Zubair Qureshi
It is time for the government to consider civil society organizations (CSOs) as partners for development of the country. The policy measures need to be based on facilitation for the sector rather than over-regulations.
The speakers including the representatives from the government and leading voices of civil society in Pakistan said this while sharing their views with the participants of a webinar on ‘The State of Civil Society in Pakistan’ jointly organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP).
Joint Secretary INGOs/NGOs, Economic Affairs Division (EAD), Government of Pakistan, Syeda Adeela Bokhari, informed the participants that the EAD regulates only those INGOs which receive financial contribution from the foreign countries and donors.
“To ensure the accountability and financial transparency of the INGOs/NGOs, the ministry has devised a new draft policy which will be implemented after the formal approval from the Federal Cabinet,” Ms Bokhari said that the new policy is expected to respond to various issues and concerns of the sector. Besides, a web-portal is being created to facilitate online applications for registration of INGOs/NGOs with the EAD.
She said the new policy suggests curtailing time to 60 days for completion of the registration process. She said a record number of MoUs have been finalized during the last quarter. She said the EAD is open to civil society organizations and plans to facilitate those organizations that are doing good job. She called for a greater accountability and transparency in the sector.
Dr Attiya Inayatullah, former parliamentarian and Chairperson of the PCP’s research committee, on the occasion highlighted the role of civil society organizations and said that these organizations work for the development of the country and democracy. She said that CSOs in Pakistan are facing challenges at multiple fronts. Hence, we need for unity of purpose among government, private sector and civil society as the third sector.
