ISLAMABAD: The government revitalised the Trust for Voluntary Organisations (TVO) when it held a meeting on Monday after a lapse of six years and appointed a 13-member board to govern its affairs.

The TVO has been revitalised since it has been envisaged to be one of the executing agencies which will execute the programmes under Ehsaas policy action number thirty-six. This policy action is specifically meant to run partnerships with NGOs to upscale successful programmes for the most marginalised segments, including orphans, street children, seasonal migrants, transgender, victims of child and bonded labour and daily wage workers, said a statement issued by the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

The board consists of three ex-officio members, representatives of the ministry of poverty alleviation and social safety division, ministries of finance and economic affairs division and ten individuals from private sector.

According to the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, the process of recruiting the board was initialised in a transparent manner, and through an open advertisement, the board members were invited to serve on the board, which was approved by the federal cabinet last month.

With the activation of TVO at the federal level, regional committees of the board will also be activated in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

In order to extend its outreach to the NGOs of less developed and remote areas, TVO is expected to set up regional offices at Quetta, Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Multan, Lahore, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan and Muzaffarabad.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2019