KADO celebrates 10 years of existence

First of all I want to extend my heartiest congratulation to the AGM members, board members and management of KADO for completing ten years with success.

Today am feeling proud that I was part of this great Organization; I started my career with KADO, and whatever I am today is because of this institution, working with KADO was golden period of my life. The work environment in KADO is unique which I am missing everywhere,

People’s expectation from KADO is more then its capacity, I will request people of Hunza that trust and support this organization and put your efforts and ideas to strengthen it; this is the only organization which is working for our community without any political & religious objective, there may be some flows or failures but I know their objective is clear and the visionary leadership is always trying to improve the livelihood of this region

I will expect from the BOD and Management of KADO that you will continue your efforts for the betterment of community and will equally consider all areas of our region.

All my prayers and support with you for your success.

Javed Aly

Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Nothing but a big Cheeeeerss KADO. A big cheers to its driving forces-BOG and GB. Many many congratulations to its founding minds. After having seen various organizations and having worked with them I must say KADO you are matchless. I started my career with KADO and it was KADO which make me learn the ups and downs of development. KADO inspired me to take step forward and enabled me to do so. I dedicate my professional successes to KADO.

Aejaz Karim
International Center for Religion and Diplomacy
Washington, DC

I would like to congratulate the entire KADO family for this landmark achievement and I must say that this organization has proved the power of strenght of community work and volunteerism.

I feel proud for an organization which has now turned ten and it was a baby when I had joined this wonderful organization. Though the journey had begun from KHPS as mentioned by Zulfiqar however it was registered as company in 1998. In 1999, I joined KADO as consultant and then in 2000 as regular employee. I worked with KADO till January 2004 and have remained part of many great strides made by KADO over those four years. This was a launching pad for me which paved my way for a journey to my career.
I share the feelings of Javed and would proudly say that whatever I am today is because of KADO. As a fresh Masters degree holder, I was really in great shocks when many institutions rejected me becuase I didnt have any experience. It was KADO which gave me a chance to prove my worth.
The contributions of KADO have been many and it is an organization which has always been for innovations and progress. It has proved to be an icon of excellence and a symbol for many other organizations in the entire area. The case study of Hunza environmental committee (HEC) was published in a book which had success stories of 15 such organizations from accross Pakistan.
I have a lot to share about the successes of KADO but time limitation is a constraint.

I think one of the best achievements of KADO is its contribution in human resource development and you can see that how far its associates have gone. I hope to see many more posts from different beneficiaries of KADO.

I would like to commend the hard work and dedication of the general body of KADO and the BOD. Moreover, there have been some key individuals who have given it a direction. I congratulate all of them for such an achievement and pray that this organization may prosper day in and day out (aamin).

When I left KADO in 2004, I wrote a poetry for KADO. Here are a few lines:

Sada-e- Bey Zuban hey misle dur afshan hey KADO
Ke shajr-e- ba samar hey hum pey ik ehsan hey KADO

Bahot hi mukhtasar arsay mey isne khdu ko manwaya
ki sanjida diloon ka jazba aur arman hey KADO

Ye qissa mukhtasar kar loon karoon jazbat par qaboo
bahot soon key ilawa muhsin-e- sultan key KADO

Best,

Sultan

Dear Javed,

I respect your comments but not necessarily agree wtih you. If you were not comparing KADO with AKDN agencies, then with which organization you have compared KADO in our region and you found that KADO is the only one working without any political or relagious objectives. Could you please name any of those organizations?? keeping in mind OUR REGION.

Aziz

I can see many of the KADO Alumni contributing here.

Note of caution: we are not a self-congratulating lot; we believed in self-criticizm and were taught to ‘act-reflect and act’ in a dialectical process.

while KADO did many wonders in the local context during the last decade, it failed on many scores. But the good thing was it acknowledged its failures, learned from it, and continous to move ahead. Creating job and income opportunities for the poor and those in need, developing value added sectors and sub-sectors beyond handicrafts, making KADO relevant for the youth and women and creating ownership throughout Hunza; central, upper and lower, and linking up to the grassroots institutions, are still big challenges KADO has to work hard achieving its mission and objectives.

As a local development organization, the comparisons are NDO in Nagar, TMS’ in central Hunza, BCF in Baltistan, and may be recently the SRDP Trust in Sost. We can see the difference.

Transparency, accountability, plurality of views, consenus, self-reliance, innvotion, concern for the disadvantaged groups, networking and partnership building, these were of the principles and values KADO continuous to promote, definitely with no 100% success, but the quest for a a democratic society providing equal opportunity to all, continues.

In the last AGM on the 10th August, KADO carved new strategy for the future: scaling up its strategic focus in the coming 5 years by creating new subsidiaries able to create joint ventures with international partners for economic growth, social entrepreneurship and creating more opportunities for the educated youth using ICTs in the knowledge society.

It was also agreed in principle to revamp the membership base and a board committee was formed to look for broadening the membership base making the organization and its services more inclusive and open to new interests.

Amin Beg
ex-staff of KADO and currently AGM member

Since Amin Bhai has contibuted to this thread in his professional and intellectual style, I cant wait to say a few words about this giant who has been one of the backbones of KADO. At the time of my affiliation with KADO, I was fortunate enough to work with Aming Beg (the then GM). I never realized working under a BOSS rather a good teacher and a human being who inspires. I have learnt a lot from him that is why I have great respect for him. Another person who inspired me by his selfless dedication was Dr. Khawaja Khan (The then Chairman). I think that both of them have done an exmaplary work. Besides these visionary leaders, I must say that the BOD and AGM has been so supportive and cooperative all the time. I still remember the heated debates and discussions intended for the development of the area.

Said that, as mentioned by Amin Bhai, this organization has a lot to achieve in the years ahead. The good thing is that all decision makers are local and that makes a difference when it comes to governance. By the way, KADO is the organization which has not only acquired capacities in good governance but has also imparted training to other organizations in Baltistan, Diamer, Astore, Gilgit and Ghizer. This can be taken as on success story.

So at this juncture in history, I would say that KADO has a promising and challenging future and I am confident that it will work day in and day out to realize the new strategies and vision in a pragmatic manner.

Sultan

I do agree with Amin Beg, one some points, who served KADO for a long time in a highly effective professional capacity and currently serving in voluntary position. I hope his role as an AGM member is as effective as it was as a professional.

I could see a vivid sense of ownership among all those who have contributed their views honestly and sincerely (most of them ex-staff member of KADO) regarding performance of KADO over a period of a decade.

It is undeniable true to say that KADO has made a significant difference in the lives of people to with whom it has worked directly; those could be found in all the three regions of Hunza valley. Of course with its limited resources as that of any other organization KADO could not have been able to reach to all the deserving communities and individuals for who’s welfare and development it has been established. However, it may not be fair to say that it has served more in one region than other, a person with a more familiarity with KADOs activities would eloquently accept KADOs struggle for a balanced approach in all three regions.

Having said this and taking the words of Amin Beg as representative thoughts of KADOs AGM, one could ask the questions such as:

What are the main reasons for failures?
What is the planning to avoid this kind of failures in future?

Let’s talk a bit more frankly and come out of the niceties of literal values for the sake of more clear to put the point across.

Although KADO is a democratic organization, and as any other democratic organization politics would be and was a major element to decide policies, implementation of programmes and hiring staff members. As being a democratic organization politics could not be avoided at all rather it is an important factor that has to be harnessed towards effective politics by avoiding destructive politics. Politics that I observed and heard about is revolving around three regions of Hunza some times to a point of destruction and sever damages. It is crucial to avoid and reduce regional politics within KADO and should be replaced with principles of democracy as Amin Beg has mentioned “Transparency, accountability, plurality of views, consensus, self-reliance, innovation”. These should not be words on lips rather genuinely implemented

Second most important element is hiring competent, enthusiastic and committed staff members meritocraticlly. Board members could generate the best possible ideas, policies and a visionary programme, but it has to been implemented by staff. Staff members are implementers of the board vision same as tools in the hand of a skilled carpenter or any technician. There should not be any compromise or politics at the cost of quality human resources. No matter how skilled is the technician if he will not have proportionately effective tools and technology he could not produce a desired product. So it is highly desired to create the right balance between strength and capabilities of staff and board to achieve the desired objectives of KADO avoid all sought of politics and with single objectives of having competent staff.

I hope with the awareness of the weaknesses, challenge and opportunity as expressed by Amin Beg and by getting the right people with right capabilities KADO will progress faster to meet the expectation of the many people in Hunza.

Abbas Ali
AKU-ISMC, London

While we respect the views and perceptions of Safaid Posh ( i hope the ‘posh’ is not a family name here like Javed Posh!!), there are some lessons for KADO and other CSOs in what he/she has described in the posting above:

i) KADO needs to really communicate to the larger audience using conventional and non-conventional communication tools to what it is standing for and what its achievements/non-achievements are;

ii) Civil society organizations like KADO who are involved in delivering public good, have limitations; finance, outreach, relevance, efficiency and effectiveness are major challenges the volunteers and professional staff need to constantly strive for. However these initiatives are not a replacement of the government, public representatives or the private sector. They have to play their due role in delivering public good, and the youth and the public need to act as watchdogs in this regard;

iii) Projects and programs are by definition time and resource-bound. They have to end. but the important thing is its effects and impact remains and is internalized either by the market forces, or the communities and the government.

iv) To err is human, and institutions also make mistakes because these are concieved and run by people. Important point is to learn from mistakes and move ahead.

Amin Beg

KADO was the first institutional attempt by the people of Hunza to set themselves free from NGOs headed, operated and run by people from outside our region. The reality that KADO has successfully completed a decade of its existence indicates the capability, competence and above all the willingness of our people to take their own destiny in their own hands. KADO’s success story tells us a bit about the role of board members who apparently took good policy-decisions and it also tells us something about the members of the staff who worked with dedication and enthusiasm, as voiced above in some of the comments from former employees of KADO. Setting aside power-struggles, scramble for scare resources and regional politics; I think achievements of KADO as a successful, genuinely indigenous initiative must really be appreciated.

Since there is a proliferation of NGOs in Hunza I think this is now an occasion to seriously ponder on the their role in our area. Here, I would like to offer some general remarks on this growing culture and mentality of dependency on NGO that has impacted negatively our perceptions about addressing issues of development in Hunza and elsewhere in Giligt-Baltistan. As noted above that the government is the main institutional vehicle through which all social, economic and political issues can be resolved. It must be the responsibility of the government to create appropriate conditions in which business could flourish, jobs and employment opportunities could emerge, issues of health and education are addressed. NGOs are merely there to supplement the efforts of the government. As a matter of fact, all NGOs are transitory, temporary and auxiliary elements in society. They can never replace the government.

Although we are fond of categorising NGOs as part of the civil society and we expect them to behave as if they are the ultimate source of solution to our problems. No they are not. A robust civil society is the space where people enter into a social contract and enact a covenant to which they surrender their liberties in the hope of managing their affairs. Now independent associations, based on shared interests seek to monitor the system of laws that has been in place to govern their lives. NGOs in our area so far have never performed such a task. They have presented and behaved like corporate bodies without accountability to the people whom they serve. KADO may well have distinguished itself by trying to focus on the disadvantaged members of the community in Hunza and attempted to boost local entrepreneurial potential but in the end this organisation remains accountable to its foreign patrons: in this case Swiss Development Corporation SDC. The idea is not that KADO and others must not be accountable to their donors at all but the point is that NGO don’t care if the community is well-served or not, for the very simple reason that they are not really answerable to the community in question.

While we recognise that Hunza and surrounding valleys have recently seen a transition from traditional, subsistence and agrarian-economy to an economic system that is based on the concept of free-market, we cannot resist pointing out that this transition has been haphazard and ill-planned. The market is already there, alive and well. We have got private businesses, shops, buyers and sellers, exporters and importers and all the trappings of a market-based economy. But it is sadly noted that we don’t have an appropriate legal mechanism, an efficient and a just governance system in place. Economic growth and development takes place not just because of intervention of a cluster of NGOs but certainly because of the enabling conditions that include rule of law, processes of legislation, and development of healthy norms and above all a fair chance for everybody to succeed.

Remember the recent judicial battles and subsequent abuse of power by Ghazanfer and his sons in Sost Dry Port episode. Had we a strong and effective judicial system, impeccable bureaucratic structure and a vibrant civil society then no one could ever have dared to abuse the rights of poor people not only in Dry Port but elsewhere as well. Now I think all of this boils down to our quest for the need to have a government of our choice in place.