ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) organised the first National Forum on Philanthropy in Pakistan at the Commission Secretariat in Islamabad on Tuesday with the theme “Conventional to Strategic: A New Paradigm in Giving”.
The forum celebrated the achievements of PCP since 2001 and to join heads to bring improvement in its philanthropic operations.’
The forum deliberated on three key areas including ‘Enabling Legal, Policy and Regulatory Environment for Institutional Philanthropy’, ‘Setting New Standards of Informed and Institutionalised Giving’, and ‘Corporate Philanthropy as Catalyst for Human Development’.
The former Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr. Ishrat Hussain was the chief guest on the occasion. The Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, the Chairman of the Board PCP Zaffar A. Khan, the Executive Director PCP Shazia Maqsood Amjad, and the Convener Global Donors Forum (GDF) Dr. Tariq H. Cheema were also present.
In his address, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed said that the government is extending remarkable financial support to higher education sector in the form of enhanced budget. However, he added that education and health sectors need proper attention of philanthropic organisations.
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed assured that HEC has taken a number of measures based on hand-holding of the underprivileged. “HEC will soon launch ‘Change-Maker’ concept, under which funds will be raised to work on various themes”, he added.
“HEC, with the help of Muslim Countries like Turkey, Malaysia and Iran, is considering to provide scholarships to students of less developed Countries. As many as 4,000 scholarships will be awarded every year under this initiative”, pledged Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed.
Dr. Ishrat Hussain remarked that state allocates resources to various sectors while performing the responsibility of ensuring equitable resource distribution. “Philanthropic organisations have a larger role in filling gaps by taking care of deprived people”, he maintained.
Dr. Ishrat Hussain stressed upon the need for enabling the underprivileged segments of society to create their own assets. Investment in provision of skills makes a big difference, he underlined. He urged the charity organisations to pay due attention to micro financing.
Zaffar A. Khan said that PCP works with a simple but focused mission to provide a conducive environment to philanthropic organisations to deliver. He highlighted the problems PCP faces due to resource limitation and massive growth of population.
