Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy - IUCN

8
organized. Institutions like FRC can contribute by
holding training programmes from time to time for
interested NGOs. Similarly, the different development
programmes should also build the capacity of the
CBOs and VOs so that these organizations can replicate
the programmes and become trainers for others.
8.4.3
Social Org a n i z a t i o n
Although the roots of community involvement reach
back to the initiatives of Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan in
the Comilla and Daudzai projects, recently AKRSP
has become a role model for social organization
techniques. The NWFP was the first province to replicate
the AKRSP approach by establishing the Sarhad
Rural Support Corporation, which has facilitated the
formulation of 412 community-based organizations.
There are several NGOs and development projects in
the NWFP whose mandate is to work through CBOs
either by forming new groups or strengthening and
reactivating the existing ones. Presently, there are
more than 15 NGOs and development projects working
with approximately 1,500 social organizations.
At the current rate of development and CBO involvement,
it is expected that there will be 2,000 organizations
by 1998.
8 . 4 . 4
N O N - G O V E R N M E N T A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N S
P r i m a ry Environmental Care
Taking care of the local environment is a key element
of any strategy for sustainable development. This
must be primarily in the hands of the community. In
the past, communities were able to create sustainable
methods to preserve the environment using indigenous
knowledge. The pace of change was slow and
allowed time for learning by experience. In the recent
past, with industrialization, modern agricultural
methodology, and the latest means of communication
and transportation, it has become increasingly difficult
for communities to rely entirely on their indigenous
knowledge to safeguard the local environment.
NGOs working closely with communities can play a
significant role in strengthening the primary environmental
care abilities of communities as well as their
86 SARHAD PROVINCIAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY
capacity to deal with external forces of change, so
that they reap the benefits without sacrificing their
environment and production systems.
In the NWFP, the forestry projects were the first to
involve communities in a structured manner to safeguard
the environment. IUCN has worked with a
local CBO on a pilot project in Gunyar on primary
environmental care. The new European Union
Uplands Rehabilitation Project in the Murree-Kahuta,
Galiat, and Dir-Kohistan areas will mainly focus on
developing these abilities. IUCN will also work
towards strengthening this sector for its members and
other leading NGOs in the NWFP.
8.4.5
A d v o c a c y
Very few NGOs in Pakistan have used advocacy as
an effective tool to bring about a change that can
ensure sustainable development. Foremost amongst
them have been human rights and environmental
NGOs. In the NWFP, NGOs such as Sungi and
Aurat Foundation are doing advocacy work. They
use it as one of the strong tools for sustainable development.
Some of the key issues they have been
actively advocating in the NWFP include human
rights, women rights, deforestation, industrial pollution,
and dam displacement. They use public consultations,
lobbying, issue papers, media presentations,
and audio-visual materials, and they convene round
tables and seminars.
If key problems that face the province, such as
deforestation, are to be solved, other NGOs must
also use advocacy effectively to bring about change.
Most significant changes that affect the province can
only be solved by policy changes and proper implementation
of laws by Government. Only strong communities
and public action can force the Government
to bring about these changes.
8.4.6
Financial Sustainability
Lack of financial sustainability is a key problem faced
by NGOs all over the world. At the moment, many
NGOs in the NWFP depend on funds from interna-