The 2015 CSO Sustainability Index for Pakistan

The Index is an important tool for local civil society organizations, governments, donors, academics, and others to understand and measure the sustainability of the CSO sector. The Index is based on the assessment of local civil society representatives and experts, who discuss progress and setbacks in seven interrelated dimensions of CSO sustainability: legal environment, organizational capacity, financial viability, advocacy, service provision, infrastructure, and public image. The Index uses a methodology that involves a panel of local experts assigning scores to the seven dimensions on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of sustainability. The scores are then averaged to produce an overall CSO sustainability score. The implementing partner drafts a narrative report that describes CSO sector sustainability, both overall and for each dimension. An Editorial Committee of technical and regional experts reviews the country report and scores. The CSO sustainability in Pakistan has changed little in the five years that the CSO Sustainability Index for Pakistan has been carried out. The most significant changes have been in the legal environment, with the government introducing increasingly stringent measures on CSOs in response to high-profile terrorist attacks and allegations of international interference in the country. The sector's public image has also deteriorated somewhat in 2015, as the public, media, and government increasingly associate CSOs in certain parts of the country with serving foreign interests. Local sources of funding are scarce, and many CSOs continue to rely on short-term, project-based donor funding in order to survive. As a result, they lack long-term strategic plans and generally have broad missions. While CSOs continue to advocate on various issues and campaign on a large scale, democratic institutions remain underdeveloped, limiting CSOs' ability to influence policy. CSOs continue to provide diverse services in various sectors, including health, education, water, and sanitation, and are the primary responders to crises and natural calamities. The government has taken various steps to enhance the effectiveness of CSOs, including engaging in public-private partnerships (PPPs) with various CSOs, particularly in the education and health sectors. Provincial governments have also increased their budgets for such partnerships. However, it is difficult to assess the magnitude of civil society in Pakistan, as there is no comprehensive database of CSOs and a large number of CSOs remain unregistered. The country's security situation has been a major focus in 2015, with the government launching a twenty-point National Action Plan (NAP) to counter terrorism and extremism. The NAP has been criticized for undermining Pakistan's evolution towards more civilian rule, as it has allocated increasing powers to the military rather than civilian institutions. The NAP has also placed CSOs under greater scrutiny and prompted government action to regulate foreign donations to CSOs. The military operation against terrorism in North Waziristan, known as Zarb-e-Azb, continued throughout 2015, resulting in improved overall security in the country. However, several cases of sectarian violence, especially against religious minorities, were reported. Militants threatened more school attacks throughout the year in retaliation for the Pakistan Army's increased operations against them. Natural disasters and security crises affected millions of people in more than 4,000 villages across the country in 2015. Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), as well as flash floods mainly affecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Punjab, killed hundreds and caused extensive damage to houses, crops, and infrastructure. The worst heatwave in at least a decade hit southern Pakistan in June, killing over 800 people. CSOs, along with the government, responded immediately to these calamities, evacuating more than one million people and establishing over 800 relief camps.