I am taking a course of leadership and management and 1 of the assignments is supposed to be on a service organization (like NGOs where profits dont matter) from my home country. So I googled to look for some NGO to have a look around and I thought it was a good idea to make a thread of all these for information!
Basically I am supposed to do on an organization that is making some form of a change at community level. Some I will just name as their websites are not working
No trolling please!! No checking, comparing or doing vs stuff....
1) Aga Khan rural support program!
THE CHALLENGE
The rugged, mountainous Northern areas and Chitral region of Pakistan support approximately 1.3 million people, who mostly live in poverty with limited or no access to electricity. The government has no plans to expand the national grid to these areas.
People frequently use wood for cooking and heating and kerosene, which is expensive and highly damaging to health and the environment, as a lighting source. Households typically spend 30% of their income on these energy sources.
THE INNOVATION
Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) is a pioneer in community-based development approaches in Pakistan. AKRSP
builds locally-managed mini hydro plants throughout the Chitral district. The community-owned and -operated plants generate electricity 24 hours a day that is clean, affordable and reliable.
THE IMPACT
Acumen’s investment in AKRSP supports the construction and management of four mini hydro plants with a combined capacity of 2.4 MW. Clean, reliable energy reduces the amount of income households must spend on energy needs while improving health and education outcomes.
These four plants directly impact the lives of 40,000, adding to AKRSP’s ability to scale their project to bring clean energy and improved livelihoods to all 1.3 million people the region.
The
Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) is a private, non-profit company, established by the
Aga Khan Foundation in 1982
to help improve the quality of life of the villagers of Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral. AKRSP’s development approach gives
primacy to the people and their abilities. It is based on the belief that
local communities have tremendous potential to plan and manage their own development, once they are organized and provided access to necessary skills and capital.
AKRSP’s past efforts have led to many notable achievements
in social and economic domains. Key achievements include manifold
increase in incomes, construction/rehabilitation of more than 4000 small infrastructure projects (bridges, roads, irrigation channels, hydropower units and other small projects), the
planting of tens of millions of trees and the development of hundreds of acres of marginal lands, developing a cadre of more than 50,000 community activists, mobilization of nearly $ 5 million village savings, and the establishment of more than 4,993 community organisations. AKRSP supported community organisations, which have established patterns of local governance that are participatory, democratic, transparent and accountable to their members, are now federating at the union council level to establish Local Support Organization (LSOs). Currently, there 67 LSOs across Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral that are forging direct partnerships with government departments, local development partners, donors and the private sector actors to increase the scope and outreach of services for their member communities.
||........... WELCOME TO AKRSP ..............||
2) SRE Solutions
Affordable, off-grid solar solutions in rural Pakistan
THE CHALLENGE
Over 63 million Pakistanis live without access to the national energy grid. Kerosene is a major monthly expense for those in off-grid villages. Not only is kerosene expensive, it is also highly damaging to health and the environment.
The increasing cost and reduced reliability of on-grid electricity and declining prices of solar solutions has increased interest in solar technologies. The key challenges in adoption are the upfront cost of solar, the low quality of equipment available, and the lack of an appropriate after-sales support infrastructure. As a result, most customers today are weary of investing in solar solutions given the lack of effective after-sales support and warranties.
THE INNOVATION
SRE Solutions provides access to affordable, high quality solar products through its unique retail distribution network.
The upfront payment and monthly installment for the micro-credit product brings solar solutions within an affordable range for these off-grid households.
SRE reaches out to its off-grid market directly by employing local entrepreneurs, allowing them to maintain high quality customer care. The company offers replacement warranties for 1.5 years, which is not generally provided by the competition, as well as strong after-sales services to customers.
THE IMPACT
SRE intends to serve close to 40,000 households, impacting over a quarter of one million lives over the next five years. The savings from solar solutions enable households to spend more money on education, health and other basic needs of the family. In addition, it will help generate employment, as ~800 villagers will be hired and trained to serve as sales associates.
Acumen’s investment will enable the company to scale operations and undertake important pilots with micro-finance institutions.
Established in 2010, SRE Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd is provider of reliable, scalable and easy to install solar energy solutions. SRE operates in off-grid rural households, through its retail agents’ network. SRE provides the basic household necessities like lighting, cell phone charging, fan and television. Through partnership with Micro Finance Banks and Micro Finance Institutes, SRE products are available at affordable upfront payments and easy monthly installments.
Vision
Our Mission is:
“Everyone has access to clean energy sources to fulfill their basic needs while preserving a green and healthy environment”
Mission
“Improve the living conditions of off-grid population by providing high quality, environment-friendly, and affordable energy solutions customized to their needs”
SRE Solutions | Bringing Power to the Unconnected
3) Ansaar Management Company
Building affordable housing for low-income customers in Pakistan.
THE CHALLENGE
Poverty rates in Pakistan are nearing 50 percent. The country faces a housing shortage of six million homes, and forecasts predict that low-income populations in major urban centers are expected to double in the next 15 years.
Half of the urban population lives in unplanned squatter settlements that lack electricity, clean water and sanitation. Despite the deplorable conditions, residents are required to pay considerable rents. Without legal title to the land they live on, they can be evicted at any time and hold no economic collateral with which to gain access to formal credit markets.
THE INNOVATION
AMC is a low-cost housing development and management company established by Jawad Aslam, a former Acumen Fund Fellow in 2009. Its focus is on scalability and sustainability. AMC builds communities centered around commercial hubs, schools, recreational facilities and places of worship, and equip them with utilities such as electricity, water and sewage removal. AMC targets those who earn 8,000 to 16,000 Pakistani rupees ($81 to $162) per month, a segment served inadequately by both the public and private sectors.
AMC grew out of Saiban, an Acumen Fund investee known for its incremental housing model focused on self-reliance and community development, and is applying Saiban’s insight at a larger scale.
THE IMPACT
For its first project, AMC has developed 36 commercial plots and more than 1,000 residential plots, providing homes to over 6,000 people outside of Lahore. After a thriving community has been built, AMC will sell the remaining 25 to 30 percent of land at a premium. This will help ensure the company’s financial sustainability. Over time, AMC’s vision is to scale across Pakistan and become a global leader in the provision of affordable housing communities.
Scope of Business
Ansaar Management Company (AMC) provides affordable, quality housing solutions to the lower-income segment of the Pakistani population. AMC was established in January 2008 in Pakistan. AMC targets households earning PKR 8000 to 25,000, and specializes in community-based approaches.It is a for-profit, low-cost housing company, which follows the world-renowned Saiban model of development known as Khuda Ki Basti, where there is a strong emphasis on self-reliance. Differentiating itself from Saiban’s NGO model of incremental development, however, AMC focuses on scalability and sustainability through its for-profit, low-cost approach.
AMC, as a developer, identifies large tracts of land in the peri-urban areas of major cities of Pakistan and prepares business plans/feasibility studies for prospective investors. Once an investor, which could be from the public sector or the private sector, has committed to a specific project, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is created for that investment based upon equity contributions. In order to minimize risk for investors, the SPV holds the land title. Next, the SPV obtains project financing to develop the project based upon the Saiban methodology of incremental development. In addition to this, AMC also provides project management services for low income housing developments.
Mission Statement
To provide innovative affordable housing solutions to the lower income segments of the Pakistani population, and to create vibrant and empowered communities.
Ansaar Management Company
4) Jassar Farms
Improving livestock productivity in Pakistan.
THE CHALLENGE
Milk is the largest and single most important commodity within Pakistan’s livestock sector. Yet more than 75 percent of livestock owners are poor farmers who own fewer than four cows, and most struggle with low milk productivity. On average, it takes five Pakistani cows to produce as much milk as one cow in the U.S. or Europe.
Breed improvement can be achieved through artificial insemination that uses world-class bull semen. While smallholder farmers in Pakistan currently use artificial insemination, they are unable to afford the imported semen.
THE INNOVATION
Jassar Farms was founded in 2005 in Narowal, Pakistan. The company operates a dairy farm and is establishing a Livestock Semen Processing Unit to bring high-quality bull semen to small livestock farmers at affordable prices. It is the only private sector farm in Pakistan to have acquired the technology to transfer embryos.
THE IMPACT
Using the bull semen will allow smallholder farmers to double their cows’ milk yields, potentially leading to an increase in income by 33,300 Pakistani rupees ($400 USD) per year per cow. Six male and three female calves from embryo transfers have been born to date. This first generation of hybrid cattle are already producing three times the milk as their mothers.
Jassar Farms aims to produce 125,000 semen doses annually, improving the milk productivity of more than 250,000 farming families’ livestock by 2015.
5) Kashf Foundation
Financial services for low-income women in Pakistan.
THE CHALLENGE
In Pakistan, 80 percent of the population survives on less than $2 USD a day and approximately one-third lives at or below the poverty line. There is a pronounced need for credit in Pakistan. But local moneylenders may charge up to 350 percent in annual interest.
THE INNOVATION
Founded in 1996, Kashf was one of the first microfinance institutions in Pakistan. Its vision is to become a “one-stop financial services provider” for low-income women and their families. Kashf offers general, emergency, business and home improvement loans, as well as insurance products. The organization allows for closely managed growth through a franchise model with branches in both rural and urban areas.
Acumen’s second round loan financed the launch of the Kashf Home Improvement Loan, which provides existing Kashf clients with loans to repair and expand homes, construct sheds, add rooms, and increase earning potential by working from home.
THE IMPACT
Kashf currently operates 150+ branches across Pakistan. More than one million individuals and 306,000 families have been reached, and $202 million USD in loans disbursed. Kashf has become one of the premier microfinance institutions in Pakistan and is ranked in the top quartile of the local and regional microfinance sector.
Nearly two‐thirds of clients that have been with Kashf for over four years report an increase in savings over the last 12 months.
Who we are
Kashf Foundation is Pakistan’s premier wealth management company for low income households which was created with the aim to alleviate poverty by providing a suite of high quality affordable financial and non-financial services to low income households, especially women, in order to build their capacity and enhance their economic role. Even though Kashf began its journey as a microfinance institution, today it is positioned as a wealth management group since it provides a one window solution to its clients for protecting and managing their wealth and enhancing their productivity and resources. Kashf was started in 1996 as an action research program, and over the course of its evolution, Kashf has been able to help hundreds of thousands low-income households, especially women to lead lives of dignity through economic empowerment via financial access. Kashf’s products and services are especially designed keeping in view the clients’ business and life-cycle needs.
- See more at: Kashf | Financial Services for All in a Poverty Free and Gender Equitable Society
6) National Rural Support Program (NRSP) Microfinance Bank
Financial services for rural communities in Pakistan.
THE CHALLENGE
An estimated 86% of the population in Pakistan has no access to formal financial services. Two thirds of the country lives in rural areas, where often the only sources of capital are informal lenders, who charge exorbitant interest rates and capitalize on the vulnerability of the poor.
120 million people in Pakistan directly depend on agriculture to survive. Without access to capital, smallholder farmers are unable to invest in improving their yields, an effective means of lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.
THE INNOVATION
NRSP Microfinance Bank is the only microfinance operation in Pakistan that focuses on rural, agricultural markets across the country. For the first time, rural communities will be offered services such as crop and livestock loans, savings and insurance products, as well as working capital at financing rates up to three times cheaper than those available in the informal sector.
THE IMPACT
NRSP Microfinance Bank currently has more than 170,000 active clients. The organization expects to reach nearly 625,000 borrowers over the next five years.
Acumen’s investment helps the bank provide poor farmers and unbanked rural communities with access to essential financial services that will empower them with the resources, dignity, and hope to build better futures for themselves and their families.
NRSP Microfinance Bank Limited started operations in March 2011. It has been planned to gradually transform the micro credit operations of the country’s largest provider of microfinance services (National Rural Support Programme) into a regulated microfinance bank. NRSP recognizes several advantages to the microfinance bank status. These include the ability to raise new sources of debt and equity funds, to offer savings and other non-credit services, and the opportunity to achieve scale through adopting a fully-regulated environment.
The purpose of NRSP Microfinance Bank is to reduce the effects of poverty by giving timely access to commercially viable financial products and services to the rural low income sectors of Pakistan. NRSP Microfinance Bank headquarters is in South Punjab city of Bahawalpur.
Our Mission
We believe in harnessing the potential of the people through inclusive finance, for poverty reduction and a brighter future.
Our Vision
To become the leading Microfinance Bank in Pakistan.
NRSP NGO
The National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) is an integrated rural development organization registered under companies ordinance 1984 with corporate law authority Islamabad. Its main objective is to improve quality of life of rural people through harnessing their potential to implement various development programmes by themselves. NRSP works through four sectors; the Microfinance, Human Recourse Development, Physical Infrastructure & Technology Development and Social Sector Services... More information
http://www.nrspbank.com/site/about.aspx
7) Pharmagen Healthcare Ltd
Safe drinking water for the urban poor in Pakistan.
- To improve peoples' health and quality of life by delivering products of unquestionable quality.
- Make healthcare more affordable in Pakistan.
- Achieve optimum business growth for the benefit of all stakeholders.
- Promote indigenization, self-sufficiency, foreign exchange savings/earnings and value addition in the pharmaceutical sector in Pakistan.
- Provide opportunity to the country's skilled and qualified personnel, particular in the chemical / pharmaceuticals field, to realize their true potential.
- Set the highest standards in corporate ethics and
- Contribute towards endeavors that benefit and promote the country's social sectors.
Pharmagen Limited - Home
THE CHALLENGE
Water contamination is a major problem in Pakistan, where water supply lines and open sewer drains often lay side by side in the streets. This leads to chemical and bacterial contamination of drinking water which in turn causes major health hazards; 40% of illnesses in Pakistan are caused by water-borne diseases.
While the bottled water industry has burgeoned in recent years, bottled water remains unaffordable for low-income customers.
THE INNOVATION
Pharmagen purifies and distributes safe drinking water through its chain of open water shops. Each shop extracts water from underground, purifies it through a reverse osmosis plant, and re-mineralizes it. Water quality is checked to WHO Standards.
Water is affordably priced for low-income customers, who pay only 2 rupees per liter at Pharmagen’s shops.
THE IMPACT
Pharmagen plans to launch 32 open water plants and one bottled water plant, providing the urban poor in Lahore with access to affordable, quality drinking water and reducing the incidence of water-related illnesses and deaths.
Acumen’s investment will also enable the company to significantly increase the capacity of its existing water purification systems from 13,000 liters per hour to 129,000 liters per hour.
Pharmagen currently supplies more than 100,000 liters of potable water to customers in Lahore each day.
Pharmagen Limited is a Pakistani incorporated, Public Limited (non quoted) Company, which was established in 1990 for undertaking pharmaceutical business and over the years it has become the leading producer of APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) in Pakistan.
Sponsored by a group of highly dedicated professionals and technocrats having 13 years proven experience of successfully promoting and managing sophisticated pharmaceutical bulk drug projects we currently are undoubtedly the leading bulk drug producer in Pakistan manufacturing a broad range of antibiotics.
Dynamism and professionalism has been the cornerstone of our growth through the years.
Our success has sprung from a collective determination to excel in providing high quality and diverse products based on achieving high customer satisfaction.
Some of these are foreign funded I am more interested in local organizations started by our local Pakistanis can anyone please post some here!
Thank you!
