Speakers urged govt. to promote public- private partnership in development projects.

ISLAMABAD -- Speakers at a webinar on Saturday said that the government should engage private sector for completing the development projects and to consider civil society organizations (CSOs) as partners for development of the country.

The speakers including the representatives from the government and leading voices of civil society in Pakistan sharing these 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,' Bokhari said.

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. She said 'to bring a social change and to achieve the goal of sustainable development, the vibrant role of CSOs is the need of the hour".

President ZABIST, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, was of view that the government should not be just a regulator, but it should be a facilitator to the CSOs to make them an equal partner in the development and social uplifting. The challenges such as over-regulation and over-documentation for working of CSOs should be addressed to create...