The Association for the Development of Pakistan (ADP) is a non-profit organization with a mission to enhance the lives of the poor, neglected and underprivileged of Pakistan by providing support for carefully selected social development projects in a range of sectors including infrastructure, environment, healthcare, education, gender equality, labor and food rights.
ADP is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and has local chapters in California and Washington DC. ADP is recognized as a 501 (c) non-profit by the Internal Revenue Service.
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The ADP is a volunteer driven engaged philanthropy organization that funds carefully selected development projects run by local NGOs in Pakistan.
The two basic pillars that support ADP’s business ideology revolve around engaged philanthropy and the efforts of its wide base of volunteers around the globe.
Engaged philanthropy Derived from the concept of social enterprising, the funds as generated via the platform of ADP are channeled into projects that promise returns upon the investment in terms of benefit to the society and the stakeholders involved. ADP goes beyond traditional charity to rigorously select only those initiatives that are likely to yield a significant, measurable and sustainable social return. This implies that the charity projects are viewed with a business perspective and the returns are gauged as a measure of the project to not only continue benefitting the targeted audience but also sustain itself.
Volunteer-driven ADP has a minimal permanent workforce and is largely driven by the involvement of highly educated volunteers in evaluating and monitoring NGO projects. These volunteers are placed globally in distinct countries and communicate in a virtual environment as facilitated by technological correspondence.
Empower volunteers to identify and support the most promising small-scale development initiatives in Pakistan.
The projects are gauged according to predetermined criteria that assess the proposed project along key dimensions
Critical Need The project addresses a major hardship or threat to the community (e.g. sanitation, health) and/or a crucial element of the poverty cycle (e.g. education, lack of access to capital) that is currently not being adequately addressed.
Social Return The project is a cost effective solution for tackling the need identified above and presents a high social return compared to other available solutions.
Measurability Ability to measure impact by establishing specific metrics for the project which will give a reasonable indication of the impact created by the project. These metrics should measure impact, and not just whether elements of the project were successfully executed.
Sustainability In a country as impoverished as Pakistan, the poor often rely on charity for their day-to-day subsistence. Given the widespread opportunities for charitable giving at an individual level, ADP focuses its limited resources on projects that can create a lasting impact. We evaluate projects along two dimensions of sustainability: 1) whether the impact will last beyond the duration of our funding (e.g. a vocational training workshop), and 2) whether the project itself is sustainable. The second dimension is often the most challenging, but our best projects will achieve it by becoming self-funding (e.g. certain micro-credit schemes) or have a clear path from our “seed” funding to longer-term financial support.
Credibility ADP places a lot of weight on the credibility and quality of the people with whom we are partnering. There are three aspects of the organization that are evaluated:
1)Responsiveness: The NGO should be responsive in communication with ADP, in addition to taking ownership of the project and being eager to implement it.
2)Capability: The NGO should have a track record suggesting that they have the ability to successfully execute the project under review. Does the organization have the leadership and personnel to fulfill the objectives of the project? Were the field officers and local directors of the organization familiar / interacting with the beneficiaries of the project? Did you find the staff knowledgeable on the subject area and what were your overall impressions? In general, we have found that NGOs that are more focused on a particular problem are the best long-term partners for ADP.
3)Integrity: The partner must be trustworthy and completely transparent. This is often a qualitative assessment based on interactions, a review of historical financials, as well as reference checks and site visits.
Project Proposal Submission
The process of choosing the projects to support is incredibly participatory with all eligible members having an equal say. Usually projects come to ADP members' attention through proposals submitted via the ADP website, or through ADP partner NGOs in Pakistan. In addition, the volunteers may actively submit their feedback from the field in the attempts to cater to an immediate need that may require attention.
Screening the Proposal
Once a proposal is submitted, it is screened for a potential match. The proposal is screened by Evaluation Committee (EC) members, who believe the project merits a closer look. Most serious proposals are assigned a Project Champion (PC), a volunteer, who is the liaison between the ADP members and the NGO. The PC posts the proposal to the online ADP forums whilst making a case for funding the project. Members submit questions and comments to the forum.
Due Diligence
After the screening, the Project Team Leader (PTL) and Volunteer Manager (VM) assign volunteers and initiate them on the project.
The volunteers receive a completed Project Proposal and the names and e-mail addresses of their team members from the VM along with a filled out project Screening Checklist with a list of questions put together by the project screener.
The goal of the Project Team is to gather information to complete the Project Summary form for the First Presentation to the Evaluation Committee. The Project Team is given up to 3 weeks to complete this phase.
After the phase is completed, the Project Team is required to present the project to the PEC (Permanent Evaluation Committee) and EC. This essentially encompasses the initial investigation as carried out by the Project Team along with presentation of recommendations (positive or negative) on the project. The PEC/EC reviews the findings, helps the Project Team think about the issues and outlines further work that may need to get done.
Final Decision
Based on feedback of the meeting and comments posted on the forum, the PC then decides whether or not to ask for a formal vote on the project. In the event of a vote, all eligible members of the EC are asked to post their vote online publicly with a rationale for their vote. If the membership approves the project, the PC then completes final logistical details such as the contract and funding details.
Post-Funding Monitoring
After the decision is taken, each Project Team appoints an individual who is assigned the responsibility for monitoring the project through its life-cycle.
The Project Team maintains regular contact with the NGO to keep track of metrics and ensure that project implementation is reaching milestones and also ensures approval of subsequent tiered funding based on project reaching milestones.
Volunteering at ADP includes being involved in either of the varying volunteer roles that facilitate catering to the larger objectives of the organization. Volunteer activities at ADP usually pertain to identifying, evaluating and executing quality projects as well as raising funds to finance the same. This allows the volunteers to learn first-hand about development issues, while contributing higher-level skills and intellect. The volunteer roles can be classified into specialized categories
Fundraising
As implied by the role title, the function involves seeking the cooperation of corporate donors and foundations, organizing fundraising events or engaging in any other form of events that may aid in raising money to fund the projects as supported by ADP.
Marketing
The marketing function at ADP primarily focuses on creating awareness about the organization and its activities. The activities encompassed by the area of specialization include writing articles, designing brochures/pamphlets or making videos or documentaries on ADP. The objective of these activities is to enable the donors to critically analyze ADP’s activities and justify their investment s as being channeled towards worthy causes.
Project Evaluation
Volunteers may choose to participate in project evaluation as either project team members or as members of the evaluation committee. The requirement as demanded by volunteers of this category is the assessment of a project proposal and determining whether its worthy of being funded or not. The volunteers decide whether any given proposal meets ADP’s criteria for feasibility, sustainability and gross output. The decision is then made on the recommendations as put forth by the volunteers. If the volunteers in this area are part of the Evaluation Committee, their roles demand screening proposals prior to detailed evaluation, analyzing due-diligence done by project teams, providing feedback to project teams and voting on project funding.
Project Monitoring
In the attempts to ensure sincere implementation of the project proposal and channeling of funds in the desired manner, the volunteers who opt for project monitoring help monitor ADP projects by visiting project locations on ground. As a site visit volunteer, one is required to travel to specific project locations on ADP’s behalf on fact-finding missions, investigating specific questions and issues related to that project.
Project Solicitation
Playing an integral role in the project proposal process, volunteers who choose to be part of the Project Solicitation team are asked to help ADP find projects and organizations which they believe deserve funding. Project solicitation is the means of identifying quality projects; it may be organization-centered or problem-centered. For organization-centered sourcing, volunteers actively engage with local nonprofits to not only market ADP as a funding resource for innovative projects but also work with them to fine-tune their proposals to ADP’s criteria. Moreover, by visiting local NGOs, volunteers gauge the competency of the staff and enquire about their previous projects, donor trends, future undertakings etc. For problem-centered sourcing, volunteers choose a development area of interest or expertise (e.g. potable water, alternative energy, waste management, remote learning etc.) and investigate ways for ADP to get involved, including possible solutions and potential local partners.
ADP members raise funds, primarily in the US, to financially support social development projects in Pakistan that meet its criteria. ADP chapters raise funds from Pakistanis in their communities; non-Pakistanis interested in Pakistani development; and corporate foundations/institutions.
ADP was incorporated as a Non-Profit Organization in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in May 2003. The non-profit's Federal Tax ID number is 20-0022158. ADP is also registered as a public charity with the Attorney General of Massachusetts.
All donations to ADP are exempt from federal income tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as a non-profit organization described in section 501(c)(3).
After the October 8, 2005 earthquake that struck Northern Pakistan, ADP reacted quickly to raise significant funds for immediate relief as well as long term redevelopment. Considered to be one of the most successful grassroots fundraising efforts, the organization grew manyfold in both donations, and number of members immediately after the earthquake. Its success in responding to the tragedy resulted in ADP being the subject of several news stories by such organizations as the Boston Globe and BBC. According to its website, ADP raised more than $400,000 for earthquake relief in less than two months.
1. Cataract Surgeries Equipment at the Layton Rehmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT)[1] hospital in Mansehra. This project is now in post implementation monitoring mode. [2]
2. Funding for Primary School in Kharo Chan, Thatta District of Sindh
Kharo Chan is located about 230km east of Karachi, a coastal area situated in the Indus River Delta. It is a collection of villages along the coast, with a population of 37,363. Survey data indicates that 26% of the population is educated, 85% of which have below primary level education.
This project was implemented with partner organization Action for Humanitarian Development (AHD). [3]