Governance: $5.7m USAID funds for south Punjab

Policy, government oversight, public-private partnership and organisational development would be the priority areas.

MULTAN:

As many as 37 grants worth $5.7 million will be awarded to non-governmental organisations for projects to advance citizen participation in democratic process and improve public accountability in four southern divisions of the province, this was announced at an information session on Citizens’ Voice Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Thursday.

Projects will be selected in four categories: citizens’ voice and accountability in tax collection, citizens’ voice for effective legislative governance, education reforms and advocacy for strengthening legal framework for non-profit organisations.

CVP chief of party Mukhtar Ahmed Ali said the objective of the project was to improve governance and spending of public funds by increasing citizens’ involvement in decision making processes. USAID representative Nazeer Mathar said policy and advocacy, government oversight, public-private partnership and organisational development would be the priority areas. Mukhtar Ahmed said grants would be awarded for projects in Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2012.