Balochistan Rural Support Programme


Balochistan Rural Support Programme was a project funded by the German technical cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit in the early 1980s which was converted into the Balochistan Rural Support Programme in 1991. It is a Non Government Organization, part of the Rural Support Programmes Network, working in rural areas of Balochistan, Pakistan.
In the mid-1990s, BRSP worked in 13 Districts of Balochistan with 250 staff members; however, it had to scale down its operations substantially in the subsequent years as GIZ withdrew its support. BRSP resumed its operations in 2001 with financial support from Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund.

Origin

In 1983, a project with the collaboration of Germany was initiated, being a joint venture of Government of Germany and Government of Pakistan. It was named the Pak-German Self-Help Project. Initially the project was implemented by the Local Government Department of Balochistan with the financial assistance of GIZ. The initiative primarily aimed at developing the socioeconomic conditions of the poor living in rural areas of Balochistan. Later in 1991, it was transformed into a company limited and a non profit organization named as Balochistan Rural Support Programme under the new organizational and administrative setup.

Vision

The vision of the programme is a prosperous Balochistan where people, especially the poor and women, are provided with equal livelihood opportunities and are not socially and economically excluded.

Mission

The mission is to harness potential of the rural poor to help themselves, assume control of local development and improve their standard of living.

Structure and accountability

Balochistan Rural Support Programme is governed by a 15 members board of directors, headed by a Chairman. The board is responsible for drawing general policy. The Chief Executive Officer is the executive authority in the organisation who is further assisted by Senior Managers, Section Managers, Deputy Managers, Assistant Managers and so on.

Major programmes

Balochistan Rural Support Programmes primary role in poverty alleviation and community development is to encourage self-help and, in the long term, guide the Community Organizations in becoming mature and self-reliant institutions. The Rural Support Programmes that this is the route to community empowerment, which must arise organically from CO's themselves. BRSP’s programme is holistic and multi sectoral aiming to ensure sustainable outcomes. BRSP holds that unless the concept of gender is understood and mainstreamed into every aspect of the organization and the programme, the kind of development, poverty alleviation and community empowerment that it wishes to attain will not be possible. This must be done in culturally appropriate ways.

Emergency response

BRSP initiated and implemented emergency response to the 2007 floods of Balochistan, 2008 earthquake of Ziarat, 2010 Pakistan floods and the 2013 Mashkhel earthquake in all these disasters Balochistan was badly affected.

Honors and recognition