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Key role of a Rural Support Programme is to mobilize, organize and motivate the community to take part in the development activity. Social Mobilization, thus, is the foundation of all activities. SRSO believes that success and sustainability of the Programme depends entirely on quality of social mobilization. This entails creating a proactive community sensitized to its problems and capable of addressing them. To meet such objective, community organizations(CO) are formed .CO is a group of 15-25 members and is an important forum for capitalizing the people’s potential to take an active role in the management of development activities. COs ordinarily carry out activities such as household level development planning, training, savings, microcredit and micro-investment. CO members meet on a fortnightly or monthly basis to discuss their plans and problems, thereby enhancing existing social capital and becoming more development oriented. A mobilized community is one that is able to identify its needs and find the resources necessary to meet those needs. Those resources may be their own savings or labor, or funds or information from a line Department. CO members are trained to exploit their potential to take up physical development, managed their resources and accumulate their capital.
each CO in the village.. Its objective is:
Village Organization (VO) are further federated at union council level to form Local Support Organization (LSO). Federating COs into VOs and LSOs provides rural communities with the opportunity o mobilise their villages as well as entire union council . The LSOs in particular, with their union council level structure, not only aggregate the collective requirements of its member villages but also form linkages with those external organizations and government line departments which best serve the developmental requirements of its communities. The power of social mobilisation therefore provides poor communities with a unified vision and voice for availing resources and services which were previously inaccessible to them.
The poverty score based on the Poverty Score Card survey exercise is the criteria for mobilization of extreme poor into the fold of CO membership. SRSO has adopted the Poverty Scorecard developed by Dr. Mark Schreiner of the centre for Social Development at Washington University in Saint Louis, the PSC recently adopted with some modification by the World Bank for measuring poverty in Pakistan.
Three lower bands from the results of the poverty score card would be given priority for mobilization.
Community Resource Person (activists both from existing male and female COs) are identified and trained as front line volunteer for forming new community organizations. The formation of the Women community organization are given priority. In a village where 70% women have been organized, the VO of women are formed and provided Community Investment Fund for the destitute and vulnerable poor members of the COs.
Social Mobilization is a long and demanding process requiring guidance, supervision and monitoring of Social Mobilizers. SRSO is sensitive and alive to such vulnerabilities. Therefore SRSO has decentralized the strategy and introduced three tier social mobilization systems:
The concept of second generation social mobilization culminating into formation of Village Organization (VO) has been introduced in the social mobilization approach and strategy. This is an umbrella organization having more than one COs in its fold and membership of the VO normally consists of two nominated members from
Village Organization (VO) are further federated at union council level to form Local Support Organization (LSO). Federating COs into VOs and LSOs provides rural communities with the opportunity o mobilise their villages as well as entire union council . The LSOs in particular, with their union council level structure, not only aggregate the collective requirements of its member villages but also form linkages with those external organizations and government line departments which best serve the developmental requirements of its communities. The power of social mobilisation therefore provides poor communities with a unified vision and voice for availing resources and services which were previously inaccessible to them.
The poverty score based on the Poverty Score Card survey exercise is the criteria for mobilization of extreme poor into the fold of CO membership. SRSO has adopted the Poverty Scorecard developed by Dr. Mark Schreiner of the centre for Social Development at Washington University in Saint Louis, the PSC recently adopted with some modification by the World Bank for measuring poverty in Pakistan.
Three lower bands from the results of the poverty score card would be given priority for mobilization.
Community Resource Person (activists both from existing male and female COs) are identified and trained as front line volunteer for forming new community organizations. The formation of the Women community organization are given priority. In a village where 70% women have been organized, the VO of women are formed and provided Community Investment Fund for the destitute and vulnerable poor members of the COs.
Key Services/Interventions
Outreach and Achievements as of June 2023
| Key Interventions | As of June 2023 |
| Number of Operational districts | 15 |
| Number of Union Councils with SRSO presence | 722 |
| Number of Taluka with SRSO presence | 86 |
| Number of Villages with SRSO presence | 28,899 |
| Number of Households organized | 1,412,351 |
| Number of Community Organizations | 78,785 |
| Number of Village Organizations | 13,859 |
| of Local Support Organizations | 589 |
Poverty Reduction
To alleviate poverty by harnessing people’s potential is the mandate of the Sindh Rural Support Organization. Therefore, poverty reduction is one of the main core programs of organizations to undertake poverty reduction initiatives in rural areas and support poverty reduction policies of the Sindh Government.
Three major poverty-driven and women-led social mobilization programs to support national and provincial reduction policies with an integrated and inclusive poverty reduction approach ensuring active participation of all segments of society and state from gross root to policy level. These programs have been implemented by SRSO in their 12 out-of-reach districts of Sindh.
UC-based Poverty Reduction Programs which are known as the People’s Poverty Reduction Program (PPRP) is a pioneering& and flagship initiative of the SRSO and the Government of Sindh, for reducing poverty through the potential of the people. The Union Council-Based Poverty Reduction Program (UCBPRP) was initiated on the 1st of February 2009 in two districts of Sindh, namely Jacobabad and Shikarpur, with a total budget of Rs. 3 billion.
As a result of this program, the European Union (EU) in collaboration with the Government of Sindh, supported the “Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS)” program for the expansion of UCBPRP to an additional 2 districts i.e. Kamber-Shahdadkot, and Larkana.
After the successful completion of the First Phase, the expansion phase of UCBPRP has been commenced in an additional 06 districts of Sindh; Khairpur, Sanghar, Umerkot, Mirpur Khas, Thatta, and Badin with a total cost of Rs. 8.94 billion. The project is renamed as People’s Poverty Reduction Program. The fourth phase of expansion of the Peoples’ Poverty Reduction Program in districts Sukkur and Ghotki was initiated in 2019 and will be implemented in 103 UCs with an estimated 5.9 billion Cost.
Key Services/Interventions:
Market linkages
Interventions & Achievements as of June 2023:
| Key Interventions | Amount disbursed as of June 2023 |
| Income Generating Grant (IGG) | |
| Amount disbursed (In Million) | 751,37 |
| No. of IGG Beneficiaries | 54,664 |
| Community Investment Fund (CIF) | |
| Amount disbursed (In Million) | 3,958 |
| No. of CIF Beneficiaries | 260,215 |
| Enterprise Development Fund (EDF) | |
| Amount disbursed (In Million) | 191 |
| No. of EDF Beneficiaries | 1,0035 |
