THE National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) was unexpectedly closed in August despite its invaluable contribution to human development — education, adult literacy, primary healthcare, capacity building and community development — with the massive network covering about 122 districts of Punjab, Sindh, the NWFP, Balochistan, AJK, and Fata and with more than 80,000 employees at its disposal.

Its closure was tantamount to economic genocide of thousands of families. The NCHD, set up in 2001, aimed at improving public sector delivery mechanisms to achieve Millennium Development Goals set by the UN.

The MDGs encapsulate development aspirations of the world as a whole. They are not only development objectives they encompass universally accepted human values and rights such as freedom from hunger, the right to basic education, the right to health and a responsibility to future generations.

In adopting the millennium declaration in 2000, the international community pledged to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty.” We are now more than halfway towards the target date — 2015 — by which the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved.

Being a signatory to the millennium declaration, Pakistan too was bound to devise means and mechanisms to achieve the desired goals of millennium development.

Establishment of NCHD was a pertinent move in this regard, which aimed at achieving the goals through universal primary education, adult literacy programme, volunteerism for community development, primary healthcare programmes, capacity building programme, etc.

NCHD started its operations in 2002 in just two districts, Mardan and Narowal. Since then it has expanded, and its programmes are now being implemented in 122 districts.

Pakistan was the first country to establish a public-private partnership to mobilise global resources for human development following the monetary conference for international financing of development in March 2002.

The Pakistan Human Development Fund is a public-private partnership that channelled resources from the government of Pakistan, private sector and the international donor community, into the NCHD and its programmes.

The main objective of the fund was to consolidate efforts towards building human capabilities by supporting various programmes and projects in social sectors for improvement and enhancement of education and literacy; primary healthcare; poverty alleviation; development of working skills; improvement of social service delivery.

The Fund lent financial and other support to the efforts of the NCHD to build the capacity, train and enhance the competency of the government functionaries, elected representatives and non-governmental organisations working in the social sector at the district level.

The current annual budgetary requirement of NCHD is Rs2.3 billion to run its six programmes in 122 districts of the country. This is a very economical budget which is less than that of even any single district of the country.

The release of this amount should no be a problem for the government given the urgency of achieving the MDGs, invaluable contributions of the organisation in the sector of social development and danger of loss of employment of 80,000 family earners.

The NCHD and PHDF board members met Prime Minister Gilani on May 29 to apprise him of the work NCHD has been doing. The PM issued orders for an immediate release of Rs874 million to the commission.

He also directed the finance ministry to include funds for NCHD in the next year's budget, saying that NCHD has done commendable work and his government believes in continuity of policies.

In spite of the remarks by the prime minister in appreciation of the role of NCHD and an assurance of the release of the required budget to NCHD, no further steps were taken to save this organization.

As a result of unavailability of the funds, the chairman decided to abruptly shut down all the programmes of NCHD and employees were issued dismal letters.

Later a meeting was held with the government and an announcement was made about the continuation of NCHD till December, and putting the matter before a committee for further decision.

The government again reneged on its promise and no notification was issued in this regard. The government must clear its position and do the needful to retain NCHD.

ZUBAIR SOOMRO

District Literacy Officer, NCHD

Shikarpur