TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. THE ORGANIZATION
1. Organizational Profile
2. Goals and Philosophy
3. Achievements and Impact

B. THE APPROACH
1. The Institutional Process
social organization building and democratic management
2. The Programmes
Synergy of advocacy and development service delivery- The case of natural resources management

SUMMARY

A. The organization

1. Organizational Profile

The SUNGI Development Foundation, a Non-Government Organization (NGO) that works on issues of policy advocacy and community development, was established in 1989. It began its work in the Hazara Division of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan.

The work of the SUNGI Development Foundation as we know it today can be traced back to the devastating floods of 1992 in the Hazara region of northern Pakistan. After the floods had subsided, SUNGI engaged the local communities affected by the floods in dialogues on the environmental and social issues which had arisen as a consequence of the unprecedented devastation. The experience helped to develop strong linkages with many communities and led subsequently to requests for assistance in planning and implementing rehabilitation and longer-term development projects. This marked the emergence of SUNGI's holistic approach to development work combining sustainable community development with advocacy.

SUNGI has grown from only seven staff in 1993, to the present 70 staff members and now operates in four districts of the mountainous parts of Hazara in Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra and Battagram, covering more than 100 communities. It has developed over 150 community-based organizations, half of which are women's associations, and has nearly 5,000 volunteers. Sungi has achieved this expansion despite the severe geographical constraints of the region which cannot be overemphasized. The Hazara Division of NWFP spreads over the plains of the Indus and is engulfed by the rugged foothills of the Himalayan mountain range. The area also suffers from a fragile geological stratum, which makes it highly prone to large scale erosion and landslides.

It is against this background that SUNGI, which means "companion" or "partner" in the local Hindko dialect, operates offering a strong and effective partnership to small and marginalised farmers, forest users, rural women and urban and rural working/middle classes. In partnership with these local communities, SUNGI conducts ambitious and challenging work bringing about policy and institutional changes in the social environment. By mobilizing the deprived and marginalised members of society, SUNGI endeavors to create an environment in which they themselves may transform their lives through the equitable and sustainable use of natural as well as human resources. SUNGI seeks to achieve this through two major components of its programme: (1) community-based development programs including training and action research, and (2) advocacy. back to top

2. Goals and Philosophy

SUNGI's operations are based on the principle of participatory, equitable and sustainable development. SUNGI believes that these principles may be achieved only through "advocacy-based development" in which advocacy and community development, two sides of the same coin, are integrated. Without this integration SUNGI believes that effective transformation of the lives of the dispossessed will not take place.

This philosophy, the integration of social mobilization and development, is clearly reflected in its programme structure. The community development programme, which is considered a more "traditional" development service than its programme of advocacy, currently runs an integrated rural development initiative with a focus on natural resource management, human resource development and small enterprise development, health and sanitation. All of these programmes are conducted in partnership with community-based organizations on the principles of participatory development, i.e., on needs prioritized by the communities themselves and managed by the community organizations through democratic decision making processes.

Such a thorough engagement of community-based, participatory development processes is in itself innovative in the Pakistani context. What makes SUNGI unique, however, is its commitment to social mobilization and policy advocacy as a vital additional strategy in achieving the goals of participatory development. SUNGI's commitment to the principles of participatory, equitable and sustainable development do not stop within the marginalized community but goes beyond to reach out to the power elite itself both within Hazara Division and at the Provincial and federal levels. SUNGI recognizes the fact that no matter how "participatory" and "equitable" the process may be within the community, justice and development may ultimately not be achieved without questioning the non-participatory and inequitable socio-economic structures. Social mobilization and lobbying integral to its advocacy work are necessary in order to make higher-level political institutions, policies and laws "people-centered." While the advocacy role has not yet been fully legitimized for the NGO community in Pakistan, SUNGI has taken a leadership role in challenging the conventional view of "development NGOs" as simply agents for the delivery of socio-economic services.

The single most important element that links these two aspects of SUNGI's work is the strong emphasis it maintains on the building and strengthening of social organization. A number of different types of social groupings, including village organizations (VOs), women's organizations (WOs) and Cluster Based Organizations (CBOs), serve as the institutional basis of peoples' participation through democratic decision making and governance. SUNGI's role as a "change agent" pursues the development and strengthening of the decision making capacities of these organizations, enabling them to negotiate with the institutions of the state making them more responsive and accountable in their delivery of services to the community.

Through the integration of community development and advocacy, primarily implemented through partnership with community level social organizations, SUNGI hopes to increase people's understanding of their rights and obligations as citizens and foster clearer standards for judging the performance of politicians, governments and donor agencies. Such awareness also reinforces the peoples' belief in the values of their own development choices and efforts contributing to positive transformation of existing state institutions and policies, and the practices of legislative bodies. This power for social transformation both from the bottom up and from the top down is what the organization refers to as the "SUNGI process."

In addition to its commitment to participatory development through advocacy, SUNGI's philosophy toward geographical expansion of its programme is worth noting. SUNGI and its Executive Director, Mr. Omar Asghar Khan, believe that it should not "scale up" in the traditional way through creation of a province-wide, much less a nationwide, network of VOs, WOs, and CBOs in direct partnership with SUNGI. Mr. Khan argues that this sort of expansion of scale could well result in a watering down of the "quality of the process" which SUNGI values most. A true participatory planning and management process at the grass-roots level requires the focused efforts of the SUNGI/Community team. The work, especially of social and political advocacy, has to be "rooted" in the community and this has to be done village by village. Instead of growth of its own organization, SUNGI seeks to expand its impact presenting itself as a "model" to other like-minded organizations and development practitioners through training and research. SUNGI's long term objective is to serve as a "Resource Centre" for other NGOs and development agencies offering its hard earned experience as an exemplary pilot programme for replication in other parts of the country. SUNGI constantly works to build a network among both domestic and international NGOs and now offers training programmes to personnel of other NGOs in Pakistan. This appears to present a new thinking for "achieving scale" without losing the "quality." back to top

3. Achievements and Impact

In assessing SUNGI's achievements and impact one has to keep in mind that it is, at eight years of age, still a young organization. Although it has achieved much the greater impact of its work may well only be judged over time and will depend upon what fruit it bears in the hearts and minds of the communities it serves. What makes SUNGI's work unique is its work in mobilizating the poor and marginalized. When such human development is compared to more traditional community development and the delivery of services, the impact of advocacy is often less tangible. Nonetheless, SUNGI's working philosophy of integrating advocacy and community development has already had a major impact on the notion of the roles of developmental NGOs in Pakistan.

In terms of quantifiable achievements, SUNGI's community development activities through its Field Operations Unit, responding to community needs in health, sanitation, farmers training, savings and credit and natural resources management, have had substantial and measurable results. Since its establishment in 1989, SUNGI has started or strengthened more than 150 men and women's village organizations and primary training has been given to over 2,000 community members, 500 of whom were women. More than 500 farmers, including 100 women, have received training in agriculture, forestry development, sericulture, horticulture, animal husbandry techniques and small enterprise/local craft development. SUNGI with its partner VOs and WOs have planned and implemented over 80 irrigation channels, link roads or foot bridges, and other small infrastructural schemes aimed at environmental rehabilitation, improvement in the quality of life and the raising of farm incomes. back to top

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