Empowering the non-profit sector.

Byline: Aneela Sajjad

The year 2020 brought tough challenges due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Developing countries, including Pakistan, have already been struggling to cope with economic strain, socio-political instability and inadequate health and education facilities have been hit hard by the unexpected outbreak.

Besides a vigorous policy response by Pakistan's government to off-set the negative impact of this pandemic, innovative solution and intensified support - for primary sectors like education, health and small and medium enterprises - is necessary. The government has taken various initiatives and announced relief packages for the poor; however, the severity and scale of the pandemic demands that the private sector and non-profit organisation (NPOs) should be on board to work together to respond to the daunting challenges posed by the pandemic.

This is high time that individual philanthropists, welfare organisations and diaspora communities should come forward to help people in the provision of necessities and online education, especially where needed most. In view of the economic crunch and tight-funding availability faced by many public and private/nonprofit organisations, specific financing and fund generating programmes are needed to support organisations working at a community level.

Some organisations involved in philanthropic work such as the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP), The Citizen's Foundation, Punjab Education Foundation, and others have stepped forward to jointly support underserved people. However, the second wave of coronavirus has proved that temporary or short-term support programmes are not sufficient to mitigate the adversity of this pandemic.

A study by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy estimates that the Pakistani diaspora in the UK donates APS1.25 billion a year

It is imperative to explore and adopt innovative measures to generate additional resources to tackle the issue. Considering the need for an innovative and long-term financing approach, the Pakistan Center for philanthropy - as a member of the innovative financing sub-committees on social sectors formulated by the Planning Commission of Pakistan - has put forward various suggestions and recommendations to meet the challenges of the current scenario. In this context, different models of innovative financing such as diaspora bonds, mobilising dormant deposits in commercial banks, micro-financing, debt swaps for financing education...