Cost of living citizens’ biggest worry
Governor criticises development NGOs for ignoring rural areas.
Pakistanis are most concerned about the cost of living, followed by unemployment and then load-shedding, according to a survey of more than 10,000 households that was part of a United Nations Development Programme national report for 2012 presented here on Tuesday in collaboration with the Aurat Foundation.
The ‘Social audit of local governance and delivery of public services’ report – the third released by the UNDP after similar reports in 2004-05 and 2009-10 – states that while “some kind” of local government system was in place, it was not fully functional to ensure effective public service delivery.
It also states that elected local government systems, irrespective of their design, gave people “a sense of belonging” and “a sense of being served - not ruled”. The local government system in place in all four provinces is unelected.
The report focuses on ten service delivery areas: education, health, roads, water services, sewerage and sanitation, garbage disposal, public transport, agriculture, electricity and gas. More than 10,000 households in 179 union councils and 79 districts across Pakistan were questioned about these areas.
The report says very few respondents reported any improvement in any of the public services, while reporting deteriorations in electricity, sewerage and quality of roads. Union council secretaries questioned, on the other hand, thought that education, roads and water supply had improved. The report suggests that local government should be the “primary tier of government” and calls for the capacity building of staff.
UNDP programme officer Saima Alvi told The Express Tribune that the top most concerns of the people of Pakistan were the cost of living followed by unemployment. She said load shedding ranked third in the concerns of the people.
Alvi said the programme was initiated back in 2001, when a baseline audit was conducted under the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment programme of the UNDP. A large number of “community organisations” working in the development sector also participated, she said. She hoped that the social audit would offer policy makers and the social development sector a qualitative and quantitative analysis of local governance and service delivery.
“The aim of the report is to highlight the importance of local governance,” said Aurat Foundation executive council member Umme Laila. She said social audits were a tool to determine the effectiveness of the development sector.
She said civil society had been demanding the effective local governance for the past four years. “Decentralisation of power does not mean merely the transfer of power from the federal to the provincial level. It means devolution of power to the district level too,” she said.
Having been launched in Karachi and Lahore, Laila said there were plans to launch it in both Quetta and Peshawar. “The impact of such social audits will be evident in the long run,” she said.
Governor Sardar Latif Khosa, speaking at the launch, said the report exposed the “non-democratic attitude” of the Punjab government. “If all funds are to be allocated to Lahore then all protests will head towards Raiwind,” he said.
He said that the government had failed to deliver services to rural areas of the province as well and criticised NGOs for concentrating only on urban areas. “Most NGO workers refuse to work in the rural areas, which is where the people need the greatest assistance,” he said.
The current economic and social deprivation could lead to “a bloody revolution” or “a war of the haves and the have-nots,” he said. The provinces should devolve power, he added.
Electricity and gas supply
The good news is that 97 per cent of households reported that they received electricity. However, satisfaction with the level of supply has been on the wane. In the first half of the decade, a majority of respondents said they were satisfied with the power supply, but this trend has reversed in the second half of the decade.
Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the percentage of households reporting access to gas. However, many households reported that they faced severe breakdowns in supply.
Researchers from eight universities helped gather the data for the UNDP report. These were the University of Karachi, University of Sindh, University of Sargodha, Islamia University Bhawalpur, Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar, University of Balochistan, International Islamic University Islamabad and Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2012.
The ‘Social audit of local governance and delivery of public services’ report – the third released by the UNDP after similar reports in 2004-05 and 2009-10 – states that while “some kind” of local government system was in place, it was not fully functional to ensure effective public service delivery.
It also states that elected local government systems, irrespective of their design, gave people “a sense of belonging” and “a sense of being served - not ruled”. The local government system in place in all four provinces is unelected.
The report focuses on ten service delivery areas: education, health, roads, water services, sewerage and sanitation, garbage disposal, public transport, agriculture, electricity and gas. More than 10,000 households in 179 union councils and 79 districts across Pakistan were questioned about these areas.
The report says very few respondents reported any improvement in any of the public services, while reporting deteriorations in electricity, sewerage and quality of roads. Union council secretaries questioned, on the other hand, thought that education, roads and water supply had improved. The report suggests that local government should be the “primary tier of government” and calls for the capacity building of staff.
UNDP programme officer Saima Alvi told The Express Tribune that the top most concerns of the people of Pakistan were the cost of living followed by unemployment. She said load shedding ranked third in the concerns of the people.
Alvi said the programme was initiated back in 2001, when a baseline audit was conducted under the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment programme of the UNDP. A large number of “community organisations” working in the development sector also participated, she said. She hoped that the social audit would offer policy makers and the social development sector a qualitative and quantitative analysis of local governance and service delivery.
“The aim of the report is to highlight the importance of local governance,” said Aurat Foundation executive council member Umme Laila. She said social audits were a tool to determine the effectiveness of the development sector.
She said civil society had been demanding the effective local governance for the past four years. “Decentralisation of power does not mean merely the transfer of power from the federal to the provincial level. It means devolution of power to the district level too,” she said.
Having been launched in Karachi and Lahore, Laila said there were plans to launch it in both Quetta and Peshawar. “The impact of such social audits will be evident in the long run,” she said.
Governor Sardar Latif Khosa, speaking at the launch, said the report exposed the “non-democratic attitude” of the Punjab government. “If all funds are to be allocated to Lahore then all protests will head towards Raiwind,” he said.
He said that the government had failed to deliver services to rural areas of the province as well and criticised NGOs for concentrating only on urban areas. “Most NGO workers refuse to work in the rural areas, which is where the people need the greatest assistance,” he said.
The current economic and social deprivation could lead to “a bloody revolution” or “a war of the haves and the have-nots,” he said. The provinces should devolve power, he added.
Electricity and gas supply
The good news is that 97 per cent of households reported that they received electricity. However, satisfaction with the level of supply has been on the wane. In the first half of the decade, a majority of respondents said they were satisfied with the power supply, but this trend has reversed in the second half of the decade.
Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the percentage of households reporting access to gas. However, many households reported that they faced severe breakdowns in supply.
Researchers from eight universities helped gather the data for the UNDP report. These were the University of Karachi, University of Sindh, University of Sargodha, Islamia University Bhawalpur, Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar, University of Balochistan, International Islamic University Islamabad and Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2012.