Strengthening Participatory Organization is the largest rights-based national support organization in Pakistan working since 1994 to strengthen and support community organizations and public interest institutions for promotion of democratic governance, social justice, peace and social harmony. SPO engages civil society networks, faith-based organisations and groups representing a wide range of stakeholders.
SPO focuses on capacity building of community institutions and nurtures civil society networks at the grassroots. SPO has so far worked in 77 districts out of 110 across four provinces and trained more than 3000 community-based and local government institutions, strengthened 56 rights-based advocacy networks and undertook special projects for girls’ education and humanitarian relief in case of natural disasters. All special projects are run with the help of community partners.
SPO envisions a democratic, socially just and tolerant society guided by participatory principles, which realizes the full potential of its people and their aspirations for sustainable and self-reliant development.
The mission is to strengthen and support community organisations and public interest institutions of Pakistan for the benefit of poor and disadvantaged sections of society for sustainable development through a participatory approach.
Strengthening Participatory Organization began its life in the early 1990s as the Small Projects Office (SPO) of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) programme in Pakistan. On January 15, 1994, the Small Projects Office was transformed into an indigenous NGO. The decade since that inception has seen many more transformations and developments.
From its humble beginning as a small and very new NGO in 1994, Strengthening Participatory Organization has grown to become one of the leading NGOs in Pakistan - in terms of its size and resources, the scope of its activities, its reach across the country, and the impact of its work. SPO did not start of as strengthening in participatory organization.Its original role was limited and temporary:to function as a Small Projet Office for the Social Sector Funds(SSF)Project of the Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA). But in thre eight years that follow the small project office acquired alife and niche of its own.But by end of this period it has transformed into an independent organization working for a different and deeper mandate than the one with which it had begun. This chapter becomes SPO's eight years growth to maturity and transformation from a small,project support office to a prominent contributer to participatory development in Pakistan.
It is estimated that some 1,500,000 people have benefited directly through SPO’s training programme and projects and another one million indirectly.
