“Genesis of Energy Crisis of Pakistan and Potential Solutions” By: Mr. Fazulullah Qureshi – May 27, 2010
Genesis of Energy Crisis of Pakistan and Potential SolutionsBy: Mr. Fazulullah Qureshi (Chairman BoD of Pakistan Steel Mills) IntroductionRealizing the lack of civic spaces in Pakistan in general and in Islamabad in particular, Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) has taken the initiative of launching a platform – the Civic Café. 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. Details of the eventConsidering the current energy crisis Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) held a lecture on “Genesis of Energy Crisis of Pakistan and Potential Solutions” at SPO Civic Café. The lecture was delivered by Mr. Fazulullah Qureshi, Chairman BoD of Pakistan Steel Mills. Introducing the theme of lecture Zafar Zeeshan, Chief of Programme SPO, said that energy is the backbone of modern economy. He said in the initially stage of industrial revolution coal was source of energy. Latter it was replaced by petrol. ‘The current energy crisis is unprecedented in history. Therefore, efforts to seek alternative energy solution have increased in the last few decades.’ Zafar said that the problem of energy crisis in Pakistan is grave for we have not increased available sources of energy and did not explore alternative solutions. Speaking on the occasion, Fazulullah Qureshi said that the national grid system was introduced after Mangla Dam in Pakistan. He provided the detailed history of electric power in Pakistan. Fazulullah stated that the Mangla and Terbella Dams had lions share in the production of electricity until 1990. ‘The decade of 1990s witnessed not only emergence of independent energy producers but also saw shifting from hydel to thermal production of electricity’ he asserted. Since hydal power was cheaper, so nobody bothered about the prices. With the increased share of thermal power in the overall production of electricity the cost of production per unit also increased. On the other hand our income did not increase accordingly. Therefore, he identified the tendency of rise and rise in electricity rate in this phenomenon. Qureshi presented disaggregated data of electricity consumption according to which industry consume only 2%, whereas commercial and domestic sector consume 12% and 86% respectively. Shedding light on the other factors contributing to energy crisis he termed electricity theft and central distribution mechanism as important causes of shortage of electricity. He regretted that policy makers had not exploited the available potential of energy in Thar Coal, Kalabagh and Basha Dam. ‘Absence of continuous policy regarding energy is also one of the reasons of energy crisis. He claimed that Pakistan is the first among countries, which spend maximum money on thermal energy production. To rectify this situation he called for improvements in governance mechanism, devolution of distribution system to provinces and continuation of energy policy regardless of changes in political set up. In the end Naseer Memon, Chief Executive SPO, thanked the speaker and participants.
Special Projects
SPO is recognized as a leading proponent of participatory development in Pakistan, and is engaged in capacity building of community institutions throughout the country. SPO’s presence at the grassroots, and its regular interaction and committed partnership with community institutions, have, in turn, strengthened SPO’s resolve to assist poor and disadvantaged sections of the communities to help achieve their goals for sustainable development under regular programming as well as at times of disasters. To address issues that lie outside the purview of its core programme, SPO has established Special Projects component. Through this, the issues related to emergency situations are tackled. The project area encompasses districts of Neelum, Bagh and Muzafarabad in Azad Kashmir, Gawadar, Ketch, Nasirabad, Bolan, Pishin, Ziarat, Sibi, Zhal Magsi, and Khuzdar in Balochistan, Dadu, Thata, and Badin in Sindh and Liyah in Punjab. The main components and salient features of Special Projects are: Capacity Building and Emergency Response Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Earthquake Reconstruction Programme Pakistan Promotion of Access to Services and Protection Activities Partnerships
Partnerships
SPO has an advantage, in the relief work, of its vertical and horizontal linkages within the civil society and with the government. These linkages are valuable in working with community institutions that are dealing with a disaster situation. These linkages are valuable in working with community institutions that are dealing with a disaster situation. SPO has been working in close collaboration with Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other government agencies including District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) during earthquake 2005, floods 2007 and earthquake in 2008 in Ziarrat. In addition, SPO is implementing various projects in different sectors with the cooperation and in partnership with Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), The Asia Foundation, Plan Pakistan and The United States Agency for International Development(USAID).
Peace and Social Harmony
Pakistan is a culturally, racially, linguistically and religious heterogeneous country. For a prosperous and peaceful society it is indispensible to create harmonious modus vivindi for cultures and denominations who inhabit the variegated cultural tapestry of Pakistan. Realising the importance of social harmony in a multi-cultural society SPO has embarked upon a programme of “Peace and Social Harmony”. The Peace and Social Harmony Programme encourages civil society networks, faith-based organisations and groups, representing a wide range of stakeholders, to jointly participate in decision-making processes for the protection of basic rights irrespective of religious, language, ethnicity and class differences. The programme is based on building social harmony among diverse groups to share and understand each other’s point of view and respect differences. Major challenges include the rising sectarian differences and inter-provincial harmony. ‘Politics of Consent’ will be encouraged resulting in informed, thoroughly debated, and positive public and policy messages of awareness raising and advocacy. The programme has been divided into 3 major components with activities. 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. At policy level the activities of programme are operationalised by various means including knowledge generation through policy analysis, creation of data and information basis; policy awareness raising through, dialogues, networking, information dissemination and mobilising support of the civil society; and policy influencing at local, regional and national, levels by involving policy makers in the dialogue process and by contributing to preparation of national policy documents. SPO’s strategy for the promotion and defence of rights of minorities and fostering cooperation on issues related to peace and social harmony is to build linkages with other civil society networks. To disseminate the knowledge about human rights and develop supportive environment for its goals, SPO contributes to knowledge production in the discourse of rights based development, which includes policy papers, books, publications, short films, broadcasts and website entries. These multiple interventions at various tiers of society will prove conducive in achieving “improved social harmony and consensus on local and national issues among different segments of society for securing their rights regardless of caste, creed, colour or sex.” SPO strives to empower marginalized communities through its activities and interventions across Pakistan. To appreciate the struggle of women, men and communities in bringing about change in their lives and communities, SPO regularly compiles and publishes their stories in the shape of case studies. These stories do not represent an overall view of the situation but they definitely represent snippets of the bigger picture
Activities
On October 8, 2005, a massive earthquake hit the northern parts of Pakistan with its epicentre in Pakistan Administered Kashmir. Despite the massive challenges of rapid scale up, difficult access to remote locations and logistical barriers, Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) provided relief and early recovery support including food, drinking water, and temporary shelter to number of communities during the emergency phase of its earthquake response program. In addition, SPO also facilitated and formed a wider network of national level civil society organizations to respond to this great challenge jointly. The network joint and generate resources at national and international level to help and support the communities in early recovery and rehabilitation efforts. Once the emergency relief phase was over and long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts were initiated, SPO, through one of its partner organization and volunteers in Muzaffarbad , developed its psycho-social program for affected children at six different places in AJK. SPO run the program for one year. Later, the program was converted into a formal project supported by Open Society Institute Foundation (OSIF). Under the project, SPO provided educational support, incorporated psychosocial activities into the government schools, train teachers and organized mobile medical camps in the project areas. The program benefited about 10,000 inhabitants including teachers, children, government officials and parents. In October 2006 the Government of Pakistan acknowledged the transition from an emergency relief phase to long-term recovery and reconstruction, SPO played a crucial role in the reconstruction phase. SPO was selected as one of the leading organization to train Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) partner organizations in both AJK and NWFP. Under the project, more than 400 social organizers of 112 local and international organizations were trained and provided follow-up support in social mobilization. The trained social mobilizers, later, formed Village Reconstruction Committees (VRCs) which led reconstruction process in the EQ affected areas. In November 2007, Oxfam’s “Pakistan Earthquake Reconstruction Program” was approved by CIDA as part of the Canadian government’s contribution to reconstruction efforts. The ooverall goal of the program is “to increase opportunities for earthquake affected people to find safe and sustainable solutions to the effects of the disaster.” This shall be done by facilitating children, women and men affected by the earthquake to claim their rights through (i) dignified livelihoods, (ii) strengthened capacity on disaster preparedness and (iii) improved access to education and health facilities. In early 2008, SPO decided to develop a partnership with Oxfam, another right-based organization, to implement a program developed by Oxfam in districts Bagh and Neelum. The program focuses on an integrated development program that builds the capacity of earthquake affected communities to restore the lives and livelihoods of households through a set of inter-linked interventions in livelihoods, disaster risk reduction and education. Particular emphasis is placed upon engagement of women and girls, so that gender inequalities do not exacerbate girls’ and women’s current and future vulnerabilities. The programs approach is rooted in its understanding of a rights-based approach that builds the capacity of women and men to advocate to “duty bearers” for the realisation of their rights. Key elements of this approach are community participation and the promotion of gender equality.
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 also a member of Insani Huqooq Itihad (IHI). SPO is currently holding the secretariats of important civil society movements including Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) and South Punjab NGO Forum (SPNF).
Earthquake Reconstruction Programme Pakistan
Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) has been engaged in relief, early recovery and rehabilitation activities in earthquake areas in collaboration with its partner organizations including Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), Un-Habitat and Joint Action Committee for Earthquake Response (JAC-ER) since October 2005. However, the organization started direct implementation in March 2007 from Hattian Bala and Chakkama union councils. Since May 2008, SPO has been implementing the project titled Earthquake Reconstruction Program, a joint venture of SPO, Oxfam GB and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in district Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Neelum. The program focuses on health, education, livelihood, disaster risk reduction whereas gender is a cross cutting theme. The deprived and underprivileged have been targeted with a view to address the significant social issues like Violence against Women (VAW).
Projects
Project Title: Improving Mother and Child Health Care by Capacity Building of Health Facilities Project Donor: USAID through Jhpiego Project Duration: Thirty Months (starting from January 2015) Project Location: Sindh (District Jacobabad) Project Brief: SPO will work with 90 health facilities of district Jacobabad for improving mother and child health care services. Main activities which SPO will carry out include; Mobilize health professionals (both medical and para medical) to participate in the trainings organized jointly by SPO and Jhpiego. Work with district health department to identify the supply side needs and share them with Jhpiego for provision. Provision of transport/ambulance to pregnant women in case of complex deliveries to avoid three delays leading to maternal and newborn mortalities Conduct community events to raise awareness about MNCH issues and ways of addressing them. Conducting trainings after receiving ToT on complex MNCH issues and ways to deal with them Develop referral system for women to access better pre, post and anti-natal services. Project Status: Ongoing Project Title:Community Mobilization for Getting Out of School Children Enrolled in Schools Project Donor:DFID via Adam Smith International (ASI) under Punjab Education Support Project-2 (PESP2) Project Duration:Nine months (starting from April 1, 2015) with a possibility of extension for three years Project Location:DistrictBahawalnagar& District Bahawalpur Project Brief: SPO signed a project with ASI for getting out of school children enrolled in schools. The project aims to get 30000 children from around 500 villages of district Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar enrolled in school. It is a milestone based project and payment will be made, based on number of children enrolled in schools. The activities of the project include; Doing a baseline of out of school children Working with SMCs and education department to support enrolment campaigns Taking need based special initiatives like provision of transport to deserving children, financial support to cover cost of uniform, stationary or providing audio visual aids to schools where needed. Awards for best performing teachers and students in terms of enrolment and retention of children at schools Counseling sessions with mothers Establishing peer groups of children for motivating out of school children to join schools Training of teachers for making child friendly classrooms and on child friendly behaviors Initially the project is approved for nine months to pilot this initiative in two districts with a possibility of extension for three more years subject to successful implementation of pilot. It is important to note that SPO was the only organization selected for the project through social mobilization approach. The rest two organizations selected for pilot phase are service delivery organizations including Ghazali Education Trust and BRAC who will implement the project in two other districts. This is an opportunity on one side, hence a challenge on the other to prove the social mobilization approach to be the best approach for getting children enrolled in schools. Project Status: Ongoing Project Title:Enhancing Capacities for Transparent and Accountable Local Governance Project Donor:USAID via Citizens Voice project Project Duration:One year (starting from March 31st 2015) Project Location:South Punjab (Districts Multan, Muzaffargarh and Khanewal), Sindh (Districts Thatta, Badin and Karachi) Project Brief: The scope of the project is likely to be achieved by sensitizing civil society and local political leadership on the elements of transparency and accountability of local governance. This will be done by building the capacities through trainings and interaction among the target groups of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and politicians.An approximate group of 60 CBOs (10 in each district) and 120 politicians (20 in each district from prominent political parties of PML (N), PTI, PPP and PML (F)) will be engaged in this project and would serve as change makers. The capacity building of both the groups would revolve around the Right to Information Act 2013 in Punjab and on Freedom of Information Act 2006 in Sindh and district budget tracking and monitoring. In addition both the groups would also be sensitized on Advocacy &Lobbying skills to better perform their roles towards ensuring transparency and accountability in local governance. The action plans of both the groups would target issues related to service delivery and demand creation around the five departments of health, education, Local Government &Rural Development (LG&RD), Women Development and Public Health Engineering Departments. The office of Ombudsman and Information Commission would be closely involved in the project interventions. The broad strategy of the project would revolve around the following targets: Baseline and end line assessments with the target groups (CBOs & politicians) for demonstrating gaps in their capacity to perform their roles and responsibilities towards transparency Capacity building of the target groups on RTI &FOI and budget tracking mechanisms Developing linkage among the target groups and other relevant stakeholders from public and private domains on ensuring transparent and accountable governance in in their respective districts and provinces Presenting token of appreciation to the best performers (individuals & departments) for their performance in ensuring transparency and accountability in their respective departments Dissemination of information among wider audience in the form of case studies on the process of complaint lodging and complaint handing by the office of ombudsman/ information commissions. Project Status: Ongoing Project Title: Access to Clean Drinking Water & Health and Hygiene Promotions for Temporarily Dislocated Person (TDPs) of North Waziristan Project Donor: World Vision International Project Duration: Four months (starting from March 2015) Project Location: District DI Khan Project Brief: SPO will address the immediate needs of TDPs as communicated by District Government D I Khan while assessing the feasibility for the proposed project: Provision of the adequate supply of clean drinking water to TDPs and host families Increase awareness about health & hygiene to the TDPs and Provision of health & hygiene kits The anticipated activities that fulfill the immediate needs are: Installation of water filtration plant Project Status: Ongoing Project Title: Citizens First, Increasing Human Security in Pakistan and Afghanistan Project Donor: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Netherlands through Oxfam Novib Project Duration: 1st April 2015 to 30th June 2016 Project Location: Sindh (Khairpur, Sukkur, Shikarpur and Larkana Districts) Project Theme & Brief: SPO will work with
Social Justice
Social justice is a result of complex interplay of several political, institutional, cultural ethos, and socio-economic factors. Therefore, it is imperative to remove the hindrances that create problems in the achievement of social justice and subject people to social injustice. True to its mission of establishing a socially just system and society, SPO has initiated a Social Justice Programme. The programme intends to establish and strengthen community-rooted mechanisms in order to secure the well being of people, irrespective of caste, creed, colour or sex, by improving their quality of life. The programme’s aim is to support mechanisms largely in the public sector, and those devised by civil society in the areas of basic education, primary healthcare, livelihood support to women and relief and rehabilitation after natural disasters in areas where SPO works. The programme focuses on three major areas namely improving public services, women rights and disaster preparedness. Since majority of low-income communities rely on public services, they bear the brunt of deterioration in public service. SPO has taken measures to ameliorate public services in education and health sector by introducing citizens monitoring. Under this output monitoring committees will be mobilized in order to “bring government closer to the people”. In the activities related to women rights different dimensions of women livelihood, empowerment and development are covered. This component deals with different inter-related strategies: recognizing women’s right to resources and their livelihood and literacy strategies; the challenge of democratic governance and provision of institutional systems to protect women from violence and discrimination. The component of Disaster Preparedness provides trainings and assists national disaster management authority in developing policies and procedures and planning preparedness. These activities aim at ensuring timely disaster preparation and effective emergency response mechanism at the community, district and national level. SPO strives to empower marginalized communities through its activities and interventions across Pakistan. To appreciate the struggle of women, men and communities in bringing about change in their lives and communities, SPO regularly compiles and publishes their stories in the shape of case studies. These stories do not represent an overall view of the situation but they definitely represent snippets of the bigger picture