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LEAD since 2004 has been focusing on managing
sustainable development projects at the local level.
LEAD does not create institutions and hand them over
to the people – it has rather built their capacity,
discovered and polished their leadership qualities
that helped them undertake a range of activities
that make any organization sustainable. LEAD has
nurtured leadership at the grassroots levels to
understand their issues and make collective efforts
toward their resolution. People in the areas where
LEAD has worked have formed several community bases
organizations that are running successfully since
2004. Thousands of School Management Committees [SMCs]
were strengthened under its project,
Democratized
Education Management & Ownership (DEMO) - this
is a fine example in this effect.
‘When LEAD talks about the social capital, it means,
it is a process that enables the local communities
to sit together and deliberate upon the issues
facing them collectively. They share their concerns
and evolve a consensus. They develop mechanism for
conflict resolution to make progress in environment
and sustainable development for an improved living.
Thus, social capital sets the foundation for the
institutional capital. Social capital is like
teaching people how to catch fishes!’ remarks
Adnan
Kareem, General Manager Project Management
Department.
‘For LEAD, working at the grassroots level is not an
exercise in service delivery or to act as a
substitute of the government. LEAD’s objective is
different - to undertake field research or test
innovations and establish a base-line research
knowledge,’ adds
Rafia Rauf,
Coordinator Research at Core Services Department.
LEAD has successfully delivered
almost 200 projects for various donors including the
USAID, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Royal
Netherlands Embassy, Food & Agriculture
Organization, Ministry of Environment, and The Asia
Foundation. Thus, its expertise and outreach has
been enhanced by partnerships and alliances that
have been forged with various organizations and
institutions (including local partners and
government line departments) that support it in
achieving its goals and objectives. The functional
emphasis of these thematic programs has been
community empowerment at the grassroots level.
(Last updated: April 06, 2011) |
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