Strengthening Participatory Organizations in Pakistan (Phase 1)

The Strengthening Participatory Organizations (SPO) Project (running from 1991-1994), was established jointly by the Governments of Canada and Pakistan to support development projects undertaken by NGOs in the social sectors. Cowater led and supported the project and assisted it in becoming a duly registered non-profit Pakistani organization, locally governed and managed, and dedicated to providing capacity building assistance to rural CBOs. A strong emphasis of this capacity building project was to deepen the understanding of the concept of development, and strengthen programming and management skills for organizations and activities among CBOs. Cowater also continued to monitor the project and provided periodic technical assistance. The focus of the monitoring process was to assess the degree of progress in SPOs management and fulfillment of its institutional mandate and the impact of proposed changes. Areas reviewed by the missions in the field included: organisational and management issues, MIS, Learning Information System, strategic planning, training, SPOs CBO Strengthening Systems, financial management system, and community level activities. The project was followed second phase, also implemented by Cowater.