In the Service of the Commmunity

National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) & American Fund for Human
Development (AFHD) Achievements Update as of March 2007 in Pakistan's Villages

Education: In Education specifically Enrolment NCHD was now covering 78 districts of Palkistan. Since the introduction of the NCHD education program it has enrolled more than 2.9 million out of school children aged between 5-7 years. In Universal Primary Education NCHD has achieved 90% of its target. It has also succeeded in subduing the drop-out rate from 50% to 18%. Meanwhile it established over 19,000 feeder schools between August 2002 and February 2007. In the Adult Litercay Program NCHD has established nearly 20,000 Adult Literacy Centers where over 438,000 learners have been enrolled. Cumulatively NCHD has made 928,503 adults literate in addition to placing 2.9 million children in schools since 2002.
Lead Agency for Literacy: Dr. Ajmal informed the Board that the President of Pakistan has made NCHD the lead agency for literacy in Pakistan. Through this status NCHD will be the focal point for literacy programs under the Ministry of Education. It will create a National Literacy Database and act as an accreditation agency for literacy, NBFE and other education initiatives in the country.
Health: In Phase 1, NCHD and its National ORS Campaign completed training of mothers in 15 districts of the country. By the end of March 07, it would have completed the second phase taking the total districts to 30. This has taken the number of women trained in the preparation of ORS to 5.5 million. March 2007 would also see the start of the ORS campaign in another 15 districts, while 20 more districts will be added in Q4 of 2006-07. Its Primary Health Care Extension program has phased out of 11 districts and 2 more districts are near completion. The School Health Program was currently being run in 16 districts.
Capacity Development Program: The objective of the CDP was to train district level government officials and elected representatives such as Cantonment Boards and Zila Monitoring Committees in planning and budgeting. In 46 districts of the country NCHD has trained more than 6,000 officials.
Volunteerism for Community Development: The VCD program is operated in 47 districts of Pakistan. For the last quarter 11 1,636 people registered as community volunteers. This program established 43 Volunteer Medical Stations and 174 Medical Camps. These medical centers treated 114,566 patients during the quarter.
Community Technology Learning Centers: 1632 learners have graduated from the CTLCs since its inception in September 2004. In addition to the 17 centers, 20 more will be established by the end of April 2007.

By: Pervaiz Lodhie (email: plodhie@ledtronics.com)

See Old Archives of these Public Services Messages on http://www.pakistanlink.com/ledtronics.html