ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry on Friday announced a Standard Operating Pro­cedure (SoP) for the already registered international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) which want to facilitate the government in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government has decided to immediately issue No Objection Certi­ficate (NOC) to these INGOs’ projects relating to Covid-19 emergency, subject to their compliance with new guidelines announced by the government.

No prior NOC will be required by those INGOs that are already working towards Covid-19 emergency response in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs).

The INGOs will be required to submit four sets of their Plan of Action with explicit mention of funding sources and areas of operations (districts/tehsils) in the country.

Only those INGOs which have signed MoUs with the government will be allowed to work as per the SoP.

No prior NOC required for world bodies working jointly with NDMA

The INGOs will be required to submit a project completion report, verified by NDMA/PDMAs within 15 days of the completion of the project.

The INGOs are allowed to operate only in eight areas of work, duly approved by the government for the INGO sector in the country. No new area of work is allowed to any INGO for the coronavirus emergency response.

In 2015, the government had put together a policy framework to streamline and facilitate the work of INGOs in the country. As part of the framework, all INGOs working in the country or desirous of operating in Pakistan were required to register themselves with the ministry of interior online and subsequently sign MoUs with it under the new rules and regulations announced by the government.

As many as 144 INGOs had applied for the registration under the new procedure, of which 75 were approved and they signed MoUs with the government.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2020