieve desired results.He further said in some areas, schools and health facilities were bombed and under such circumstances, it was almosy impossible to achieve MDGs

Public Awareness on Disaster Preparedness through Radio Campaign – 2012

SPO has been working with vulnerable communities all across Pakistan for their capacity building for disaster preparedness and development of Community Based Plan for Disaster Risk Mitigation (CPDRM). During the course of our work with the communities, we have realized that social media can play a vital role in reaching out to the larger audience in the targeted community. So as part of CAFOD funded project titled “Restoration of Community Livelihoods in District Kashmore”, SPO has developed a series of 16 radio program in Sindhi language which will be broadcasted on FM Ghotki as per below given schedule.   S# Program Date Pattern Time Duration 1 04-01-2012 Damages of flood ( documentary) 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 2 11-01-2012 Stories of the People self Sharing 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 3 18-01-2012 Interview with deveolpoment activists engaged In area 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 4 25-01-2012 Live Calls From Kandhkot regarding women,childProtection,Health & Hygiene 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 5 02-02-2012 Community voices on recent development 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 6 08-02-2012 Interview with Experts on Health & Hygiene 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 7 15-02-2012 To what extent life has been changed after the floods 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 8 22-02-2012 Stories of flood 2010 Govt: officials response 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 9 29-02-2012 Interview with Experts in DRR 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 10 07-03-2012 Interview with D.C Kashmore 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 11 14-03-2012 Interview with Regional Head of SPO 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 12 21-03-2012 Community voices on the Health issue 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 13 28-03-2012 Live Calls From Kandhkot regarding DRR 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 14 04-04-2012 Stories of the People by local activist 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 15 11-04-2012 Interview with Experts on Women & child Protection 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts 16 18-04-2012 A discussion on protection issues during emergencies 03:30pm to 4:00pm 30 minuts

Message of Peace and Love in Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s Poetry – December 13, 2011

Pakistan is blessed with a rich heritage of Sufism that promotes the message of peace, tolerance and harmony. In today’s world the ideals of peace and harmony could not be achieved until we reflect and internalize the message of Sufis who promoted this message since centuries. (SPO)Strengthening Participatory Organization from its forum Civic Café in Islamabad, referred to the message and poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689-1752).Shah Latif generally known as Bhittai vehemently condemned the act of aggression, which is the main cause of turmoil on this earth. Ms. Fahmida Riaz, a well known writer, poet, and feminist gave the lecture on Shah Latif Bhittai’s message of love and Peace through Sufism. She said, his poetry is elaboration of spiritual quest. While talking about his life and Sufism, she said Shah Latif has Sufi family background and was also interested in Molana Romi poetry, which resulted people called him direct animation of Molana Romi and sometimes compared with him. Although Sufi’s does not believe on competition, she added.She said Shah Bhittai was creator of Music; some of his Sur were created in musical nodes, followers are singing his famous Sur Kalyan for two hundred and fifty years. While talking about his message, she said, he was believer of spiritualism, and used to say that ritualism is not enough. She said, Shah’ s poetry is unique , even now after two hundred and fifty years ,his ideas of peace and love for humanity are thought provoking and mile stone as it creates magic of love for all. Ms. Fahmida Riaz while praising his glory said, he not only love Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH), but also praised  Joggi’ s as they are also searching for God, and believed that this is the only possibility  to love all human beings.Shah Latif’s giving his message of Peace to Mankind in his sur Kalyan, Patience, humanity adopt,For anger is disease-Forbearance bringeth joy and ‘peace’,If you would understand. (Sur Kalyan; Peace) Peace and Harmony is one of the basic components of SPO’s program, which is based on building social harmony among diverse groups to share and understand each other’s point of view and respect differences. It aims to build capacity and empower civil society networks and communities around social harmony and peace with a focus on restoring social harmony and building a culture of peace and participation, and partnering with all local stakeholders in the development process. Civic Café has an objective of providing a space for all to discuss contemporary issues. The basic idea behind the Civic Café is to strengthen the role of civil society through dialogue, and to provide space for discussion on various topics, building new relationships, and strengthening old ones. The participants of this forum do not represent any particular group, class or school of thought, rather they hail from different walks of life.

From Disaster to Development: SPO Raises the Question of Sluggish Response of Flood Disaster – December 9, 2011

“Global Financial and Economic Crisis, other ongoing global Crisis, Type of Disaster and Limited Media Coverage are main reasons for Sluggish Response by Humanitarian Community”Leading national and international NGOs representatives, donor organizations and civil society groups have expressed serious concerns over sluggish response of humanitarian community to the devastating disasters caused by floods and heavy rains in Pakistan specially in Sindh this year. The concern was raised at the roundtable conference arranged by the Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) in Islamabad where participants said that thousands of people were still suffering from the lack of services and their basic needs were not being met in the affected areas because of the sluggish response by Humanitarian Community on one of the biggest disasters of current history. Donors, representatives of international and national NGOs, aid agencies, and leading figures from civil society, media  said that Global Financial and Economic Crisis, other ongoing global Crisis, type of Disaster late Government appeal for international aid and  Limited Media Coverage, are main reasons for Sluggish Response by Humanitarian Community. Ms. Neva Khan, Country Director OGB said, the funding to this disaster has been extremely sluggish, Aid efforts of the UN agencies, the Pakistani civil Society, the government of Pakistan and other humanitarian agencies are under threat as funds are depleting fast and news contributions are not coming in at a rapid pace. To date the UN appeal of $357 million is still only 37% funded. She said, beside Global Financial and Economic Crisis, other ongoing global Crisis, Pakistan faces several problems and challenges, i-e rule of law, problems with corruption, political tensions with neighbors and other countries. She said, we should join hands to support effected people and salute their spirit, their courage, their resilience, SPO Chief Executive  Naseer Memon said, delayed  appeal by the government, economic slowdown  in Euro zone and US, lack of efficiency and transparency on part of government, like warm coverage by international media are considered as key reasons for the poor response by humanitarian aid community. He said, the government under estimated the scale of disaster and the appeal for international aid came too late when millions were already shelter less.Now, Sluggish response by humanitarian adds community is causing severe stress on relief Activities. He added. Director, NDMA Mr. Idrees Masud said Pakistan is facing climate change and Sindh has received unexpected rainfall. He said one of the reasons for international sluggish response was massive government response. He said Government has spent more than it spent last year. While talking about late appeal he said government first gathered the data than asked for the donation in certain areas. As Pakistan is prone to face more floods in future we don’t want to waste resources, we want permanent shelters not temporary shelters. He informed the civil society that NDMA has created gender and child cell specially. He said,government has changed disaster in to opportunity and named the given homes to women and used solar system . Civil society and media from Sindh stressed that bad governance was reason of this disaster. There was disaster with in disaster, media did not give proper coverage, government was not there for relief, they added.

Yakjehti Conference in SPO D.I. Khan

SPO D.I.Khan in collaboration with Daman Civil Society Network(DCSN),Dera Peace Council & Media aman Committee organized yakjehti (Solidarity) Conference with the objective to promote inter sect harmony in general & especially in Muharram & solidarity of all Civil Society stakeholders in peace restoration process. Religious scholars(Ulema) from shia, Sunni, Deobandi, Bralve & Ahle Hadees sect, Deputy Speaker National Assembly, Trade Union, District level Political Leadership/workers, Print & Electronic Media, Peace activists/leaders, Chamber of Agriculture leaders, Transport Unions  etc participated & committed to work jointly for peace restoration process in general & in Muharram in particular. All speakers acknowledged SPO role in peace restoration process & mobilizing different stakeholders for working jointly for this.At the end of Conference all leaders gathered at stage & showed Solidarity for continuing peace restoration struggle in D.I.Khan. Print & electronic Media covered the event with the full enthusiasm because this solidarity was initiated by Civil Society .  

Dynamics of Team work – October 12, 2011

Dynamics of Team work Workshop by SPO for PSF professionals SPO and PSF have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for building the capacity of rural masses through promotion of science. A draft action plan has been chalked out for ensuring that the partnership built among both the organizations is vital and speak out the commitment towards achieving its goal. In this connection, a half day workshop of the mid level professionals from PSF was organized by SPO on October 12th 2011 at PSF auditorium, Islamabad. A group of approx. 25 participants from across four provinces talk through the essence of ‘Team Work’ in professional settings. The workshop not only imparted knowledge on the dynamics of team work essential for achieving a common goal but also commented on the various human attitudes and behaviors while working together. The imparted training was based on interactive learning approach where the participants were given the opportunity of discussion and group exercise. The Chairman PSF along with some senior members also attended some sessions of the workshop.

SPO and Science Foundation to Promote Science in Rural Areas – October 11, 2011

Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) and Pakistan Science Foundation have decided to join hands to promote the science at the rural level around the country. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the theme of ‘Capacity Building of the Rural Masses through Promotion of Science” was signed in Islamabad on October 11th, 2011,between the two prestigious organizations. Addressing the MOU signing ceremony at the Pakistan Science Foundation building in Islamabad Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Social Sector Ms.Shahnaz  Wazir Ali said  that the PPP governments has always been supportive for science and bringing its benefits to masses. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhuto and Shaheed Benizar Bhutto always gave due importance to science and technology and present government is also following their footprints with the same vision.She said, Climate change is a reality for us and in order to face the challenges being posed it we need to promote the understanding and knowledge of complex world of science and learn how to save lives, livestock and crops from its affects. She hoped that this joining of hands by the SPO and PSF will serve the communities by mainstreaming scientific knowledge.  SPO Chief Executive  Naseer Memen said, the partnership among PSF and SPO is a step towards achieving sustainable development whereby both the social sector and academia would gain opportunity of learning new trends in science and technology.  “Socialization of science will ultimately lead towards the economic development of the country” he said. Mr. Memon emphasized on the need for greater partnership between government, social and private sector to meet the challenges faced to this country. He said biggest challenge faced by the country was the menace of fundamentalism and only promotion of science has the potential to replace the blind faith with wisdom and enlightenment. Chairman PSF, Dr Manzoor H. Soomro while addressing the ceremony said his organization was working with other organizations that have networks and outreach in rural communities to take science out of laboratories and bring it to people. He hoped that this joining of hands with SPO to reach far flung areas will be fruitful. He said established in 1973 through an Act of the National Assembly, PSF is premier agency for the promotion and funding of scientific research and popularization of science in Pakistan. Chairman SPO Board of Directors  Dr Tufail Ahmed said that SPO wants to promote culture of scientific thinking especially in rural areas, as we want to initiate rational thinking and decision making which is necessary for sustainable development. Dr.K.K Nagata, Director/Representative UNESCO-Pakistan termed the partnership as groundbreaking event for making science work for masses. She opined that in this knowledge based age science is the key for development of persons as well as of society. She said, Pakistani people are highly talented but their potential needs to be recognized and acknowledged. She said this partnership is a step in that direction. Pakistan is a country where approximately 63% population is residing in the semi urban and rural areas. Although the rural areas are serving as the backbone of the country’s economic development, the population there is deprived of the essential knowledge and skills complementing basic science education and its linkage with the development scenario of the country. This deficiency results in inadequate professional growth within the country leading to country’s low economic development or raising poverty. The partnership between SPO and PSF is an effort to contribute in bridging this knowledge gap in the rural communities. SPO is one of the leading National NGOs that is working in 40 districts across the country including AJK on the thematic areas of democratic governance, social justice, peace and social harmony, emergency and disaster response. The organization has successfully created a group of ‘social change agents’ through the formation of Civil Society Networks throughout the country where the organization is geographically and thematically present. These change agents lead the whole process of capacity building and awareness among the grassroots tiers upto the top by advocacy at policy level on social issues.