Gwadar - Government of Balochistan

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Message
In this age of knowledge economy, reliance on every possible tool
available for decision making is crucial for improving public resource
management, brining parity in resource distribution and maximizing
impact of development interventions. These District Development
Profiles are vivid views of Balochistan in key development areas. The
Planning and Development Department, Government of Balochistan
is highly thankful to UNICEF Balochistan for the technical and
financial support for this maiden initiative. Untiring hard work has
gone into shaping the development profiles. Appreciate our efforts
by using the profiles profusely.
Ali Zaheer Hazara
Additional Chief Secretary (Development)
June, 2011
Foreword
The Balochistan District Development Profile 2010 is a landmark exercise of Planning and
Development Department, Government of Balochistan, to update the district profile data
that was first compiled in 1998. The profiles have been updated to provide a concise
landmark intended for development planning, monitoring and management purposes.
These districts profiles would be serving as a tool for experts, development practitioners
and decision-makers/specialists by giving them vast information wrapping more than 18
dimensions from Balochistans' advancement extent. These profiles have been
transformed into useful documents by extracting and summarizing up-to-date, vast and
comprehensive information on socio-economic status and resources of each district.
Development planning in Balochistan has always been challenging for planners due to its
difficult and rugged terrain, remote and sparsely populated regions. This generally inhibits
an informed planning process due to limited knowledge of the areas targeted for
development. An effort has been made to collate and present information regarding sociocultural,
economic and demographic status, status of productive & social sectors and
district resources. This effort can be considered unique for the Balochistan Province when
seen in connection with GIS-based mapping in the form of detailed datasets. Contents of
the profiles show linkages among populated areas and social sector amenities. Maps have
been prepared to facilitate departments/agencies involved in development works in
timely and effective decision making regarding provision of health, education and
infrastructural facilities etc. to public at large. The atlas provides geographical view at the
precincts of district and the level of detail goes up to Union Councils. The details involve
spatial spread of population, health facilities and their coverage, status of education and
literacy and overview of other social and productive sectors. The overall information
encompasses essential graphical and alpha-numeric facets of geo-spatial content that can
be deemed imperative for any kind of development activity.
The format of the profiles makes information easily understandable and readily accessible
to a broad group of users, including decision makers, planners, amenity providers,
researchersand relevant stakeholders. The data selected for the purpose is considered vital
for policy development, local area (district level) planning and for monitoring and
evaluation of social sector services. It is also of major significance for suggesting
improvements in resource allocation at the macro level, i.e., physical areas, services and
population groups. Data has been collected from the line departments of each district,
provincial reports, departmental MIS and major household surveys such as MICS and
PSLM.
Presently, in the absence of any other single comprehensive information resource, the
district profile will serve as a ready reference for decision-makers assisting them to carry
out more informed decision making and subsequent planning for the provisioning of
amenities to the people of Balochistanand ultimately for the benefit of our country as
whole.
Shahid Pervez
Chief Economist
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