ROLE OF WOMEN ORGANIZATIONS IN DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF AKRSP DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN NORTHERN AREAS OF PAKISTAN

Abstract

The historical quarry for a lasting solution to the problem of rural development has led scholars and development planners to the realization that without a participatory approach, especially the participation of women in the developmental process, all the development efforts are inequitable and non-sustainable. Because of this truth, a participatory approach acquires universal importance and like many other less developed countries, a number of participatory initiatives were supported in Pakistan. With respect to participatory initiatives in Pakistan, Aga Khan Rural Supports Program (AKRSP) is one of the main contributors who has made valuable contributions in promoting rural development through community participation. The main focus of AKRSP is on fostering village organizations (VOs) and women organizations (WOs) and linking them with development institutions to accelerate the process of development. The prime rationale of the following study is to visualize the composite role of Women Organizations (WOs) in the socio-economic development both at micro and macro levels in Northern Areas (NAs) of Pakistan because as a part of the world wide range of development activities in NAs, WOs established by AKRSP, were conceived a new approach to development especially for women living in extreme poverty. The present study has drawn on a broad spectrum of case studies and experiences in Northern Areas of Pakistan to evaluate the economic interventions of Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) which are implemented with the participation of local women A multistage random sampling technique is used to select the districts, number of villages and then interviewees. For this study the data was collected through interviewing xxi

the two groups of women i.e., “registered and non-registered”. The data is analyzed using different statistical techniques including multiple regression, paired t-test and poverty gap index. The study concludes that AKRSP plays a major role in the socio-economic development of rural women and hence in rural development through credit and savings schemes, providing training in different fields of agriculture and also by social mobilization.