Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) was established in 1989 with the objective of replicating the “rural support programme” approach to sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation, which had been successfully demonstrated in the northern mountain regions, to parts of the NWFP. The rural support programme approach emphasizes the need to address the issues of poverty at a scale, the need for working closely with the government to attain this objective and focuses on bringing all stakeholders on board to ensure ownership for the process of change that it catalysis. SRSP is registered as a non-profit, non-government organisation. The Board of Directors of SRSP gives it its strategic vision. At the heart of SRSP is the idea that the people have the potential to help themselves. A catalyst organisation can trigger this potential and if provided the necessary technical and material support, this energy could be unleashed to attain sustainable development. It is the responsibility of the catalyst organisation to ensure that the marginalised segments of the population (poor and women) actively participate in this process.
In the last 14 years, SRSP has created an outreach to men and women households. The total of 198,913 members in 11 districts involving 250 union councils are part of the building-up of the social capital. This social capital, after passing through varying stages of capacity building, is maturing and is making inroads as representatives into apex level institutions. There are many union, tehsil and district level bodies, which represent men and women community organizations at the grass roots, and are linked to the devolved governments and other donors for sustainable development. |
|
