KARACHI, Feb 11: Sindh Minister of Health & Population Welfare Maj-General Ahsan Ahmed (retd) has urged the NGOs to increase working in rural areas and other sectors such as Aids and drug control where government functionaries have not been able to obtain the desired results.

He was speaking at a two-day workshop on “Working with the media,” organized by the German Foundation for World Population (DSW) and the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), on Monday here in PPF’s Vicky Zietlin media library.

He praised the role played by NGOs for result-oriented approach and dispelled the impression that the majority of NGOs working in the country were corrupt.

“Pakistan has a respectable history of NGOs, and one of the oldest NGO was founded by the late Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, wife of the country’s first prime minister, but with passage of time the role and activities of local NGOs have declined,” he added.

However at present local and international NGOs had attained their place in society and a number of community-based projects were under way, he said.

He stressed upon NGOs to deliver their services in rural areas and widen their operations to include other issues such as Aids control, rehabilitation of drug addicts and combating social issues such karo- kari (honour killing).

The workshop is being attended by representatives of major NGOs from all over Pakistan who apprised the minister of lack of official support.

The minister informed them about public-private partnership projects in Sindh, and said adoption of health facilities was an official policy. Any NGO could approach the officials concerned with convincing arguments and get non- functioning or under-functioning health units adopted.

To reduce dependence on government functionaries who had their limitations, community-based projects were needed and NGOs had a vital role to play in this regard, he stressed.

Praising NGOs for their work in Punjab, he said the social environment there was better than in other provinces where remote areas were still in the grip of un-Islamic and inhuman traditions.

Journalist Fazal Qureshi spoke about the importance of keeping regular liaison with the media people and suggested ways to do it.

The DSW’s international trainer Joke Van Kampen explained, with practical demonstration, making presentable report and exploring supportive sectors in the media, such as relevant radio programmes or providing articles for weekly reviews, etc.

The address of welcome was presented by the PPF director, Samina Ishaq, who highlighted the need for NGOs to increase their capability in the field of information and communication.

She described the PPF as a media training, research and documentation centre committed to improve the standard of journalism in Pakistan and to safeguarding the freedom of expression.

Replying to a question about gaining support from the media, the minister advised the participants to develop skills of improving interaction with the national and local media.

Answering a question about legislation against social evils, he said a number of social, political and other problems facing the general public could be solved only by creating awareness among the people.

The speakers acknowledged the important role played by NGOs for development work in the social sector and called for more recognition of their services by society.— PPI