Under the Political Party Development Program (PPDP), a one day CSO Forum was organized by SPO and NDI in collaboration with Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), on February 24, 2014 at Hotel One Islamabad. The forum was attended by nine members of PML-F’s policy-makers, including two current MPAs of Sindh Assembly, Dr. Rafique Banbhan and Ms. Nusrat Saher Abbasi. The main objectives of the CSO forum were:
1. To discuss the highlighted issues and to give an expert opinion. 2. To discuss the way forward for the party’s policy formulation.
The proceedings began with a brief introduction by Ms. Doreen Kiani, Senior Program Manager-NDI. Mr. Zahid Jalbani, Project Manager SPO, briefed the participants on SPO and its program as well as the objectives of CSO Forum. He also introduced the speakers of the event, the first of which was Dr. Asaad Ahmed Nafees from Agha Khan University, who talked about health. Then Mr. Ali Palh discussed the law & order situation, followed by Mr.Mudasir Rizvi-FAFEN, who took up the electoral reforms issue. Finally, Mr. Mosharraf Zaidi brought up the subject of education.
All the experts talked about the overall situation of the issues in the country, with special emphasis on the province of Sindh. The participants took active part in every session. All relevant materials, including publications, were distributed among the participants.