SAKDN � WAY TO PROSPERITY

The people of Chitral in particular are fortunate to have been blessed with kindest amongst kind persons in the world who very much know their social responsibilities about the welfare of human being and one of such kindest persons is His Highness The Aga Khan who very kindly established AKDN - a group of institutions working for poverty reduction and to improve living conditions finding venues and opportunities for people in distant valleys. AKDN main institutions working in Chitral are Education, Health, AKRSP, AKP&BS, FOCUS and Micro Finance Bank. People of Chitral are indeed largely benefited by these institutions operating in close coordination with local, provincial and federal government by opening schools for education in needy areas, teachers training programs for quality education, medical centers in distant localities and activities for rural development, living condition improvement and support/relief against disasters. These institutions have performed well and even now are doing well for the development of Chitral in their respective areas. The most important and remarkable success that AKDN has been able to achieve in Chitral, is promoting awareness, knowledge and behavioral change in the minds of people of Chitral that has let them identifying and prioritizing their needs, saving habits for their organizations and finding venues & sources to resolve their problems instead of waiting for others to come and do for them. Under the prevailing circumstances in the country, the composite development is only possible when the community in rural society is ready to draw their resources and work hard jointly under organization umbrella.
Achievements.
The series of success made by AKRSP in Chitral and in Northern Areas under the governance of its great leaders and top class professionals are numerous but the greatest triumph that AKRSP is achieving at this time is the establishment of Local Support Organizations (LSOs) in Chitral. The formation of LSOs by AKRSP was no doubt the right time as well as the high time for the people of Chitral. No doubt these organizations would need AKRSP�s continued support and guidance unless become able to form strong partnership with local, national and international organizations for funding their viable projects in needy areas. Holding of multi stakeholders conference in Chitral involving specialists & with participation of local Government, was the right step taken by AKRSP in Chitral for improving the capacity building and making them able to implement their projects satisfactorily ensuring fall out benefits to the community.
Suggestions
I am of the opinion that obtaining of fund is no doubt important for LSO�s success but it is more important to have its capacity strengthened for implementation of programs and capability to use funds effectively. Secondly I think that LSOs and local government must establish strong linkages and work together for development that would surely bring prosperity making access & quality education possible here.

Liaquat Ali
Karachi, Pakistan