NPOs oriented by PCP on Certification

Feb. 20, 2009 - PRLog -- Under a new initiative aimed at strengthening civil society organisations in Pakistan, Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) with the support of the World Bank, held a focused orientation workshop for NPOs of Karachi on its NPO Certification Programme on Thursday. The session was held at one of PCP’s certified NPO’s, The Kidney Centre Institute. Mrs. Abida Wahid Ahmed Administrator, TKCI welcomed the participants to their facility. Mr. Masroor Ahmed, Chairman, Karwan-e-Hayat also spoke on the occasion. Mr. Zaffar A. Khan , member PCP Board gave the opening remarks. The session was attended by NPOs. This effort of PCP is expected to go a long way in inculcating best practice standards in the non-profit sector.  

Mrs. Abida Wahid and Mr. Masroor Ahmed while appreciating PCP’s efforts, shared with the participants their first hand experience of going through the certification process and highlighted the benefits their organisations received. Mr. Manzoor Hussain Shad, Secretary (ITR), Federal Board of Revenue, Islamabad elaborated on the tax benefits and the importance Government of Pakistan and the FBR attaches to PCP certification.  The NPO Certification regime supplements the Government’s reforms for good governance in the nonprofit sector and FBR’s subsequent tax reforms, he said. The chief guest urged the NPOs to get their organisations certified in view of its multiple benefits.  Mr. Babur Javed, Senior Programme Officer Certification, PCP, welcomed the participants and briefed them about the origin, vision, mission and certification programme of PCP.  Ms. Maria Agha, Consultant Monitoring and Evaluation PCP emphasised that Certification process aims at contributing towards organising and strengthening NPO’s systems into a better impact per fund.

Talking about the unique and first ever NPO Certification system, Mr Babur Senior Programme Officer, Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy explained: “The Certification regime has met much acceptance at the federal level and is recognised as the single system that reinforces and promotes  internal governance, financial transparency and programme delivery standards in nonprofit sector of Pakistan.” This is evident in FBR’s authorization of PCP as a Certification Agency vide SRO no. 1116 (I)/2003 dated December 18, 2003.  NPO Certification not only creates sectorwide standards but also promotes the government’s agenda of strengthening civil society in terms of good governance, documentation, disclosure, financial transparency, accountability and effective service delivery. To date, the Centre has granted 157 certificates of good NPO practices against 215 applications. This list is available on http://www.pcp.org.pk. The Centre, in 2006, launched a directory of Nonprofit Organisations that maintain good house-keeping practices. This directory, the ‘Gateway to Giving’ contains inspiring stories of success and social service in diverse geographical and sectoral areas across the country. The Centre is currently in the process of updating the directory. The briefing was followed by question and answers sessions.
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About Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP): PCP, licensed under section 42 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 as a nonprofit support organisation, is located in Islamabad and is governed by a Board of Directors comprising eminent citizens, business leaders and representatives of civil society organizations. The Centre does not engage in direct philanthropy; instead it seeks to help others in their philanthropic efforts through meaningful support services. Its major programmes are i) NPO Certification, ii) Philanthropy Research, iii) Philanthropy Support Services which includes Public Private Partnerships (3Ps) and Philanthropy Portal (2P) named Give2Pakistan, and iv) Communication and Advocacy.

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PCP is an independent nonprofit support organisation with a mission to promote the volume and effectiveness of philanthropy for social development in Pakistan. .