Balochistan Rural Support Program

Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP) is an autonomous non-for-profit organization working in the rural areas of Balochistan. BRSP's history goes back to the project "Pak-German self help initiative" that was initiated in 1983 in collaboration with Government of Germany and Pakistan. The project was implemented by the Local Government Department of Balochistan with the collaboration of GTZ (German Agency for Technical Co-operation) advisory group. In the mid 90s, BRSP existed in 13 districts of Balochistan, with 250 staff members. The programme, however, had to be scaled down substantially in the subsequent years as GTZ withdrew its support. After a long interval of inactivity, BRSP restarted its operations in 2001 with financial support from PPAF. In 1991 BRSP was registered under the Companies Ordinance as a non-profit organization dedicated to rural development in the province. The overall mission of BRSP is to facilitate the establishment and improvement of sustainable livelihoods of the rural poor in Balochistan. This is accomplished through the mobilization of poor communities to help them plan and implement their own development agenda. The rural development programs of BRSP have helped communities to form community organizations for womens empowerment, natural resource management, physical infrastructure development, human resource development, enterprise promotion, and credit and savings projects. In order to harness this potential, BRSP programs organize communities into multi-sector Community Organizations (COs), which are then used as a platform for planning and implementing various developmental activities by the community members themselves. BRSP considers social mobilization as a primary mean for supporting rural men and women in their efforts to alleviate poverty. The essence of the process of social mobilization is encouraging men and women to form a group, typically consisting of 20-25 members, known as a Community Organization (CO). Community Organization is an important forum for empowering people to take an active role in the management and execution of local development initiatives. Once the community is mobilized then they are able to identify their needs and find the resources necessary to meet those needs. A properly functioning CO has both social and economic 'value', thus a position to contribute to alleviating poverty and socially, brings people together to work for the common good. The CO also generates funds for their own initiatives and establishes linkages with Government Departments and private sector.