KARACHI, March 10: Speakers at a meeting on Thursday said though the awareness-level regarding population planning in areas where non-governmental organizations were working had improved, it could suffer a setback after the projects were over and after the NGOs pulled out from there.
They were speaking at a dissemination seminar on reproductive health projects implemented by two NGOs – the Marie Stopes Society and the Pakistan Voluntary Health and Nutrition Association (PAVHNA). The five-year projects were financed by the Department for International Development (DFID) and initiated in 2000.
The Islamabad-based DFID country representative, Ann Austin, said though these projects were nearing completion, the DFID would continue to help in other similar projects.
She said her organization gave priority to development projects from developing countries. However, efforts should be made to make such projects sustainable so that these do not collapse after foreign funding was stopped.
A consultant for both the PAVHNA and the MSS, Fiona Duby, pointed out that many a times funds were available at the top level, but somehow did not reach the grassroots level, citing reasons that these were either stuck up somewhere or ended up in someone’s pockets.
She also said that rapid transfers of bureaucrats also slowed down the process as newcomers usually took time to learn about the concerned department’s working, and when that was done, they get transferred.
She suggested local NGOs to learn from Bangladeshi NGOs, many of which had become self-sustainable, usually with the help of their microfinance projects.
She also suggested that components of HIV/AIDS be included in their health- related projects as well, as with over four million people working overseas, the country was vulnerable to such threats. And, if awareness was not created and protective measures were not adopted, the country could face a situation like that of India, where the disease had spread rapidly.
Other speakers said that the PAVHNA was working in collaboration with 17 partner community-based organizations in Karachi, Larkana, Pishin, Quetta, Bannu, Takht Bhai, Kohat, Peshawar, and with over 340 field workers was providing services to over 340,000 households.
They said PAVHNA workers went door to door and approached females at homes, provided them full information relating to population planning methods, and offered various family planning tools.
They said as the project was nearing completion 60 of their field workers in Larkana were being absorbed into another organization involved in social marketing, dealing in population planning tools and aid.
They said that the MSS project was implemented in four talukas Khairpur district – Ranipur, Kot Digi, Thari Mirwah and Pir Jo Goth.
They said when the project was started in 2000 the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) in the area was around 30 per cent, which had now increased to 55 per cent.
They said the MSS had also provided financial assistance for renovation of a hospital in Khairpur, which would continue to provide services to the community members.
They said that reproductive health related services were also being provided in other parts of the country including Karachi, Peshawar, Bannu, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sukkur etc.
