KARACHI, March 26: Participants at a conference on Wednesday urged social welfare organisations and entrepreneurs, community-based organisations (CBOs) and NGOs to constantly review their strategy and come up with innovative ideas and solutions to help the suffering humanity and upgrade quality of life in the country.

They praised the role of NGOs and social entrepreneurs in various sectors, but stressed the need for more collaborative efforts.

The conference on “Social Entrepreneurs in Pakistan” was organised by the Shaheed Z.A Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) at its premises. Students, representatives of NGOs, philanthropists and government functionaries attended the conference.

Speaking as chief guest, Secretary Information Sindh, Mrs Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, said that owing to economic constraints there were certain areas where government felt helpless.

“ NGOs and social entrepreneurs filled the vacuum with their efforts and took commendable initiatives to serve people where the government failed,” she said.

Terming economic disparity among various segments of the society the root-cause of the sufferings of most people, she maintained that welfare and social entrepreneurs should concentrate on the economic front and, after thoroughly analysing things, should come up with solid proposals and programmes for economic empowerment of the masses.

Addressing the participants, Ms Sadia Fazli, an Ashoka representative in Pakistan, talked in detail about the functioning of Ashoka.

She opined that social problems were not limited to specific communities or cultures and they could be minimised or resolved only through collaborative efforts. She said Ashoka was established in 1980 and named after a philanthropist ruler of India. She informed that in 1996 Ashoka started its operations in Pakistan.

She told that basically the organisation focussed on addressing social problems through identifying them in education, environment, health, human rights and economic development.

Ms Nargis Latif of Gul Bahao Trust elucidated the concept and functioning of her organisation. She said it was not only striving for economic uplift but also for better and healthy environment in the city.

Ajmal Kamal in his presentation stated that media was more than cooperative in highlighting the role of social entrepreneurs in social uplift and it was the reason that the “business” was thriving.

Dr Javed Laghari, vice-president SZABIST, welcoming the participants informed of the activities of the institute in the social welfare sector. he expressed the hope that social entrepreneurs would continue coordinating and cooperating with the institute.

Reaz Ahmed, Roland Desouza, Nazir Ujjan, Anwar Rashid, Yasmin Sabeeh Qazi and Muhammad Fazal Noor also spoke on the occasion.—PPI