19th AnnualProgress Report

2012-2013

Enabling the poor to improve their livelihoods

National Rural Support ProgrammeIslamabad, Pakistan

Copyright NRSP 2013

Established in 1991, NRSP is the largest Rural Support Programme in the country in terms of outreach, staff and development activities. It is a not for profit organization registered under Section 42 of Companies Ordinance 1984. NRSPs mandate is to alleviate poverty by harnessing peoples potential and undertaking development activities in Pakistan. It has a presence in 58 districts in four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir through regional and field offices. NRSP is currently working with over two million poor households organised into a network of more than 155,000 Community Organizations. With sustained incremental growth, it is emerging as Pakistans leading engine for poverty reduction and rural development.

Parts of this report may be reproduced for professional purposes, provided that the source is acknowledged and the material is not sold.

Authored by: Ghaffar ParasWith thanks to contributions in the way of case studies to: Tazeem Khan, Mazhar Khan, Ayesha Tetley, Rukhsana Karim, Tahira Nawaz, Wasif Gardezi, Ghulam Rasool, Faisal Raza, Muhammad Azhar

Statistical Abstract: Sharafat Hussain

Report Designed by: Mansoor AbidPrinted by: PanGraphics (Pvt.) Ltd. Islamabad

Published by National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), Islamabad, Pakistan.

ContentsAcronyms ii

Foreword iii

NRSPs Organizational Structure iv

NRSP Outreach v

Social Mobilization 1

Gender and Development 6

Microfinance and Enterprise Development 10

Human Resource Development 14

Physical Infrastructure and Technology Development 18

Environment and Natural Resource Management 22

Social & Human Protection Programme 26

Social Sector Services - EDUCATION 30

Social Sector Services - HEALTH 34

Monitoring, Evaluation and Research 38

Finance and Accounts 42

NRSP - USAID: Working to build capacity at the grassroots level 44

Statistical Abstract 47

Programme Coverage by Offices 76

ADB Asian Development BankAFP Ambassador Fund ProgramAJK Azad Jammu & KashmirALP Accelerated Learning ProgrammeASF Agriculture Support FundASP Assessment and Strengthening ProgramBCC Behavior Change CommunicationBEF Baluchistan Education FoundationBHU Basic Health UnitCACL Combating Abusive Child LabourCARD Coastal Association of Research and Development CBDRM Community Based Disaster Risk ManagementCBO Community Based OrganizationCEO Chief Executive OfficerCIF Community Investment FundCLEW Community Livestock Extension WorkerCLF Community Livelihood FundCMST Community Management Skills TrainingCO Community OrganizationCPIs Community Physical InfrastructuresCRP Community Resource PersonCWD Children With DisabilityDHQ District HeadquarterDMPP Drought Mitigation and Preparedness ProjectDRR Disaster Risk ReductionECCD Early Child Care and DevelopmentECE Early Child EducationECED Early Childhood Education and DevelopmentENRM Environment and Natural Resource ManagementESMF Environmental Social Management FrameworkF&A Finance and AccountsFAO Food and Agriculture OrganizationFATA Federally Administered Tribal AreasFGD Focus Group DiscussionGAD Gender and DevelopmentGAVI Global Alliance for Vaccines and ImmunizationGDP Gross Domestic ProductGEP Gender Equity ProgrammeGFATM Global Fund to Fight AIDs, Tuberculosis and MalariaGM General ManagerGPP Girl Power ProgrammeH&E Health & EducationH&N Health & NutritionHBL Habib Bank LimitedHR Human ResourceHRD Human Resource DevelopmentHRDN Human Resource Development NetworkIDPs Internally Displaced PersonsIFAD International Funding for Agriculture DevelopmentIFC International Finance CorporationILO International Labour OrganizationIPCs Insulated Plastic Containers IPM Integrated Pest ManagementIRM Institute of Rural ManagementJDW Jamal Din WaliKfW Kreditanstalt fr WiederaufbauKP Khyber PakhtunkhwaLEP Livelihood Enhancement ProgrammeLHV Lady Health VisitorLHW Lady Health WorkersLSO Local Support Organization

MAP Medicinal and Aromatic PlantsMCFG Microcredit Guarantee FacilityMDG Millennium Development GoalMEDA Mennonite Economic Development AssociatesMEDP Microfinance and Enterprise Development ProgrammeMER Monitoring, Evaluation and ResearchMfB Microfinance BankMfDW Microfinance for Decent WorkMFI Microfinance InstitutionMI Micronutrient InitiativeMIS Management Information SystemMMNPs Multiple Micro-nutrient PowdersMNCH Mother and Child HealthMoH Ministry of HealthMORE Social Mobilization for EmpowermentNADRA National Database and Registration AuthorityNARC National Agriculture Research CouncilNGO Non-Government OrganizationNIH National Institute of HealthNRSP National Rural Support ProgrammeOTW Orientation Training WorkshopPCMU Project Compliance and Monitoring UnitPESRP Punjab Education Sector Reform ProgramPITD Physical Infrastructure and Technology DevelopmentPLaCES Protective Learning and Community Emergency ServicesPMN Pakistan Microfinance Network PPAF Pakistan Poverty Alleviation FundPSC Poverty ScorecardPSDF Punjab Skills Development FundPWD People With DisabilityPWFLs People with Functional LimitationsRDT Rapid Diagnostic TestRSPN Rural Support Programmes NetworkRSPs Rural Support ProgrammesSBP State Bank of PakistanSCCBP School Council Capacity Building Programme SCCDP Sindh Coastal Community Development ProjectSCs School CouncilsSDC Skill Development CouncilSGAFP Small Grant and Ambassadors Fund ProgramSGP Small Grant ProgramSHcG Small House cum GardenSHP Social & Human ProtectionSM Social MobilizationSMC School Management CommitteeSSI Small Scale InitiativeTBA Traditional Birth AttendantTOT Training of TrainersUC Union CouncilUDMC Union Council Disaster Management CommitteeUNICEF The United Nations Childrens FundUPAP Urban Poverty Alleviation ProgrammeUSAID United States Agency for International DevelopmentUSSSPM Universal Standards for Social Performance ManagementVDMC Village Disaster Management CommitteeVDP Village Development PlanVHC Village Health CommitteeVO Village OrganizationWASH Water, Sanitation and HygieneYEEP Youth Economic Empowerment Project

Acronyms

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013ii

It gives me immense pleasure to present NRSPs annual report 2012-13. This year considerable progress was made in terms of an increase in program coverage expanding microfinance operations and building new partnerships.

During the year, 250,000 households were organized, 90 Local Support Organizations were formed. NRSP further strengthened the LSOs by providing CIF and making best use of Community Resource Persons (CRPs) as the frontline workers. LSOs are now managing an amount of Rs. 149.5 million as credit revolving CIF and using it to provide small loans to their members. New credit lines were established which helped NRSP disburse more than Rs. 9.5 billion as micro-credit. We are grateful to the World Bank and the PPAF for initiating various projects that supported community members across the country, particularly in the neglected regions of Balochistan, Sindh and KP for their endevours to combat poverty. During the year NRSP successfully completed the Sindh Coastal Community Development project in the coastal areas of Sindh. The final evaluation of the project by independent consultants hired by the GoS stated that the project was highly effective, efficient and successful. The targets of increasing participating household income by at least 7% per year, increasing Housing access to drinking water by 40% and setting up high platforms for safety against floods have been achieved. The ongoing USAID Small Grants project (SGAFP) and the Assessment and Strengthening Project (ASP) made very important contribution for LSOs and NRSP staff in terms of providing grants to initiate new project and capacity building for LSO office bearers. The NRSP Microfinance Bank continued its upward growth progress providing financial services to poor farmers in

Punjab and Sindh. NRSP continued to receive support from the State Bank of Pakistan in terms of Technical assistance to ensure placement of adequate system of controls for its MF operations. This helped develop us in developing a risk management framework, build capacity of NRSP managers and also improve the IT system. I am grateful to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the investors including NRSP, ACCUMEN Fund, KFW and the IFC for their support.

The Institute of Rural Management continued its operation as an independent specialized entity. Being a subsidiary of NRSP it maintained its focus on capacity building of poor communities.

Our valued work with local and provincial government continued through initiatives such as the SCCDP, Small House cum Garden Project, PSDF Skills for market and BESP. Negotiations are in final stages to start IFAD and provincial government funded two large scale projects titled South Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project.

Mercy Corps, Water Aid, KfW, UNICEF, ASF, Plan Pakistan and MI emerged as important partners for NRSP to initiate a large number of projects in all four provinces. During the year NRSP started an EU funded 3 years project in Sindh and is planning on starting another social mobilization project in AJK in the coming year. NRSP is thankful to its partners, community activists and programme participants for their continued support.

The NRSPs growth and successful implementation of the programme and a number of projects would have not been possible without the quality guidance provided by the NRSP Board and the Chairman to whom I owe thanks. My entire team including HO staff, Regional staff, support and auxiliary all deserve my heartfelt gratitude for their dedication and belief in what they are doing. Together we make a team, the NRSP team, of which I as a member thank you all.

Dr. Rashid BajwaChief Executive Officer

Foreword

Foreword iii

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013

Sectors Regions Districts

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NRSPs Organizational Structure

iv

NRSP Outreach

Region/ Sector Office StaffDistrict Offices Field Units Men Women TotalHead Office (Islamabad) - - 145 20 165 SGAFP - - 46 5 51 AJ&K 3 9 152 15 167 Rawalpindi 5 25 377 162 539 Sargodha 4 19 443 37 480 Bahawalpur 2 13 143 46 189 Dera Ghazi Khan 2 8 198 57 255 Rahim Yar Khan 3 20 180 60 240 KP 7 9 104 16 120 Hyderabad 4 15 343 104 447 Turbat 5 15 91 16 107 UPAP 23 - 804 260 1,064 Total 58 133 3,026 798 3,824

NRSP Outreach v

KashmoreJacobabad

Shikarpur

Buner

TandoAllah Yar

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013

Social Mobilization and Livelihoods

2,373,213 households mobilised across Pakistan

NRSP works on the assumption that people have tremendous potential for their development. Social mobilization is a process that helps harness this potential. It forms the central theme of every NRSP project and programme. Social mobilization ensures all activities are community driven at the grassroots level.

Organising people into their own institutions is the foundation of NRSPs social mobilization strategy. Until 2005, NRSP was organising people only at the settlement level i.e. forming the Community Organizations (COs). However, later based on learning by doing, NRSP has adopted a three tier structure of social mobilization, which comprises Community Organizations (COs) at the mohalla/settlement level, federating the COs at village level as Village Organizations (VOs) and through the VOs federating the COs at Union Council level as Local Support Organizations (LSOs) Linking communities with the local government and donors, this approach is responsive, cost effective, promotes access to services and ensures post project sustainability. During the year NRSP organized 15,406 COs with the membership of 257,011 (80% women) and 90 LSOs and 726 VOs. NRSPs social mobilization approach of working through the three tiered community institutions is expected to bring the following results:

inclusion of the poor and vulnerable segments of society in the community organizations

an increased sense of helping each other

enhanced managerial capacity at the grassroots

participation, transparency and accountability

ownership and local level development

sustainability of interventions post project completion

Along with the formation of a three tiered structure, NRSP successfully utilised the Community Resource Persons (CRPs) in scaling up social mobilization. CRPs are those social activists who through their own

Social Mobilization 1

Figure 1: LSOs & VOs Trend (Cumulative)

experience have recognised the benefits of social mobilization and therefore are willing to offer their time and skills for organising people and training them in the management of community organizations. During the review period, the NRSPs field teams identified those CRPs who were prepared to go to areas outside their own regions and spread the message of social mobilization. They not only organised the communities in remote areas but were also able to identify potential local CRPs. The CRPs have not only organized thousands of poor people, they have also been instrumental in maintaining and sustaining the COs/VOs/LSOs. The successful implementation of social mobilization through the CRPs has opened venues for the community workers for many other sectors such as CRP Health, CRP Disaster Management. These are the progressive community volunteers who have not only gained expertise in certain fields; they have also become master trainers and resource persons for other communities to which they may or not belong to.

With regards to financial sustainability of the VOs and LSOs especially the LSOs in terms of managing their offices and meeting essential expenditure such as travel, stationery and managers training, the LSOs took various initiatives of which the most important has been the introduction of a membership fee. Many LSOs also succeeded in accessing grant funding from different donors for different projects. The Community Livelihood Fund grant provided by PPAF under the World Bank PPAF III project proved to be the most vital grant

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-20132

fund provided by any donor. The CLF grant is used by LSOs/VOs to extend small loans to the poor members of COs as a revolving fund. The CLF on one hand helps the poor members in implementation of income generating projects. However, on the other hand it enables the VOs/LSOs to generate funds for its own sustainability through service charges.

During the review year, NRSP, donors and other stakeholders utilised the forum of LSOs for a number of diverse activities such as registration, polio campaigns, awareness campaigns for rights, plantation, solid waste management, health and education awareness sessions, disaster preparedness and management, introduction of new technologies, community managed financial services, community schools, community managed health centres and many other activities. Under the Livelihoods Enhancement and Protection Programme funded by PPAF and other similar initiatives funded by

provincial governments and other donors, the COs/VOs/LSOs played key role in project management which included:

a. identification of project beneficiaries using the Pakistan Poverty Score Card and its validation

b. facilitating an enabling environment for women, disabled and other vulnerable members of the communities for active participation in all developmental activities

c. preparation of micro investment plans

d. preparation of procurement plans

e. procurement of livestock and goods for small shops for the poorest

f. monitoring of field level activitiesg. overseeing the functions of

different committees and centres formed in the project

Of the above activities, the procurement of goods by COs/VOs/LSOs though a new initiative proved to be highly beneficial both for the communities as well as for NRSP. It helped in increasing the managerial capacity of the communities and improved transparency. Profile of some of the major projects with substantial involvement of the COs/VOs/LSOs in identification of beneficiaries, procurement and other managerial tasks are as under:

Livelihoods Enhancement and Protection (LEP)

LEP was designed to play an important role in poverty alleviation through a targeted poverty alleviation approach. The project was launched in April 2011. The unique features of this project are:

a. Formation of Common Interest Groups. NRSP utilised the forum of COs/VOs/LSOs for identifying people involved in a number of businesses and trades to from specific interest group e.g. group of farmers growing potatoes or the ones engaged in

Figure 2: Region wise breakdown of CIF distribution

3livestock business etc.b. Provision of Community

Livelihood Fund grant to VOs/LSOs. The VOs/LSOs who demonstrated higher management capacity were provided grants to run a revolving credit programme for extending small loans to those who are not otherwise provided loans by the MFIs.

c. Managerial training, enterprise development training, skills training and apprenticeship.

d. Asset transfer grants etc.

Recovery, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Preparedness Program (3R+P) Jul 2012-Jun 2014

Southern Sindh 3R+P is a holistic disaster management project funded by the PPAF which commenced in July 2012 and continued in the review year. This included Disaster Risk Reduction, Livelihoods Enhancement and Protection, and Community Physical Infrastructure schemes. The DRR component comprises of capacity building as well as capacity assessment. Just like the active participation of VOs and LSOs in livelihoods activities, the participation of VOs/LSOs in disaster risk management was also remarkable.

KfW funded Livelihood Support and Small Community Infrastructure Project in KP

The project was started and completed during the review year. The project interventions comprised of formation and strengthening of community institutions, asset transfer grants, training and CPIs. The existing LSOs and VOs formed prior to the initiation of the project played an important role in assisting the NRSP teams in the implementation of the project.

During the year, the most important achievement of social mobilization was its recognition by a number of stakeholders and donors which is evident

from a vast number of activities that have been mentioned in this report in other chapters. Another important achievement of social mobilization during the year has been the increase in number of women organizations, village organization and location support organizations. This increase has empowered women and they have started taking an active role in decision making especially in all the developmental activities carried out by COs/VOs and LSOs. While all these achievements encourage NRSP to touch new heights, the short term funding for the capacity building of social mobilization hinders further growth. Nevertheless NRSP is fully prepared to adopt new ways of extending the outreach of social mobilization and increasing its effectiveness. The New Area Intervention component of NRSPs evaluation carried out by the World Bank research team during the year will greatly help identify such interventions.

Grassroots Institutions - Setting it Up: LSO Jharkil, Khushab

Our Community Organization was formed in 2001. It is the oldest one in the village, Ghulam Abbas says proudly. He recalls a two member team, representing NRSP, who visited the community and talked to them about their method of working in the community. Initially, people were skeptical regarding the idea and were hesitant to oblige. However Ghulam Abbas convinced the community to organize. CO Jharkil (Male) was hence formed. The members met regularly, collected savings and deposited them in

Social Mobilization

LEP project beneficiary, Punjab

4 NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013

the COs bank account, and within 3 years had collected around PKR 75,000.

They conducted a meeting about withdrawing this money and lending it amongst themselves. Five members received PKR 10,000 at that time, with a 15% service charge. Their savings pool also started to grow. Gradually, the members felt less reliant on NRSP funding as their savings were proving to be sufficient to meet their purpose. The members also acted as social agents and helped NRSP form another 49 COs in the area, increasing the household coverage to 97%.

In 2008, a COs meeting was called and NRSP representatives were also invited. This was when they formed an umbrella organization, a Village Organization followed by formation of VOs in other villages as well. This strengthened them. Later in the year they registered a Local Support Organization, named Quaid-e-Milat under the Societys Act 1860. At the moment, the LSO overlooks 213 COs, out of which 64% are female COs.

Ensuring female participation was a major milestone achieved, as women are not generally encouraged to take part in the public sphere in the area. Uptil recent years, there were only a few women who had finished middle school, a staggering majority had close to no education. Recently, by contacting a political candidate right before Elections, the community had a girls school approved in exchange for political support. When asked how the perception about women stepping outside the domestic sphere has evolved over the years, Ghulam Abbas claimed that they had to be strategic about it. The first intervention related to women was their training as Lady Health Workers; a phenomenon socially acceptable, and from there on the community started responding positively to the notion of female COs.

The first initiative the community took was street cleanliness whereby a plot outside the village was allocated for garbage disposal. Another major initiative that Ghulam Abbass VO took was that of putting an end to rituals that result unnecessary expenditures. This issue

was taken up to the LSO level, where influential villagers were taken on board and the ritual of showcasing a girls dowry was put to an end. Another tradition that came to a halt was that of serving several food items at events such as that of mourning a relatives death. An influential villager, the numberdaar, served plain lentils when his brother passed away to set an example which was well endorsed by the village community. Gradually the prayer times were changed to 2 pm which meant that there was no need to serve anything at all, without putting social pressures on anybody.

Ghulam Abbas says that since 2001, peoples attitudes have changed for the better; there is a disposition towards saving, girls are encouraged to study, and people are now more open to the idea discussing their problems openly in order to come up with innovative solutions to fix them.

What is the point of organizing people, he asks and goes on to answer himself. There is a high school in the village for which a computer lab was approved by the government. During a visit, some government officials came and cancelled the approval since they had failed to consider that there was no electricity in the high school. The community asked the government for 3 days, during which they got together and discussed what to do. They collected funds and in 2 days were able to raise PKR 30,000, with which they bought a cable from the city. The community then themselves put that cable underground and put in some fittings in the building and supplied it with electricity. The computer lab still runs today. This is why organizing people is imperative to development, says Ghulam Abbas, proving his point.

The LSO is quite active and amongst several initiatives they have taken. One important one is the blood group record of the entire village population. This is used in the case of medical emergencies and helps saves time and hence lives. Registering with NADRA for identity cards, birth and death registrations as well as registering votes for people are some of the other self-initiatives they have taken.

5With the support of PPAF, Quaid-e-Milat Foundation has also been involved in different CPI schemes, such as drip irrigation and paved water channels. The LSO has also made a PPAF funded dispensary sustainable, through charging patients nominal fees and savings from selling medicines. The dispensary serves people living within 50 kilometer radius, who are able to benefit not only from subsidized services but also through saving transportation costs, as there are no other health facilities in the respective perimeter.

The LSO also submitted a proposal to the USAID-Ambassadors Fund Programme on Improving Lives of the Destitute which was approved. Under the project 222 households that fell under the destitute category in the poverty score card were given either trainings via 3 vocational centres that had opened, or assets to start livelihoods. After the project, students at the vocational centres were charged a nominal fee (PKR 300/month) to pay running the expenses as well as the teachers salary.

Linkages for development activities have also been formed with PPAF, Qatar Charity, government departments, as well as Citizen Community Board funds at UC level for 25% of the development funds. Presently the LSO has savings above PKR 1,400,000, with a CIF portfolio of PKR 1,350,000, which 218 individuals have benefited from, and the recovery rate has been a pleasant 100%.

A vehicle and a driver is allocated to each of the VO offices, which also works as an ambulance in the case of emergencies. If the individual cannot pay on spot, the driver is reimbursed by the VO, and the individual repays at his convenience. The LSO is sensitive to gender equality and ensures womens participation at all levels, be it the executive body of the LSO itself, or linkages created with government departments such as Baitul Maal, BISP, NADRA, Zakat Fund etc.

The LSO plans for 3 years ahead, and in the future aims to further increase CO savings. Planting more trees, securing funding for tube well installation for small farmers, investment in alternative sources

of energy, street lights etc. form the future plans of Quaid-e-Milat Foundation. This LSO, with the collaboration of ten other LSOs from different UCs, is also a member of a Tehsil Support Organization, which operates at the tehsil level.

Future Plans

The NRSP envisions further extension of LSO coverage to all programme Union Councils across country. With the help of core programme and donor support, NRSP will continue supporting the Community Resource Persons (CRPs) for it is they who can actually translate the NRSP vision of organising more than 70% of households in its programme areas. The evaluation being done by the World Bank research teams on social mobilization will play an important role in assessing this approach and propose new methods. NRSP will continue advocating for engaging the VOs/LSOs in procurement, asset transfer and community managed financial services. NRSP expects a significant funding from different donors either directly with the VOs/LSOs or through NRSP as an umbrella.

Social Mobilization

6Gender and Development

20,693 women trained in employment skills

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013

7Figure 3: Gender wise breakup of CO membership Figure 4: Community Training Genderwise Breakdown

NRSP follows a gender mainstreaming approach in that NRSP creates an enabling environment for women and weaker segments of society be the men or women to unleash their potential. The first step in this direction is to increase the number of women in fold of COs or form more women COs. Once this is done, it triggers many initiatives that help increase women role in decision making and developmental activities. Federating women COs into VOs and LSOs means greater capacity and stronger voice. Along with organising women, NRSP carries out a series of capacity building events which help increase their participation in community development projects such as microfinance and physical infrastructure. They are then exposed to advocacy forums and health and education projects for increasing their role in decision making.

The Gender Unit at the head office carries out the following specific activities which aim at increasing the voice of women and creating a gender sensitive programming environment:

a. Participation and representation of NRSP in various policy forums on gender

b. Adoption of gender related policies and code of ethics and refinement of NRSPs operating procedures including review of HR manual

c. Assessment of all projects and the core programme from a gender perspective

d. Identification of activities that help improve participation of

women and other disadvantaged groups in development

e. Gender sensitisation training at all level of employees as well as at community institutions

f. Analysing quantitative achievements through gender segregated data

g. Participation in White Ribbon Campaign to encourage men to become gender champions etc

During the review year the major achievement of NRSP in terms of gender was the identification of a large number of women Community Resource Persons (CRPs) not only for social organization but also for health and education awareness. Their participation in procurement and management of community livelihood/investment fund was remarkable. The participation in Common Interest Groups, CIF and Procurement has enhanced womens analytical and managerial abilities, thereby enabling them to make better decisions.

Bhago, an empowered woman of Sawanjat; UC Ghulam Muhammad Baran, District Thatta, Sindh (Tahafuz Project)

I am 43, married and mother of four children. The community I belong to is quite traditional and does not allow women to travel or stay away from the village without a family member. Besides this, women have significant role in public/community matters and usually look after the household matters. Some months back I came to know about the NRSP team who visited our village and

Gender and Development

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motivated the community individuals to form a Committee which may deal with miscellaneous disasters in the area. Inspite of criticism from my family, I joined a 22 member committee (11 women and men each); as a member and later on was asked to work as President of the Committee which I accepted. Two of the committee members were nominated for a disaster management training to be organized in a nearby small city and I was the one nominated for it. I never ever had visited the city in my life and my family opposed me to take part in the training. Being a leader of the committee, I had to be courageous and role model for women and others in my community; so I decided to join the training in which I learned about how to plan and face disasters of miscellaneous kinds. I came back and delivered to my communities; whatever I had learned from the training. Recently, I have saved a life of a young girl in the village through a Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CRP) technique; which I learned from the training. This incident has increased my respect and trust among communities, and I am now known as life saver in my village. I am proud to be an empowered woman President of CO and life saver in my village.

Kalawanti: Marginalized Woman Driving Change, District Mirpurkhas, Sindh

Kalawanti, 40, lives in village Shiv Lal Meghwar, District Mirpurkhas. She attended school till 3rd grade, which was enough for her to realize the importance of education as well as ones own will to change ones life.

She formed a CO in 2011, named Kalamti which in her dialect means possessing skill. NRSP had been operating in the area as a micro credit provider, which is how she found about it. She approached the organization, and after a series of dialogues and meetings the CO was formed. The CO also organized one day workshops on health and education. Kalawanti is aware of the problems minorities face with respect to restricted opportunities for education and employment. There is a government school building in the village, but the teacher is never there. Under a UNICEF project PLACES, tents were given to communities, which Kalawanti utilized as a makeshift school and once basic education had been imparted, children were referred to a government school, which was at a distance of one kilometer.

Talking about the hardships she initially had to face, she says When we used to go for training people said we might run away. She smiles and sarcastically says It is not our culture to sit with strange men with our faces uncovered. Her neighbours were against her working as a social activist, and her husband also often complained about her neglecting household chores to attend meetings.

When I returned from the training, people did not listen to me, but they gradually began to listen. Initially there were no toilets, she convinced other community members that their practice of open defecation was unhygienic and that they should all have temporary toilets in their houses.

CO Kalamti has 24 members (female) and has a total saving of PKR 50,000. Kalawanti helped foster 2 other COs in the goth (settlement). Through Act-Aid, Kalawanti managed to get 4 hand pumps installed in her village. The water source was 0.5 kilometers from the village, but now water is available within the village.

Kalawanti has also been a pioneer in changing some age old traditions such as dowry, which she believes to be wastage of resources. She also proposed fewer amounts of celebratory feasts, and the community has come down from four wedding dinners to just one.

Bhago an empowered woman of Sawanjat; a remote village in Thatta (Tahafuz Project)

9Kalawanti has received training on savings, education, and health education. She also maintains records for all 3 COs in her village. CO savings are used for internal lending. With the community organized, and the women empowered, they will just not accept anything thats not right. Recently, they submitted an application to the education department complaining about the teacher who would just attend school one day a week, and the department replaced the teacher. She also motivated her husband to visit the local landlord to get the road paved, and renovate the community temple.

Kalawantis future plans include organizing other communities, an intervention for female education, and a maternity clinic, since the closest one is in Mirpurkhas, 10 kilometers away. I studied till 3rd grade, and I think so differently from others. I want others to think differently too, she explains her reason for wanting girls to pursue education.

Nagina Jan: Changing Lives at the Grassroots, District Swabi, KP

Former District Counselor, Nagina had experience of working with the community. I used to work before my affiliation with NRSP, but then I was not organized she differentiates between helping an organized group and individuals. Some NRSP representatives had come to a nearby village and Naginas friend had invited her. She also had been running a vocational centre, and expressed her wish to be organized for her efforts to be more focused. Wanting to work for the women in her area, Nagina formed a CO called Karnal Sher Killi in 2009.

The first task she was asked to undertake was a village level survey for basic economic and social household data. Presently there are 70 COs, under 3 VOs, all under 1 LSO. NRSP trained us and enabled us to run our CIF ourselves. More than 400 women have availed credit for various activities such as home based enterprises and small scale livestock. First they have to join a CO, the other members guarantee that she will repay

the loan, and then the loan is given. This social capital ensures that only enterprising women can avail credit.

Loans vary from PKR 10,000-PKR 20,000. The LSO has a membership of 1000 women, the general body comprises 36 women, and the executive body consists of 15 women. Apart from credit, the LSO has taken several other initiatives such as free legal aid to women for different cases, promotion of health and hygiene at schools. The LSO is linked with government departments with the support of which it was able to help IDPs from Swat by linking them with government departments and providing them with food items, CNIC and voters registration.

Organizing communities also provides the LSO with a forum in every neighbourhood to voice an idea, as people then listen. Organizing people also helps create awareness at the most vulnerable layer of society who otherwise would never know that there are ways to improve ones life. Women are now confident and are able to defend not only themselves but others around them.

Naginas husband was a strong opponent of Naginas involvement with NRSP, and it was her father in law who supported her. He explained to Naginas husband that she was not doing anything wrong. Most of the women who are a part of the COs are destitute, and financially needy, once they are mobilized, they become examples for others Their status in front of their families has improved as a result, since they prove that women are not only meant for household chores.

The process enabled us to think collectively for our common good Nagina says, when asked about how the three tiered structure has proved to be effective. Future plans include working for destitute women, financially supporting them, their enterprise development, mobilizing more women into COs, more pre-legal aid services to women involved in cases involving child custody and domestic violence.

Gender and Development

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Microfinance and Enterprise Development

Rs. 71,872,150,912 disbursed under NRSP Mircofinance

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The primary role of NRSPs Microfinance Programme is to provide different microfinance products to the un-served population in an efficient and client friendly manner. Whereas NRSPs niche of providing rural finance is unmatched, there is a growing competition in the provision of financial services in rural areas for non-farm activities and in urban ad semi urban areas for enterprise loans. The highly proactive and efficient field operations coupled with the technical and logistical support provided by NRSP head office especially in terms of management information system and IT based communication has enabled NRSP to not only retain its clients but also increase the depth and breadth of its market. During the year, NRSP also reviewed its credit products and revised the loan ceilings for the first and subsequent loans to cover the impact of inflation that has reduced the purchasing power of the clients significantly over the last few years. This decision has also helped retain NRSP clients who were close to the earlier ceilings.

NRSPs microfinance programme and products

The NRSPs microfinance programme comprises two windows namely the Microfinance and Enterprise Development Programme (MEDP) and Urban Poverty Alleviation Programme (UPAP). MEDP operates in rural areas and is also linked to the core social mobilization and enterprise development programme. The UPAP operates in urban areas and currently focuses on the provision of micro credit and related saving and insurance products. Both programmes serve economically active poor clients. In 2011, NRSP transformed a part of its microfinance operations into the NRSP Microfinance Bank. In such areas eg Bahawalpur, NRSP has closed its own microfinance programme operations and links the community organizations for financial services with the NRSP Bank.

Credit: It is provided for income generating activities which can be broadly classified into three categories, namely small enterprise, agriculture and livestock.

Savings: The Community Organizations in MEDP are encouraged to pool members savings into CO bank accounts. In addition to these voluntary savings, some of the regions which concentrate on agriculture loans also require a mandatory savings equal to 10% of the loan.

Micro Insurance: The MEDP runs a hospitalisation, disability and accidental death insurance scheme in partnership with an insurance company. It covers the loan client as well as his/her spouse. Against an annual premium of only Rs 100, the client and his/her spouse separately enjoy a cover of Rs 15,000 for each of these components i.e. hospitalisation, disability or accidental death. UPAP also runs a credit life insurance scheme for its clients, which is embedded into the loan programme.

Community Managed Financial Services

As a part of its social mobilization and economic empowerment programme NRSP also builds the capacity of community institutions in the management of financial services. For this purpose, NRSP provides a Community Investment Fund/Community Livelihoods Fund (CLF) as a seed capital grant to selected and eligible community institutions namely COs, VOs and LSOs. NRSP trains the office bearers of COs/VOs/LSOs in financial management and book keeping. They also learn the principles of managing sustainable microfinance programme from NRSPs microfinance programme. The CO/VO/LSO which receives the CIF/CLF grant prepares its own rules of business and decides on the prices of individual loans and other relevant terms and conditions. As of June 30, 2013, NRSP has extended CIF/CLF grants to 251 COs/VOs/LSOs worth Rs. 157.3 million. From this grant fund, these institutions have disbursed 20,249 loans for Rs 252.2 Million. The outstanding portfolio amounts to Rs 93.8 Million.

Outreach

Despite volatile economic conditions, conflict in two provinces and floods in

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the southern part of the country NRSP progressed with a significant growth of 27% in outstanding loans portfolio and 14% in active loans during the year. Over the year 2012-13 NRSP disbursed Rs. 9,589.42 million through 465,188 loans; which included Rs 7,037.4 million for MEDP and Rs 2,552.1 million for UPAP and 313,200 loans of MEDP and 151,988 loans of UPAP. Major portion of loans (65%) were disbursed for agriculture purposes in the MEDP programme. The 70% of the borrowers were women. By the end of the year NRSPs outstanding loan portfolio amounted to Rs 5.8 billion with 409,976 active clients.

In addition to NRSPs own portfolio, the Banks portfolio amounted to Rs 10.61 billion with 585,869 active borrowers. Taking the NRSP and the Bank together, the NRSP group was ranked number one in the Microfinance industry during the year 2012-13.

Technical Capacity building and quality improvement

NRSP arranged international training and exposure in microfinance for a large number of mid level managers. The regional training centres were also established which provided continuous training opportunities for all levels of the field staff. In addition to the specialised training on microfinance NRSP also managed a series of training and workshops for senior and mid level management on different management subjects such as HR, Procurement, Monitoring and Evaluation etc.

With the funding under Financial Inclusion Programme managed by the State Bank of Pakistan, NRSP arranged the following technical assistance and capacity building:

a. Strategic review of NRSPs five major credit regions;

b. Preparation of business plans of the microfinance programme;

c. Development of risk management framework/manual and capacity building of NRSP staff on this subject;

d. Integration and upgrading of NRSPs MIS. This helped developed a complete Enterprise Resource Planning to bring efficiency and timely decision making;

e. Users training on the newly developed data base; and

f. Development of Disaster Recovery Site with international standards to product the data.

The NRSPs Finance and Accounts demonstrated a high level of competence in managing credit lines and accessing additional credit lines which helped grow the programme by 27%. The requirement of additional capital was met by accessing credit line of commercial banks along with PPAF.

Client Protection and Social Performance Management

NRSP being a specialised community development programme is highly sensitive to the social performance

Figure 6: Breakdown of UPAP clients by enterprise type

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013

Figure 5: Gender wise breakdown of credit disbursement

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of microfinance and other activities. However, recognising the fact that the requirement of achieving financial self sufficiency in micro credit delivery may lead to a mission drift or clients exploitation, the NRSP management has decided to adopt Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (USSPM). As a first step in this direction during the year, NRSP started working on the core values of client protection in microfinance, which include transparent pricing, appropriate collection practices, avoiding over indebtedness, ethical behaviour/fair treatment, privacy of client information, good governance, complaints handling and client satisfaction. During the year, an orientation session on client protection and overall universal standards was carried out to prepare a road map for progress in this direction.

Micro Health Insurance

NRSP initiated its micro health insurance programme in 2005, its main focus was to facilitate and share the burden of families that suffer from financial crisis a result of additional expenditure on hospitalization, disability and sudden death. The client and his/her spouse received a benefit of Rs 15,000 each for each of the cover mentioned above. The client pays a premium of Rs 100 only per annum. NRSP provides this service in partnership with an insurance firm. The NRSPs insurance programme is the largest in private sector covering 2 million clients in 52 districts nationwide.

Pilot Project on Livestock and Crop Insurance

The purpose of this intervention was to test a unique insurance scheme to facilitate small livestock and crop farmers who face huge financial losses in terms of death of their livestock and damages to the crops caused by volatile weather conditions. Project was implemented in partnership with Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund in which weather Index-Based Crop Insurance and Livestock Insurance were the major components. Under the Weather Index Crop Insurance

product the insurance company was responsible for providing compensation to the insured farmers on the basis of particular thresholds of rainfalls. In the case of Livestock Insurance product; the policy was linked with the actual weight of the animal at the time of insurance. Total 1,176 Acres of land and 2,309 cattle were insured benefiting 1,359 farmers. Over the last year, 110 insurance claims were received from farmers with 80 of these cases already reimbursed.

Sustainability

By the end of the year, NRSPs operational self-sufficiency reached 141% and financial self-sufficiency was 138%. NRSP is focusing on introducing new IT solutions and reducing operational costs which are the two major steps towards building a sustainable financial institution.

Future Plans

In the coming years, NRSP plans to increase its outreach in the current programme area and expand its microfinance operations into new districts including Gujranwala, Hafizabad and MandiBaha-ud-Din. Moreover, MEDP plans to capture social appraisal at the field level through Android Technology. MEDP also foresees an improved repayment schedule and cash management system with disbursements and loan recoveries handled through the Head Office. For the poor members of communities which cannot afford commercial credit, NRSP would continue the efforts to provide more of CIF to enable the LSOs to serve such members.

NRSP is committed to continuing its efforts for complying with the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (USSPM). During the next year, more efforts will be made to translate plans into measurable indicators for achieving this objective.

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Human ResourceDevelopment

111,426 community members trained for income generation

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Skills enhancement being one of the important approaches, NRSPs HRD section works closely with its regional teams to plan and identify training requirements for communities and staff nationwide. These trainings aim to empower and strengthen vulnerable youth, women and other marginalized individuals of society towards improved livelihood conditions. Institutional development to build the capacity of NRSPs LSOs, VOs and COs, technical skills development for income generation and professional development of staff on management, microfinance etc remains focus of HRD. Since the formation of Institute of Rural Management in 2011, the HRD collaborates with IRM to avoid duplication of efforts and for quality assurance.

Community Training Programme (CTP)

Training of officer bearers of COs/VOs/LSOs in managerial skills and institutional strengthening is a mandatory activity of HRD. The following major programmes are included in the Community Training Portfolio:

Community management training programme

Vocational training programme Natural resource management

training programme Enterprise development training

programme Social sector training programme

The Community Management Training Programme ensures the level of management skills required for proper functioning of community organizations. These programmes are led by professionals who have knowledge of the fields, the community issues and training along with their respective qualifications.

The Vocational Training Programme, launched in 1997, enhances the technical skills of community members and contributes to self-employment. The Natural Resource Management Training Programme strives for optimal utilization of available resources at the local level and provision of assistance

to reduce dependency on external resources. This section provides support to members engaged in agriculture, livestock, poultry, water resource development/management, forestry etc. The programme endeavours to develop and strengthen local capabilities for sustainable resource management by preventing losses in natural resources, productivity enhancement and environmental rehabilitation. The Social Sector Training Programme plays a pivotal role by providing training and assistance in health and education. These training programmes are provided in collaboration with government and non-government institutes and organizations.

Over the year 2012-13, 403,762 community members (62% female) have been trained in miscellaneous training topics; with a significant increase in number of young trainees. PPAF and Government of Pakistan remained the major funding agencies whereas other national and international organizations also had significant contribution in it. Since inception 2.1 million community members have been trained nationwide with the efforts of NRSPs HRD section.

Sindh Coastal Community Development Project (SCCDP); by ADB in partnership with Government of Sindh (Thatta and Badin); April, 2009 to May, 2013

Aim of the intervention was to promote sustainable economic development

Human Resource Development

Rechargeable batteries assembling training under YEEP Project, District Rajanpur South Punjab

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Figure 7: Community training under SCCDP Project as of June 2013

among targeted coastal communities of Thatta and Badin in Sindh. Besides Social Mobilization and Community Infrastructure development; capacity building of communities and staff was a major component of the project. 40,175 community individuals were trained in community management, vocational/skills enhancement, NRM and Infrastructure management topics. Besides this, 276 staff members participated in miscellaneous events of OTW, TOT, Enterprise Development and Exposure Visits.

Skills for Market; by Punjab Skills Development Fund and Government of Punjab (Bahawalpur); August, 2012 to April, 2013

Intervention was designed to target marginalized community individuals including women and youth; allowing them access to income generation activities for improvement in their livelihood

conditions. Training topics including dress designing, embroidery, building electrician and artificial insemination were identified through a market survey conducted as baseline before the implementation of the project. Total 500 community individuals including member and non-members from community organizations were trained and linked with markets and employers.

Staff Training Programme (STP)

The staff training portfolio of HRD ensures capacity building through three programmes including management training programme, microfinance training programme and interns training programme. Training need assessment for staff and conduction of trainings on miscellaneous topics is continuous activity of HRD. Orientation Training Workshop (OTW) and Gender Mainstreaming Training are the mandatory trainings whereas need based trainings are planed according to the requirements of particular projects.

Over the year 2012-13 3,057 professional staff members (39% female) were trained in miscellaneous management and programme related topics; whereas since inception HRD trained 53,927 professional staff nationwide. Besides NRSP, PPAF and USAID remained the biggest funding sources in these cases. Particularly training under LEP and Social Mobilization projects were most relevant, highest in numbers and directly benefited the poorest households.

Assessment and Strengthening Programme (ASP); by USAID in partnership of RSPN (Nationwide); October, 2010 to October, 2015

Goal of the project is to strengthen the management, accountability and transparency of Government and civil society organizations in Pakistan. Since 2010, NRSP staff is receiving trainings on Leadership, Financial, HR, Procurement and Project Management; whereas trainings on Monitoring and Evaluation, Communication Strategy, Qualitative Research and Social Enterprise Development are also included. These

Project Design and Monitoring Training Workshop, July 2012

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trainings are being organized by highly experienced and technical institutions including Lahore University of Management Sciences, Agribusiness Support Fund, Associates and Development (AID) and NRSP. Until now 121 different professional staff from all regions and head office are trained under this project.

Sister Khursheed, Attock

I am 26 and have five siblings (3 brothers and 2 sisters); being the eldest among sisters. My father is suffering from a heart disease whereas my mother is a housewife and member of a Community Organization in my village. I was working as a tailor in 2005 when my mother recommended me to attend the TBA Training being organized under the CO. I availed the opportunity and participated in a one month training organized in Rawalpindi; the place I never visited in my life. Training was quite fruitful which helped me start private nursing practices in my village; whereas after sometime I managed to get a job as Nurse in a local DHQ Hospital.

Since 5 years, I have been working in the hospital and now I am a senior staff member. I feel honoured, when senior doctors consult me regarding the various daily matters in the hospitals. I am earning around Rs. 20,000/month and contributing significantly to my familys income. My neighbours and friends seek advice from me even for smallest health issues like fever etc. I do not take money from people who come to my house for medical advices. This practice increased my respect in the society I belong to and I am proud of it. I have managed to inspire others to; two of my friends also participated in TBA training events organized by NRSP. I have also adopted saving practices, which is one of the learning from CO my mother belongs to.

Future Plan

Over the next year, HRD is to focus on improvement of capacity and quality of trainings being organized at local/community level. Besides this, being the

frontline staff in the field, large number of trainings will be organized for Social Organizers, Credit Officers and Field Assistants in various disciplines.

Human Resource Development

I am earning around Rs. 20,000/month and contributing significantly to my familys income. Sister Khursheed

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Physical Infrastructureand Technology Development

13,369 community physical infrastructure schemes competed

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013

19Physical Infrastructure and Technology Development

PITD builds and improves the community physical infrastructure in order to enhance income generation through improved transportation and communication channels. Link roads and bridges connect villages to markets and improve access to government services. Irrigation channels and turbines are used to enhance productivity levels and improve food security.

Over 2012-13, 1,994 Community Physical Infrastructure (CPI) schemes were constructed with a total investment of Rs. 578.4 million. The majority of these were funded by PPAF, SCCDP, USAID, Provincial government, KfW and other international donors.

Sindh Coastal Community Development Project, funded by ADB in partnership with the Government of Sindh, 2008-2013

The SCCDP project was designed to reduce poverty and promote sustainable economic development among coastal communities in Thatta and Badin in Sindh. Under this project, each CO received PKR 700,000 and was helped by NRSP Staff in formulating their Village Development Plans to qualify for funding under Community Managed Small scale initiatives (SSIs). These were infrastructure initiatives designed for income generation or for health and sanitation. The identified schemes included Drinking Water Supply Schemes, Communication (Link Roads & Small Bridges/Culverts), Irrigation, Toilets, Technology Innovative Projects (Solar Projects), Community Schools and Flood Protection Bunds. The project completed 1,291 SSI schemes in 847 villages directly benefitting a population of 276, 556 people and repaired another 115 SSIs damaged by floods. A total investment of PKR 589.8 Million was made on the SSIs. The civil works were highly satisfactory in terms of quality, operational status and benefits of schemes. The external engineering audit of schemes rated the overall quality of 100% implemented schemes to be satisfactory; which was also reported in Project Completion Report by Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Tahafuz: Community Based Disaster Risk Management,USAID, RSPN and NRSP, September 2012- December 2013

The project was implemented in 10 Union Councils of Badin and Thatta benefitting a population of 471,110 people. The primary focus of the project was to build resilience among communities prone to hydrological disasters. This was achieved through the formation and capacity building of Village Disaster Management Committees (VDMC) and Union Council Disaster Management Committees (UDMC), critical infrastructure project were constructed as per community needs. This includes construction of connecting roads, rehabilitation of drinking water sources, food security and immunization and rescue points. A total of 204 small scale CCIs were constructed/ rehabilitated in 232 villages.

For project sustainability UDMCs were interlinked with Local Support Organization of NRSP and a strong coordination was developed with district Government and INGOs.

Community Based Second Generation Interventions for Sustainable Rural Development, funded by PPAF, April 2013- March 2014

NRSP with the financial and technical assistance of PPAF completed the first phase of a drought mitigation and preparedness project (DMPP) from July 2010-June 2012 that benefited around 2,141 households in the UC Lawa through 79 water resource development and drought mitigation schemes. Later as an extension, an agreement between PPAF and NRSP was signed in April 2013 against the submitted proposal of Community Based 2nd Generation Interventions in the DMPP Area, Lawa for the period of one year starting from April 2013 to March 2014. The project costs PKR 8, 700,000/- with a total of 21 interventions planned in the project area which includes traditional silt traps and gully management systems.

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Figure 8: Donorwise Schemes during 2012-13 Figure 9: Types of Infrastructure Schemes Implemented (%)

Wali Muhammad: Failure is Not An Option

District Thatta boasts a model village by the name of Ali Muhammad Jat, where NRSP first started working in 2010. Two COs were formed, one female and one male. Wali Muhammad volunteered to maintain the female CO books and has since then been the driving force behind the villages success. Whenever I said anything, people were hesitant to change and looked down upon me for wanting to change ways of our predecessors begins Wali Muhammad describing his journey with NRSP for the development of his village.

Wali Muhammad underwent several trainings including CMST, disaster management, environment and WASH related and with the help of metaphors and religious rhetoric convinced his fellow community members to make certain changes in their lifestyle. Since then

Wali Muhammad has been enthusiastic about cleanliness and by 2011, he had convinced all community members to allocate a separate area for their livestock, away from their houses. The same year a sanitation committee was set up; 17 temporary and 20 permanent toilets were constructed, and Wali Muhammad urged the community to use this facility and reinforced it in every meeting. Men and women worked together every Friday to collect garbage and bury it. Efforts were made to not burn plastic.

The village has now been declared as Open Defecation Free. As a result, incidents of disease infections have significantly dropped, which being inherently valuable also entails monetary saving on curative expenses. There was always an element of stress, working hours were restricted to day light, and purchasing oil was a hassle says Fatima, a CO member.

In 2010, 33 solar panels were installed in the village which comprises of 66 households under the Sindh Coastal Community Development Project. Each Solar panel is for two households. This means a minimum saving of Rupees 50 a day, which would have been spent on oil.

In 2011 hand pumps were installed and a 2 kilometer link road was constructed with the communitys shared participation. Before installation of hand pumps, people used canal water for drinking. The canal is at a distance of 0.5 kilometers, which often has dirty water. Before installing hand pumps,

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water was tested to ensure that it was fit for human consumption. This myriad of factors reduced the communitys medical expenses by a great margin and when asked how they had benefited, a community member said, We spent last Ramadan eating fruits. A population of 455, out of which 60% derive their income from fishing, this speaks volumes.

The key quality that must be present in social activists is the ability to identify an issue and be driven enough to come up with a solution. Wali Muhammad has both; he felt the need for a girls school and contacted a philanthropic Pakistani in England and secured funds to build a primary school for girls, where 35 girls are enrolled. The same person also funded a community centre where meetings are regularly conducted.

Under the USAID funded Tahafuz Project, the community members have also been given DRR training, and are equipped with a kit that includes life jackets, a first aid box, micro phone, flash lights etc. To make the village more risk resilient, 350 trees have been planted to protect the village from floods. In the future, Wali Muhammad aims to secure more funds for educating girls in the village and make houses flood resilient.

Future Plans

Over 2013-14, PITD plans to implement Android Technology at the field level to provide real time spot check of physical status of CPIs to make monitoring and funds disbursements more efficient. Further, exclusive Field engineers refresher workshops will be conducted at all Regional Offices to enhance the technical capacity of engineering work force regarding planning and design of CPIs.

The section also plans to implement Environmental Social Management Framework (ESMF) for CPIs interventions which include assurance of water quality testing protocols, Sanitation Mapping and disposal of waste water systems both at household and community level. Further, research will be carried out to explore the different

technological and costing options to develop and implement Community based Solar home lighting system and micro hydel projects.

Physical Infrastructure and Technology Development

Construction of School under SCCDP Project, Thatta, Sindh

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Environment and Natural Resource Management

264,565,374 kgs of agricultural inputs distributed to smallholder farmers

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23Environment and Natural Resource Management

ENRMs sole purpose is to add value to the major livelihood sources of rural communities such as agriculture and livestock through capacity building and introducing new technologies through research. Moreover it focuses on renewable energy, water conservation, plantation, food security, eco entrepreneurship and climate change mitigation strategies. This section works in close collaboration with government institutions and the community for sharing information and knowledge which also leads to the sustainability of its programs. Other sections of NRSP also render technical assistance to ENRM in terms of developing community bases physical infrastructure, micro credit, trainings and research.

Enhancing productivity of livestock

NRSP Livestock Program, July 2011-June 2014

NRSP extended the Prime Ministers Special Initiative for livestock from July 2011 onwards in sixteen selected districts of all provinces including AJK. The extension phase is focused on vaccination of animals, de-worming through clinical assistants, operationalizing veterinary clinks, capacity building of Community Livestock Extension workers (CLEWs) and women based community organizations. As a result of these interventions, so far 427,720 animals have been vaccinated, 105,460 were de-wormed and 120,196 were treated. Alongside 110 trainings and 186 livestock management workshops were arranged for CLEWs and CO members. There are 27 functional clinics which are operating as independent enterprises and earned an income of 14,591,600 through sale of medicines and provided other services which are contributing to sustainability of the program.

Pakistan Dairy Development Project, Rahim Yar Khan, March 2011- February 2013

NRSP collaborated with Pakistan Dairy Development Company to establish community farms, farmer groups to build

their capacity in livestock management through trainings, exposure visits, vaccination of animals, providing quality fodder and construction of proper animal sheds. Well organized 15 Community Farms which consist of 235 farmers, are linked to local dairy product buyers and they also guide and train others farmers within the community through COs.

Breed Improvement through Artificial Insemination

ENRM with internal funding from NRSP initiated two projects for breed improvement of indigenous cattle and buffaloes in D.G Khan from January 2013-December 2013 and in Mandi Bahauddin from April 2013-Febuary 2014. So far 1000 animals in D.G Khan and 200 in Mandi Bahauddin have been inseminated. As a result of these interventions, milk production of the new breed of animals would increase up to 40-50%. The lactation period will extend to 300 days per year, which in indigenous cows is 200 days. In the remaining period of the project, in Mandi Bahauddin, women farmers would be trained in value addition and will be assisted in establishing dairy enterprises.

Value addition and Eco Enterprise Development

MAP value chain development project, September, 2011 to March, 2014

Considering the socio economic and ecological importance of medicinal and aromatic plants in Swat Valley, NRSP initiated the project in three union councils which include Bahrain, Matta and Khwazakhela. The project has resulted in skilled forces of 9000 MAPs collectors (70% women) and 270 sales agents who are well trained in safe collection, storage, processing, packaging and branding of the product. The sales agents are strongly linked to national traders, exporters and herbal industries; and are able to sell their products at higher rates and as a result their income has tripled from Rs. 250 to 300 per Kg before project to Rs. 1,400 to 2,000 per Kg. The project also has

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immense environmental implications as waste land in Shinko valley has brought under cultivation with MAPs of highly economic importance.

Steps for Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation

Community Based Sustainable land use Practices in District Lasbela, April, 2013- September, 2013

To mitigate and adapt to severe climate change impacts such as land degradation and desertification in Lasbela, NRSP partnered with planning and development division of government of Baluchistan and brought 200 acres of land under plantation while 400 acres of land was rehabilitated through earthen work. Demo plots of low delta and high yielding horticulture crops such as grapes and Chiko were constructed on 2 acres of land. The fruits as well as other seasonal crops are fed by 65 rain water harvesting ponds, constructed during the project.

Shifting Trends towards use of Renewable Energy Resources

Study of NOKERO solar lights, July 2012

Over a period of 21 days, 1000 NOKERO solar light bulbs were distributed to 500 electrified and 500 non electrified households in 33 villages of district Jhelum. Communities have been able to use clean and safe energy

source to overcome the power cut issues and those who are not connected to the national grid can illuminate the homes.

Safeguarding livelihoods during the disasters

The aftermath of floods in 2010 and 2011 were unbearable for the poor farmers in Sindh, in terms of food security and livelihood. ENRM partnered with FAO in number of projects from 2011-2012 and provided agriculture inputs to 18,500 households in Mirpurkhas and Tando Allahyar. While 4,807 beneficiaries received poultry package in district Badin.

Imtiaz Begum, Beneficiary of Kitchen Gardening Training

Imtiaz Begum, aged 40, is a resident of village Daryala, District Khushab. She is a member of CO-Quaidabad, formed in 2006. Daryala is a village of 300 households, which are also victims of food insecurity due to higher prices in the market and low land productivity. She used to buy vegetables everyday at the cost of Rs 100-200 as she could not grow on a small land due to water shortage and expensive artificial fertilizers. Most often, her children slept with an empty stomach.

One day during a CO meeting, they were intimidated about NRSP kitchen grading training for duration of 6-7 months to enable them, grow vegetable for their daily use. She was delighted on her selection for the course and thats how she received an extensive 7 months kitchen gardening training. Imtiaz Bibi shared, we learned effective methods and techniques of kitchen gardening such as selecting quality seed, sowing, making flowerbeds, forming organic fertilizer, pest control, post sowing protection of vegetables and water conservation. She further mentioned I had a small piece of plot at my backyard but it was a wastes land due to lack of water, seeds and fertilizer. After the training, I made best use of the land through applying all the techniques, I learned. Now I grow coriander, green chilies, tomatoes, pumpkins, ladyfinger, spinach, garlic and many more. In winter we use plastic

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begs to protect the vegetables. I have been able to save the money, I used to buy vegetables and it can make up to Rs 4500 a month, which I deposit in our CO saving account. My children are very happy as they have healthy food to eat every day and I am satisfied as I have enough savings for other family needs. The initiative even has a greater impact on other people in our surrounding who are not CO members as they seek guidance from us and have also started growing vegetables on the wasted lands and adopted many water conservation methods. They also are very happy as have enough food to eat and cutoff the extra expenses on buying the food items.

Future Plans

For the New Year, ENRM will focus on value addition and eco enterprise development, organic farming, water conservation, introducing renewable energy resources such as solar and hydro power, reclamation of degraded land through plantation and increasing productivity of livestock. Public and private partnership would be further strengthened and enhanced for better management and use of natural resources.

Environment and Natural Resource Management

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Social & HumanProtection Programme

Support provided to 20,022 families under the SHP

NRSP 19th Annual Progress Report 2012-2013

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SHP section was established by NRSP in 2008 with the aim of focusing and facilitating marginalized groups including women, destitute, disabled, bonded labourers etc. Access to micro health insurance to protect vulnerable households from loss of income caused by injuries/death, support for people with functional disabilities, access to income generating activities for marginalized poor/youth, protecting children during emergencies (floods and earthquakes) are the some of the services being delivered by SHP nationwide.

Small House-Cum Garden Project by Government of Punjab (Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur); August, 2010 to June, 2013

This project aimed to improve food security with kitchen gardening activities, and through permanent residence, enabling access to government services. All the beneficiaries were landless and fell in the lowest category of the poverty scorecard (0-11). Women were provided a 50% stake in the land in order to improve their participation in decision making at the household level. Each land site was leveled and basic infrastructure provided included hand pumps and pipelines for drinking water, a community centre and a mosque. Under this project, 1,845 two-kanal land plots have been distributed to 1,464 destitute families. Constructions of community centres, access to water for drinking and irrigation, construction/ pavement of streets/bridges/mosques, capacity building of farmers/youth in skills/vocational trainings and provision of small grants to the beneficiary households are the additional activities of this intervention. As a value addition to this intervention NRSP also established eight Early Childhood Centres in the project area to increase enrolment of children and to address other child protection issues.

Multi Micronutrient Powder Project, by Micronutrient Initiative (MI), February, 2012 to August, 2014

Project is to target 25,000 children (aged 6-24 months) who will annually receive

micronutrient powers in the shape of small sachets. Intervention will overcome the iron deficiencies and will positively impact childrens physical, psychological and cognitive development. Strategy is to implement the project with the engagement of Community Resource Persons (CRPs) who will be responsible for raising awareness of parents and distribution of micronutrients among identified children. As June 2013, 214 CRPs have been identified and 3.1 million sachets of micronutrient powders have been procured for further distribution among identified beneficiaries.

Protective Learning and Community Emergency Services (PLaCES), by UNICEF (Jacobabad, Kashmore, Kandhkot); October, 2012 to March, 2013

150 PLaCES were established in worst flood affected areas targeting/facilitating 25,461 children and 7,546 women. Idea was to provide safe environment for learning and recreational activities including sports, theatres, awareness raising on child protection, sessions on adult literacy, trainings on life skills etc.

126 Child Protection Committees were also formed whose main responsibilities were to identify and refer vulnerable/orphan children to governments social protection department, awareness raising of parents on child protection issues, increase enrolment of children (girls/boys) in the schools etc.

Social & Human Protection Programme

Capacity Building Workshop under YEEP Project, South Punjab

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Youth Economic Empowerment Project (YEEP), by Plan International (Chakwal and Southern Punjab); August, 2012 to November, 2014; November, 2012 to January, 2016

For this project, NRSP targeted marginalized youth (disables, female and male) through skills enhancement and access to employment opportunities. Currently, two projects one in district Chakwal and other in southern Punjab (Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Layyah) are being implemented. 3,596 youth are to be trained in miscellaneous skills/vocational training topics, in YEEP southern Punjab, after which efforts will be made to link the trained youth with potential employers, enterprises and government departments for job placement and apprenticeship. Career counselling, trainings on handy skills and provision of required tools/equipments for disabled youth are also part of this intervention.

YEEP Chakwal is to build the awareness of local communities and youth (1,568 pax) to access available government services and employment opportunities in the area. 112 village and district level youth forums are to be established which will further be engaged in advocacy for youth empowerment in the area. Career counselling in schools and encouraging local CBOs/NGOs to undertake advocacy and initiatives for youth empowerment in the area; are also part of this intervention.

Marble Mosaics Enterprise Development Project, by NRSP (Rawalpindi and Islamabad); October, 2012 to September, 2013

Purpose of this pilot intervention is to engage potential and willing women from remote rural areas to develop enterprises based on Marble Mosaic work. A total of 40 women (including CO and non-CO members) were identified, trained in Marble Mosaic work and clustered into 3 enterprises. NRSP coordinated with Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) for designing and conducting training on Marble Mosaic work. Besides working in the shape of three clusters. Each woman is a Marble Mosaic enterprise and is directly linked with miscellaneous customers; with continued technical support from NRSP. So far, each woman has sold different products with an average sale of Rs. 12,000.

NRSP-Naya Qadam Artificial Limb Centre by NRSP (Nationwide)

After AJK earthquake in 2005, NRSP established artificial limbs centre to facilitate persons with functional disabilities; which was supported by a UK-based Naya Qadam Trust. In 2008, with the support of Oxfam Novib, NRSP established a mobile prosthetic lab to give easy access to beneficiaries in remote rural areas. Intervention is currently continued nationwide with the financial support of NRSP and until now 3,194 patients have been treated. In addition to this initiative NRSP also manages a disability project in District Bhakkar.

Micro Health Insurance, by NRSP in partnership with Adamjee Insurance Company

Normal health check-ups, hospitalization and injuries are among major causes of household shocks. It leads to reduction in income level as people often have to sell household assets to overcome the health crises. NRSP initiated its micro health insurance programme in 2005 whose main focus was to facilitate and share the burden of families that suffer from health

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Figure 10: Breakdown of claims by category

crises. Premiums of Rs. 100 per annum are collected from clients covering claims of up to Rs. 15,000; and are processed and managed by Adamjee Insurance Company. Coverage is for both client and spouse with hospitalization, maternal, life and credit coverage. NRSPs insurance programme is the largest in the private sector covering 2 million clients in 52 districts nationwide.

Mubarak Hussain, Enterprise Development Ben