An NGO is a private sector organization raised by a group of persons from the civil society with the objective of providing voluntary services to the community & society in the matters of social welfare and community development. The term NGO is applied to/used for almost every institution which is not specifically governmental. Any concern which is non government in its nature, non profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian and is registered under certain existing Laws comes under the definition of NGO. The fundamental aim of an NGO is to supplement govt. efforts in carrying out the development work and social welfare activities. The voluntary social welfare agencies / organizations are formed with the objective to solve the local problem by using the available resources with the participation of community. The NGOs are defined simply as voluntary development organizations and include the Community Based Organization (CBOs). In the latest terminology the NGOs are also called Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)

The NGO sector in Pakistan is very wide. NGOs tend to play a watchdog role on government activities, protect the public interest and in particular the interest of the most vulnerable groups on the one hand, while on the other they act as contractors and carry out business activities. The legitimacy of the NGO sector depends on its integrity. Yet this integrity is constantly challenged by the government, by donors, by high remunerations, by prep-coming and by corrupt NGOs that undermine the legitimacy of the entire sector by their actions. Pakistani NGOs need to maintain and protect the autonomy of the sector while establishing mechanisms that can discipline its own members. There mechanism may include:

Registration under any one of the relevant legislations

1. Publication of annual report
2. Publication of annual audited accounts.
3. Full disclosure of sources of funding
4. Transparent decision making structures (including details of the governing body).
5. Publicly available charter (e.g. memorandum of association) the shows a commitment to public service.
6. Working in line with the spirit of Islam / Contribution and local values.

Registration & Legislation of NGOs

The NGOs are registered under some of the following laws in the country.

S#	Name of the Legislation	Registration Authority
a)	The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration & Control) Ordinance, 1961	Provincial Directorate of Social Welfare
b)	The Societies Registration Act, 1980	Joint Stock Registrar
c)	The Trust Act, 1882	Deputy Commissioner
d)	The Charitable Endowment Act, 1980	M/o Women Dev. S.W. & S.E
e)	The Companies Ordinance, 1984	Corporate Law Authority

A Draft Law namely “Non Profit Organizations” is under formulation at the Federal Government Level. Necessary comments of the Social Welfare and Law Department, NWFP on the proposed Draft Law/Ordinance have been furnished to the Federal Ministry concerned however, the Law has not been promulgated yet.

Wide Range of Activities

The NGOs are functioning in various sectors which include:-

1. Advocacy

2. Agriculture & Livestock

3. Micro Enterprise Development

4. Credit & Savings

5. Communication & Information Sharing

6. Capacity Building / Financing

7. Basic job training, research and development.

8. Community Development

9. Culture Arts and Heritage

10. Child Rights / Labour

11. Employment / Income Generation

12. Environmental Protection & Forestry

13. Family Planning / Population Welfare

14. Gender & Development

15. Health & Nutrition

16. Human Rights

17. Humanitarian Relief

18. Legal Aid

19. Primary Education

20. Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts

21. Social Welfare Services

22. Special Education

23. Urban Development

24. Water & Sanitation

25. Women in Distress

26. Women Rights

District-wise list of the NGOs, registered with the Department upto 30-06-2003

 

S#	District	No. of VSWAs	S#	District	No. of VSWAs
1	Abbottabad	149	13	Kohat	72
2	Bannu	112	14	Kohistan	5
3	Battagram	14	15	Lakki	78
4	Buner	40	16	Malakand	35
5	Charsadda	121	17	Mansehra	148
6	Chitral	167	18	Mardan	151
7	D.I.Khan	66	19	Nowshera	72
8	Dir Lower	61	20	Peshawar	355
9	Dir Upper	9	21	Shanglapar	8
10	Hangu	20	22	Swabi	113
11	Haripur	65	23	Swat	109
12	Karak	64	24	Tank	12

TOTAL REGISTERED VSWAs = 2046

It has been noticed that most of the NGOs after getting registered by the Directorate of Social Welfare under Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies(Registration & Control) Ordinance, 1961 do not keep liaison with the Department. They seldom communicate their activities to the Department, which could be evaluated and monitored. Moreover, neither the departments nor other agencies, with which they are working, keep the Social Welfare Department posted with their activities.

Any financial assistance provided to such NGOs by other department/agencies is never communicated to Social Welfare Department. Hence, performance of such NGOs cannot be evaluated properly. Since a considerable portion of developmental work in Social sector is now being carried out through the NGOs, so it is high time to devise a mechanism to gauge the activities / performance of NGOs.

Since the existing law suffers from a number of lacunas, the Federal Government (Ministry of Social Welfare) taking cognizance of the situation has drafted a new law namely “Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Regulation) Act, 1996” with a view to update and replace the existing Ordinance of 1961 in order to bring it in conformity with the requirements of present times and to ensure better governance of the NGOs/CBOs. The draft bill is still in the process of legislation and has not been enacted for many reasons.

Achievements (Success) of NGOs in NWFP

Where there have been stories of mis management, mal-admns and mis-appropriation of funds by NGOs/CBOs there are fairly a good number of instances of achievements attributed to the NGOs in respect of welfare oriented activities and community development programmes in NWFP.

A few of such are enumerated below:

1. The Civil Society Organizations (NGOs/CBOs) have been playing crucial role in creating awareness on social, human rights and environment issues. The SPARC, HRCP, HRMDC are working in the area of women, Children and environment protections and conservation.
2. In the education sector there are more than 45 NGOs/CSOs working with Pakistan Literacy Commission and providing access to some 15000 children, Non Formal Education at their door steps.
3. In Health sector there are blood screening and donation organizations such as Jinnah Blood, Welfare Hands and Bacha Khan Blood transfusion Centre, A Burn Care Centre is also working under Watan Welfare Organization. While working in the field of drug abuse the services of Dost Welfare Foundation have got prominent place. Similarly Abbottorian Memorial Association is doing commendable job for care and treatment of children suffering from thelesemia.
4. There are several organizations working in the area of disability such as Sarhad Society for Rehabilitation of disabled person, Peshawar Physically disabled Society and Pakistan Association of the Blind Peshawar and SAHARA of D.I.Khan.
5. HRMDC is quite effective in Resource Management & Development. The NGO is regularly organizing workshops, seminars for advocacy and awareness
6. To develop the physical infrastructure and services for the local population, there are more than 60 CBOs working with CIP in NWFP. Many of them have successfully accomplished a number of projects under the CIP particularly in the rural areas.

Eminent NGOs of the country working for Community Development and advocacy

There are a number of NGOs working effectively for the Community Development under participatory programme, some of which are noted below:

Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP)	Community Development
Dost Welfare Foundation, NWFP (DWF)	Reh: of Drug addicts
De Laas Gul, Peshawar (DLG)	Child Welfare
Aurat Foundation	Women in distress
SPARC	Child Rights
Khwendo Kor, Peshawar	Child & Women Development
Sangi Foundation, Hazara	Awareness & community Dev
NCCR	Child Rights
Association for Women & Rural Development (AWARD)	Women & child welfare
Paradise , Peshawar	Women in Prisons