SPO is a national civil society organization. Its national centre is in Islamabad, but it has eight regional offices in Multan, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi, Lahore, Turbat and Dera Ismail Khan. Besides that one project office in Muzafarabad and six temporary project offices are contributing to achieving SPO’s goals. The national center’s role is to co-ordinate activities of all the regional centers and in addition to its corporate functions provides technical support and guidance on issues such as programme policies, strategies, funding and networking. The regional centers are directly responsible for implementing SPO’s strategy in the field.
SPO is a not-for-profit organization, with well-laid policies and procedures to facilitate the work. SPO is an equal opportunity employer with staff strength of 141 permanent staff along with 110 short-term project staff, volunteers and interns. SPO is among the few organizations that have a special job quota for physically challenged individuals. SPO has an elaborate Human Resource Development plan for the professional growth of SPO staff. It includes trainings, both at home and abroad, exposure visits, conferences, seminars, study grants etc. SPO has formulated around twenty policies and procedures along with five manuals that guide the team in administrative and programmatic functioning. The systems and procedures reflect upon the stress laid by the organization on transparency and accountability.
SPO has been able to reach out to people in more than sixty districts of the country thus reaching out to fifty five percent of the geographical area of the country through various interventions. Implicit and inherent in the struggle for improvement is the stress on quality. Not aiming for immediate, short-term results, but doing the spadework that is building capacities, fostering networks, raising awareness for long-term, sustainable impacts. SPO’s stress on quality can be witnessed both in its program work, and in its own operations and processes.
