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StrategicStrategic Areas Areas of Focusof Focus Gems,Gems,Strategic Jewelry Jewelry and Areas and Minerals Minerals of Focus Secto Sectorr Knowledge Management Gems,Knowledge Jewelry and Management Minerals Sector Hydro-electric Power Generation Knowledge Management Housing, LandHydro-electric Banking and Power Construction Generation Sector Hydro-electric Power Generation Housing,Social Land EntBankingrepreneurship and Construction Sector Housing, LandSocial Banking Entrepreneurship and Construction Sector Rupani Foundation Head Office USA. Rupani FoundationSocial PakistanEntrepreneurship Office Rupani Foundation Afghanistan and Tajikistan RupaniAddress: Foundation Head Office USA. Address:Rupani Foundation Pakistan Office Address:Rupani Foundation Afghanistan and Tajikistan JJ Plaza, Adjacent Bank Al-Flalah RupaniAddress: 8303Foundation Southwest Head Freeway Office USA.Ste 440 RupaniAddress: Foundation Pakistan Office Center IshkashumRupaniAddress: Foundation Afghanistan and Tajikistan Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam Address:8303 Southwest Freeway Ste 440 Address:JJ Plaza, Adjacent Bank Al-Flalah Address:Center Ishkashum Houston, TX 77074 Jutial Cantt, Gilgit Badakhshan 8303Houston, SouthwestPhone: TX 77074713-777-5059 Freeway Ste 440 NorthernJJShahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam Plaza, Area Adjacents Bank Al-Flalah AfganistaCenterBadakhshann Ishkashum Houston,Phone:Email: TX713-777-5059 77074 [email protected] Ph:Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam Jutial++92-5811-59709 Cantt, Gilgit Ph: ++93-796291322BadakhshanAfganistan Phone:Email: 713-777-5059 [email protected] Fax:JutialNorthern ++92-5811-59709 Cantt, Areas Gilgit AfganistanPh: ++93-796291322 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] NorthernPh: ++92-5811-59709 Areas Ph: ++93-796291322 Ph:Fax: ++92-5811-59709 ++92-5811-59709 Fax:Email:www.rupanifoundation.org ++92-5811-59709 [email protected] Email:www.rupanifoundation.org [email protected] www.rupanifoundation.org The Secret of Development
In the darkest values of the glorious mounts Where the sun was feeble to kiss the ground Where thoughts were frozen by the shade of crown Where voices were coffined in the barks of hounds
Where sights were shorten with the credulous bounds Where wishes were slaughtered for the will of fond Where skills were blunted by the fallacy tone Where life was lumbered with the pigheaded dawns
But a brisk of breeze with a whiffing gore Entered through the outlets of the locked doors With an awakening knock to the intellectual soil To probe the power, within the inner ore
Thus, mission and goals were’ set to go With the power of wisdom on a constrictive row When the skills were hone with the adze of art Then man was nothing but a creative borough
Having trust with honour and freedom to think Each soul on soil was a potent king Thus the key to paradigm shift was learnt Is to share, empower and lead to brink
Nazir Ahmed Bulbul Karakoram Knowledge Highways (KKH) www.kadohunza.org Email : [email protected] Fax : (92-5821)-50213 Tel :(92-5821)-50216/50213 Northern Areas of Paksitan District Hunza-Nagar, KADO Central Office,Aliabad Karakoram KnowledgeInitiative KADO 10 Yearsof KADO(1998-2008) DR.HERMANN KREUTZMANN SPECIAL THANKS SULTAN AZAM SHAHID KARIM MARKETING TEAM SURRYA DINNAR EJAZ ALI EDITORIAL SUPPORT KARIM KHAN FAYAZI GRAPHICS DESIGNER ZULFIQAR ALIKHAN EDITOR INCHIEF FARMAN ALI GHULAM AMIN BEG GHULAM ALI ADVISORY BOARD subject to a review and approval process by the the by process approval KKI and Board. KADO. review Editorial a of to thoughts subject the arearticles All contributors. from reflects articles welcomes are and articles shared various the Development in those held by expressed the contributors Area and are opinions not necessarily The Karakoram of Organization (KADO). component The Magizne is a product of the Knowledge Managment Contents
The Secret of Development: A Poem by Nazir Ahmed Bulbul
Editorial 6 Empowerment of Civil Society for Sustainable Development: A Case 1 Study of the Karakoram Area Development Organization in Hunza 8 Valley AMIN BEG, KHAWAJA KHAN AND ZULFIQAR ALI KHAN Present Situation and Future Potential of Cross-border Fruits Trade 2 36 between Xinjiang, China and Pakistan DAI JIAN AND LU ZHAOHUI The Karakoram Highway - Road Construction and Subsequent 3 42 Development Efforts HERMANN KREUTZMANN
4 Wheat and Flour Insecurity in Hunza Valley 47
TIKA KHAN AND DR. MIR AHMED JAN “Education is a Strong Vehicle to Bring Peace” An Interview with 5 53 Safida Ayub GEORGINA CHETWYND Hunza Development Forum: A Multi-Stakeholder Forum to direct 6 58 Future Development BRIG. (RTD.) HISSAMULLAH BAIG SI(M)
7 Ennobling the Voiceless- KADO in Retrospect 60
SULTAN AHMED
8 NGOs and State-Society Relations in the Development of Hunza 62
ALI Al-HAKIM
9 Disempowerment holding back entrepreneurship in Gilgit-Baltistan 65
NOOR MUHAMMAD
10 Divaako: An initiative to preserve and promote local heritage 70
SHERBAZ KALEEM
11 Hunza taking Strides in Women Empowerment 72
ABBAS ALI
12 The Journey of Sedna School and College Aliabad 74 Editorial
KADO Board, management and its editorial team is pleased to publish Karakoram Knowledge Initiative (KKI) as the first development magazine/journal in the history of Northern Areas of Pakistan. We feel quite an honor to take an important step towards Knowledge dissemination which will help assimilation and further growth of knowledge in the region.
Knowledge is vital today and for tomorrow, rather it has been for all times and for all societies. The society of Northern Areas is in rapid transition therefore, it is crucial rather inevitable that knowledge keep on growing to help sustain and understand different dimensions of the society. The past three decades has been phenomenal in terms of creating new knowledge, introducing development paradigms and evolution of participatory development and also, the society has undergone a tremendous change process. There is constant need for thinking and reflection that what worked out and what did not. The aim of KKI is to facilitate the access of information to people and organizations concerned with subject matters of Northern Areas of Pakistan in particular and mountain communities in general.
Different regional and international development organizations are extensively engaged in producing a variety of knowledge but such a sporadic and site-specific efforts are still unknown and unfamiliar to other researchers, academics, students and development professionals. Most of the efforts are restricted within some organizations, libraries and individuals and are not readily made available to others. Accessibility is thus the main obstacle in the evolution of knowledge in most of the mountain regions and KKI is the effort to reduce that obstacle.
It is believed that this product like others, will have perennial impact on the society as it intends to provide information on variety of subjects to help and cater the information needs of students, researchers, scholars, youth, elderly, men, women, development associates, scientists, donors, local organization, Government, non government organization and, private sector Most importantly, it will keep youth informed and intact with the society not superficially but with concrete details regarding the subject matters so that they contribute to society more in years to come. It will help fostering knowledge networks and paving a way towards knowledge society. Information, without doubt, will play the fundamental role in bringing people together, triggering thoughts, initiating research, sharing experiences, helping communication, conserving knowledge and pursuing value additions in all domains of life. Through such efforts, KADO is optimistic to have a lasting impact in the mountain regions of Karakoram-Himalaya- Hindukush and Pamir (KHHP).
The editorial team will keep on striving to make it much better, appealing and worthwhile for its affiliated people and societies.
Karakoram Knowledge Highways (KKH) – Whistling with knowledge Karakoram Knowledge Highways (KKH) – Whistling with knowledge EMPOWERMENT OF CIVIL SOCIETY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: 1 A CASE STUDY OF KARAKORAM AREA DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION IN HUNZA AMIN BEG, KHAWAJA KHAN & ZULFIQAR ALI KHAN *
Abstract
ontemporary research into sustainable development in mountain areas point towards the need for investment into the development, capacity building and C fostering of ‘institutional arrangements that devolve decision-making power to local levels, and involve the participation of interested stakeholders over a long period of time’ (Pratt, 2002). During the last two decades in the developing world including Pakistan in general and in the mountain societies including the Karakoram region (Northern Pakistan) in particular, large numbers of people are joining hands into self- help community groups to help themselves.
The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) stimulated and created about 4,000 Village/Women Organization (V/WOs) in Northern Areas and Chitral, since its inception during 1982 (AKRSP, 2008). These village level organizations were instrumental in transforming the socio-economic conditions and livelihood opportunities of the target communities. The challenge was however to consolidate and strengthen these V/ WOs and transform them to respond to the changing socio-economic and political landscape.
AKRSP thus evolved about 40 Local Support Organizations (LSOs) in Northern Areas and Chitral (NAC) as second tier of institutions by linking the V/WOs at Union Council level in order to inculcate a broader and integrated development vision at the UC level. (AKRSP 2008).
This paper attempts to present the case of a model community-driven, local intermediary organization named Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO) in Hunza valley, which is seen as a sustainable approach to local development. In the subsequent sections, the paper describes the rationale, objectives, approaches and current activities of the organization. In the final section the case discusses future vision and the challenges and opportunities envisaged and how KADO would like to manage and sustain the change processes in the region and what programmes of action it intends to launch in order to empower the civil society for sustainable development. It finally concludes its premise on the note that in order to achieve the objectives of sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction in the mountain societies, sustained investments in the development of strong and autonomous indigenous democratic institutions need to be fostered to enable local communities to govern themselves.
Introduction
Over the last two decades a large number of civil society organizations have mushroomed in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. There are four basic stimulants for the rapid growth of this social capital: i) increased marginalization and frustration of the people with the failure of the government to deliver social and public good; ii) lack of effective, efficient, transparent and democratic governmental
* This case study was originally developed by Ghulam Amin Beg and Dr Khawaja Khan in the year 2002, which was published in a book titled, ‘Karakoram in
Transition—Culture, Development and Ecology in the Hunza Valley, edited by Hermann Kreutzmann. Published by Oxford University Press, 2006, Karachi,
Pakistan. This is an updated version of the original work produced by Zulfiqar Ali Khan.
Karakoram Knowledge Highways (KKH) – Whistling with knowledge Empowerment Of Civil Society For Sustainable Development 8 institutional mechanisms at the local level; iii) increased philanthropic and voluntary spirit of the educated and affluent members of the community to contribute to the well-being of the disadvantaged and to supplement the efforts of the government and the development agencies and iv) increased interest of development and donor agencies and the governments to channelize funds and technical support through community-driven, grassroots level, local or regional organizations.
Since 1982, in the Northern Areas, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) has had the instrumental role in stimulating development of participatory and increasingly, autonomous Village and Women Organizations comprised of the majority of the village people served. This people-centered social development process emphasizing the creation of village level institutions and supported by other programme elements, is based upon three practices that follow from AKRSP’s philosophy: helping communities to organize themselves through sustained dialogue, capital formation through savings and human resource development through training(AKRSP, 1999).
However in the geographic context of the present case study, the history and tradition of community level institutional action has had its roots in the ancient tribal, clan and ethnic relationships and a coherent and well-knitted system of community setup in Hunza, which has created a network of formal and informal interactive community mechanisms within and across villages and which has evolved over a long period of time to deliver social good.
Pioneering institutions of the Ismaili community with head offices in Karachi opened their regional chapters such as the Regional Education Board (REB) that reinforced community-based, self-help education programmes by the name of Diamond Jubilee (D.J.) Schools since 1946, mainly focusing on primary and girl education. The Regional Health Board (RHB) started its Primary Health Care (PHC) initiatives in the early 70s. In the 70s and 80s, the Economic Advisory Board (EAB) supported community-based multipurpose credit societies that promoted entrepreneurship through mobilizing local savings, investment and provision of utility shops in the villages. ‘Since the 70s the government has supported “Multipurpose Cooperative Societies”, in 1984 there were 21 in Hunza and 18 in Nager’ (Kreutzmann: 1993). In the 80s and 90s, therefore parallel to the AKRSP supported V/WOs, which were in their inception and take off stages, these self-help institutional mechanisms that were started in the 40s through 70s were completing their life cycles to transform into new set of institutions to adjust themselves to the evolving needs of various communities in the diverse regions. The establishment of educational societies that run community-based English medium schools is one example of such transformations. With diminishing levels of physical isolation of villages from each other and from main towns, penetration of market forces with increased tourism, trade and economic activities, people were challenged by the threats to their cultural, environmental and social assets. While appreciative of the opportunities offered, the development of a critical mass of human and social capital in the area led to the emergence of a common sense of purpose, integration and the need for co-existence in a spirit of unity in diversity. These formal and informal civil society organizations work with commitments and enhanced capacities to identify, plan and implement projects and programmes of merit and of public good.
Emergence of a New Development Paradigm
This new social pattern is struggling to fill the vacuum created by the transformation from the old institutional mechanisms serving the subsistence economy to new set of institutional actions demanded by the cash economy (Kreutzmann: 1993) and explores further potentials of integration into national and global economic systems. However, despite positive impacts and progress made so far, Hunza like other valleys in the Northern Areas continues to suffer from intense deprivation and marginalization of primary, secondary and tertiary natures. With an annual population growth of around 3%, unemployment rate (educated young women and men) estimated to be at 60%, the agriculture sector able to produce mere 40% of the food requirements (KHDP Project Document,
Karakoram Knowledge Highways (KKH) – Whistling with knowledge Empowerment Of Civil Society For Sustainable Development 9 2000) and the absence of virtually any cottage or industrial base, the vast majority of the Hunzukuts continue to trail below the poverty line, earning less than two US dollar a day!
There are major challenges faced by the people of Hunza and given its peculiar geo-political, cultural and socio-economic contexts which are unparalleled with other regions and, no institution or group of institutions willing to address these issues in totality with a long-term view and tailor-made to the specifics and peculiarities of Hunza. On the one hand, there is lack of quality and market-oriented education, insufficient quantum and quality of secondary healthcare and inaccessibility to tertiary health services, problems of access to income and employment opportunities especially for the educated and semi-educated women and the most disadvantaged groups (artisans, the poor and special persons), degradation of the cultural and environmental assets of the area due to increased tourism, lack of regulatory and enabling support to local micro and small entrepreneurs to take maximum benefits from the Khunjerab international border trade and growing tourism and lack of quality institutions to serve as permanent change agents in the society. On the other hand, the public sector institutions in the valley remain alien, corrupt, unaccountable to and indifferent of the needs of the people. The political institutions continue to be non-entities, inaccessible, undemocratic and dormant. The private sector was at a nascent stage, is undernourished and trapped in a hostile disabling environment. These issues when coupled with the broader questions of denial of the fundamental rights of self-governance and callous disenfranchisement of the people by the government and the state, it continues to multiply poverty and the sense of powerlessness and deprivation, worsens the fundamental human rights situations and notches the conscience of the conscious youth and the intelligentsia.
The only ray of hope remains the third sector-the flora of community/citizen institutions, which are still in the incubators, requiring oxygen and round the clock nursing and medical care. The mushrooming of village level institutions with lack of social, human, technical and financial resources, lack of management capacity and the dependency syndrome on their benefactor organizations and irresolution to graduate to levels beyond community mobilization did not bear good news for the ‘progressive institutionalization of the village organizations as the instrument of management’ at the village level and their development as successful clusters or independent local institutions as ‘convincing evidence of the value and vitality of the AKRSP program’ (World Bank: AKRSP Evaluation, 1990). If proper enabling support were not provided, the fallback effect of these social institutions would be more devastating (compared to the dilemma of the multipurpose cooperative societies continuously being faced during the last one decade) because of the sheer scale, outreach, size and complexities of the V/WOs, LSOs and the Local Development Organizations (LDOs). Meanwhile the financial and social sustainability of such community sector social enterprises remain a big question mark.
Birth of a Community-driven Regional Intermediary Organization
The Karakoram Area Development Organization was formally constituted in December 1997 and it was incorporated in February 1998 in Gilgit as a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital3. KADO is a community initiative deriving its strength from the established tradition of local philanthropy and the enterprising work of the disadvantaged groups. It envisions a healthy and knowledge-driven society. KADO’s mission is to enhance local capacities for sustainable and equitable development, primarily in Hunza valley and the broader Karakoram region. It works with a goal to improve the socio-economic base and living conditions of the rural population. It focuses on four thematic areas: a) Income and Employment Generation; b) Cultural Development; c) Environmental Mhanagement; d) Information and Communications Technology for Local Development. It has devised a three-pronged objectives to achieve its goal and mission: i) to create income and employment opportunities in the region with particular focus on women and the disadvantaged groups; ii) to build the capacity of community-based organizations, and iii) to preserve, promote and development
Karakoram Knowledge Highways (KKH) – Whistling with knowledge Empowerment Of Civil Society For Sustainable Development 10 the cultural and environmental assets of the region. KADO takes inspiration from and builds on the successes of the Aga Khan Development Network, the community institutions and subsequent actions by other agencies to further the cause of sustainable livelihoods and reduction of poverty in the mountain societies and advocates the mainstreaming of the marginalized groups especially women, artisans, ethnic minorities and the special need persons of the community through indigenization and internalization of the change processes. A related strategic aim is to empower the communities and local institutions to enable them to gradually take over the functions and powers of development agencies upon their exit from the valley. “The evolution of KADO from a small handicraft promotional society to a regional development organization is the best model of indigenous organizational development, which gives great satisfaction to the SDC and Swiss taxpayers” (Christoph Graph, Head Asia-pacific SDC 2008)
Governance System
Twenty-four notable citizens; social activists, representatives of community-based organizations, literati and youth came together in December 1997 and subscribed to the Memorandum of Association of KADO. The general memberships (known as general body or AGM) have now risen to thirty-seven. The AGM is the supreme policy making body of KADO. Notable members from the community and community-based organization are identified and offered the membership of the organization. Annually the members of the AGM meet to elect the Board of Directors (BOD), numbering eleven, which is responsible for the overall management and Administration of the affairs of the organization (see Fig 1.1). The Chairman is elected to the office for a period of three years and all other directors for one year each. One third of the directors retires each year and replaced by new ones from the AGM. All the directors are eligible to elect for a second term in office. The Board forms different committees to support the Chairman and the management to work in a coordinated and decentralized way to achieve desired objectives (KADO, Governance Paper, Photo 1.1: A member casts vote during the 2000). A Chief Executive Officer supported by the projects election for Chairman team and the inance and administration head is responsible for the day-to-day management. The total number of KADO staff is thirty-six including twenty-five regular and twelve interns and consultants.
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