25 April 2005	Monday	15 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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MANSEHRA, April 24: The Sungi Development Foundation, which has set up the Omar Asghar Centre for Development (OACD) in Abbottabad, is making efforts to have the OACD affiliated with some institutions in the United Kingdom for enabling it to become a degree-issuing centre in development studies.

This was stated by Mukhtar Javid, zonal coordinator of Sungi, at a press briefing here on Sunday.

The status of a degree-issuing institution would make the OACD a unique institution in South Asia, he added.

The coordinator of Sungi said that groups from India, Nepal and Ireland were getting development and advocacy training in the OACD.

Mr Javid said that the press could play an effective role in raising people’s awareness about development and advocacy.

The coordinator said that Sungi, which had been founded in 1989 by late Omar Asghar Khan and his companions with a small office in Islamabad, received a very warm response from the people when it conducted a relief operation in Hazara after the devastating floods in 1992, he added.

Mr Javid said that Sungi gradually expanded its network, and now besides the Hazara region, Sungi had been running projects in Attock, Azad Kashmir and Ghora Gali.

He said that Sungi would soon have its presence in Sindh and Balochistan.