SGA is one of the leading civil society organizations of Sindh which comprises a network of its members and branches all over the provinces. Dadu branch is one of the most active branches of SGA which is striving for creating a space for everyone who believes in democracy, peace and tolerant society in Pakistan. Dadu branch is operating for cultural, social and political interaction among cross se
ctions of society based in the District Dadu. We look forward to your participation to this event, which will also provide you an introduction to the Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Community Centre. The Sindh Graduates Association (SGA) evolved from the coming together of a small group of enlightened individuals concerned over the poor level of development existing in Sindh. They wanted to contribute with their efforts and talents to a cause, which had not received attention it truly required. The SGA has come a long way since it was first formed in 1972 as a non-profit, non-sectarian and non-political civil society organisation. Today it boosts up a membership of over 9,000 graduate volunteers and 108 branches in 70 towns and villages of Sindh and a branch office in Islamabad. At the beginning, the SGA might have seemed too ambitious to some for assisting the people of its region in the problems that stem from poverty and official lack of direction. It attempted to work in just about every field and discipline that needed attention to health, basic education, vocational training, income generation, emergency assistance and socio-cultural activism. Following the principle of "for the people, by the people", the SGA did not rely on any governmental or international assistance for the first 18 years of its existence. The volunteer members, including both management and field representatives, continued to mobilise funds from alternative sources throughout this period for what was to become a unique grass roots organisational effort in this part of the world. Only in 1990 for the first time its dedication and determination to its services received formal recognition through institutional assistance. Now the SGA has its strong base of funding, which is contributions by the members of the Association, donation by general public, grant in aid from governmets of Pakistan and Sindh. The national and international organisations assigned various projects to the SGA and also gave donations. The ILO, UNICEF, UNESCO, CIDA, the World Bank, SPO, OXFAM, TVO, SEF, SDA, SANA, ActionAid Pakistan, RSPN, INFAQ Foundation, Khushhali Bank, USAID, Jummani family, etc. The Sindh Graduates Association was founded with the vision to build a peaceful developed society in Sindh and the aim was to coordinate efforts directed towards welfare and wellbeing of Sindh’s people. It is a non-political humane social organisation recognising inter-cultural and inter-personal interaction for national harmony and peace among all sectors of population and its objective was to empower the people to take decisions on their own and become partners in policy decision-making process so that sustainable development is ensured. The management structure of the Association consists of Council of Members ( the highest decision-making body) with 220 members, Centeral Executive Committee (executing body) with 34 office-bearers and a 13-member Board of Directors (the advisory body). The Association has been working in the fields of education, health, emergency relief, environmental protection, rural water supply and sanitation, rights-based advocacy, social mobilization and poverty alleviation, human resource development, literature, arts and cultural activism for the last 35 years. The focus of the Association is chiefly centred on promoting education, improving health services, rights-based advocacy and raising awareness of people through printed material and organising seminars, conferences and public forums. The Association owns and manages 20 Roshan Tara Schools in different parts of the province, which provide better education to children on an affordable fees. The Association runs a 24-hour Emergenc Medical Centre (Yasmec) at Super Highway which provides health services to the victims of road accidents, workers at Nooriabad industrial estate and also caters to the needs of Kohistan people of Dadu district. It arranges skin and eye camps in different parts of province to address the health needs of the poor and under-privileged population in backward and inaccessible parts of the province. It facilitates the youth by sponsoring limited scholarships specifically to bright, promising, poor and needy students of colleges and universities with the financial assistance of Mr Shabbir Ahmed Jumani family. It also makes an advocacy of people’s rights by holding seminars and workshops and publishing articles and statements to discourage violation of human rights. The Association believes that women are an important segment of our society as they form over 50 per cent of population and their education, health, nutrition and general well- being is our responsibility. Educated and healthy mothers only can build society and ensures development everywhere in the province. The women accupy an honourable place in an Islamic society and our original traditions. Unfortunately some people with intolerant male shauvinstic views and traditions disregard them. The causes of present state of women in our society can be traced back to medieaval times and onwards to the evolution of feudal society in Kalhora and Talpur eras. The influence of feudal traditions and feudal psyche is attributable to this phenomenon. Education and awareness tools will help us change the behavior of the men in our society. The Association is working on gender issues to promote women development in the province. It discourages all kinds of cruel acts that are inflicted on innocent women in the name of honour killings. That is why the Association is trying to mobilise the women to come forward and play a meaningful role in the society. There are many women members in the Association who are holding important offices in public and private sector. Some are associated with medical and legal professions. The organisation has a track record of empowering poor and needy women in the districts of Dadu and Naushero Feroz it imparted vocational trainings (handicraft) and provided the women with credit facilities to help them supplement their family incomes to live a respectable life. The Association had also arranged human rights training to teachers of their Roshan Tara Schools to work as promoters of human rights in their respective areas. Keeping in view the drinking water problems in the province, the Association had provided water supply schemes to 14 villages in the districts of Thatta, Dadu, Khairpur, Larkana, Shikarpur and Jacababad with the financial assistance of the World Bank and public health engineering department, Government of Sindh. The Association had the credit of redesigning the models already developed by PHED that had a positive impact on water facilities and construction cost. The Association established four computer centres, two Women Development Centres and two English Language Development Centres to promote education and learning in the province. Established, mother and child care centres and SGA Clinics (Jumma Clinics) that took care of the poor in backward areas of Karachi and other parts in the province. It also started ambulance services in different localities to provide 24 hours emergency transport service to the low-income groups. Besides its own self-help based projects, the association is running the following projects in collaboration with Khushali Bank, Actionaid, RSPN: one SGA Khushali Bank Project, Larkana, Shikarpur, Ghotki and Mirpurkhas. two SGA Actionaid Project DA-8 Khipro, RSPN-SGA Project Falah Sanghar. The projects in hand focus on social mobilisation education, birth spacing, micro-finance, small infrastructure and human resource development. Adult and Youth Literacy Project:
In order to promote literacy in Sindh, Sindh Graduates Association launched an adult and youth literacy programme in September 2005 initially for six months in Hala, Hyderabad district. The project was financed by USAID and technical support was provided by Education Sector Reform Assistance (ESRA). This programme covered three union councils in Hala -- Bhitt Shah, Khyber and Bhanoth. This phase of project was completed in February 2005. Keeping in view the progress of first phase (RFA-I) another project was awarded that was an extention of the first phase. The second phase (RFA-II) began in January 2005. This phase covered 11 union councils in Hala Tehsil, Latifabad and Tando Allahyar of Hyderabad district and Sujawal Taluka in Thatta district. Under this project a target of 10,000 learners had to be achieved. Fortunately, the SGA went beyond the targets and succeeded in getting 11,846 learners enrolled at 399 centres. Out of 399 learning centres 212 centres were meant for female learners. The learners were taught to read, write, understand and calculate numbers. The success of the project lies in the fact that village communities had offered to run 97 centres out of 399 after the funding stopped. The project was completed in September 2005. The SGA is building on its three strengths --- local supervision, operational autonomy at the branch level and strong community involvement to address the challenge of educating the future generations of Sindh. Combined with the willingness to experiment and innovate, characteristics shared by other NGOs to fill in the vacuum in Sindh today.
