Masood Ul Mulk

Masood Ul Mulk (Urdu: مسود الملک) is a leading Pakistani expert on humanitarian aid and a renowned development practitioner. He is the CEO of SRSP, the largest NGO working to alleviate poverty in north-west Pakistan.^[1][2]

Background and education

Masood hails from Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He is the son of Shahzada Khush Ahmed Ul Mulk and the grandson of H.H Sir Shuja Ul Mulk,^[3][4] the former ruler/mehtar of the Princely State of Chitral.^[5][6][7][8] Masood is the son in law of veteran politician Shahzada Mohiuddin.^[9]

Masood pursued academic studies and professional courses from Lawrence College, Wye College, University of York, American University, the World Bank and IMF, Washington. He has also been a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, US.^[10][11][12]

Career

Masood has served in the development field for over 20 years. While serving as the Regional Programme Manager for the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) in Chitral his developmental work for the area manifested in social organization, women’s development, natural resource management, physical infrastructure development, human resource development, enterprise promotion, and provision of credit and savings services.^[13][14] He also introduced a micro-hydro power system ^[15][16] that supplied electricity to about 175,000 people in over 110 villages, and won the organisation an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy (2004).^[17][18]

Since 2001, Masood has been leading the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), the organisation set up by Sitara-i-Imtiaz recipient and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Shoaib Sultan Khan.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24]} SRSP is part of the Rural Support Programmes (RSPs), which are working with 32 million people across the country.^[25][26] Masood led SRSP’s relief and reconstruction work following the 2005 earthquake,^[27] 2009 Swat Valley conflict and 2010 floods,^{[28][29][30][31]} and worked closely with civil and military authorities. Given the technical difficulties and social resistance faced by international non-governmental organization's (INGO) and multilateral organisations, their ability to deliver on ground was restricted, more so after September 11 attacks. Foreign aid to Pakistan has been fraught with problems for many years, facing charges of politicization, corruption, and ulterior motives.^[32] Hence a very high proportion of the international developmental, humanitarian and relief aid to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had to flow through SRSP. Masood has combined innovative techniques with aboriginal ones to make sure that the aid reaches those in need.^[33] He endorses the view that at times of austerity and destabilising socio-economic and political conditions, a holistic approach to international development is required.^[34] At the core of his approach is the compelling idea that downward accountability is as important as upward accountability. He believes that amongst development approaches undertaken in developing countries, the most successful involve targeting the population as stakeholders in the development initiative.^[35]

Following the earthquake of 2005 Masood oversaw the phenomenal relief work of SRSP followed by its reconstruction of 62,000 houses. The multimillion dollar project was funded by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund ^[36] and continues to be one of the largest of its kind anywhere in the world.^[37][38]

He was part of the five-member United Nations, government and humanitarian team that led the 2009 United Nations Humanitarian Appeal for Internally Displaced Persons.^[39][40][41] While doing so he also headed SRSP's humanitarian assistance, reaching out to 3.5 million IDP's, providing transportation, accommodation, food items and medical services. Masood was invited to represent the Pakistani Civil Society in 2009 as one of the speakers at the Presidency where the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan had organised a function to honour those who had worked for the IDPs.^[42][43] He was among a select gathering of international donors, NGO's and civil society representatives who were honoured by the President for their efforts and contributions.^[44]

During the 2010 floods Masood spearheaded SRSP’s humanitarian and relief assistance to hundreds of thousands in distress.^[45] The immediate reflexive actions were followed by more protracted and deliberate efforts to rebuild community infrastructure throughout KP,^[46][47] where they had been damaged by the floods.^{[48][49][50][51]}

In 2015 under Masood’s care,^[52] SRSP won the Ashden Award for Increasing Energy Access, for its work with communities living in one of the world’s most remote, dangerous and inhospitable environments.^[53] The Sarhad Rural Support Programme had constructed 189 village micro-hydro schemes and brought inexpensive, clean and renewable energy to around 365,000 people in the area,^[54] spread over 28,000 kilometres.^[55] With the aim of crossing the 1 million figure.^{[56][57][58][59]}

As the Chief Executive of SRSP Masood has over the years presided over many locally and internationally funded projects. Among those he has overseen include the Bacha Khan Poverty Alleviation Program (BKPAP),^[60]which was funded by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,^[61] the Programme for Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment (PEACE),^[62][63][64] and Community Driven Local Development (CDLD),^[65][66] which were funded by the European Union. The community organisations behind projects like these are essentially incubators for democratic values and democratic development.^[67]

In his private capacity Masood has been a consultant for Department for International Development, Sustainable Development Commission, United Nations Development Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation,^[68] International Fund for Agricultural Development and International Institute for Environment and Development.^[69]

Masood has lectured at various forums including, Lahore University of Management Sciences, the Civil Services Academy of Pakistan Lahore as well as several universities across Canada. He has also delivered lectures at the University of Cambridge,^{[70][71][72][73]} The Pakistan Society in London ^[74][75] and WANA forum in Jordan.^[76]

Masood has served on the boards of various organisations including:

• AKH Resource Center ^[10]
• Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN) ^[77]
• The United States Education Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) ^[78][79]
• Provincial Steering Committees of Essential Institutional Reform Project of Government of NWFP
• Steering Committee of Tropical Forestry Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2002 to 2006)
• National Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Pakistan Micro Finance Network (2001 to 2007)
• Langlands School and College ^[80]
• International Network of Alternative Financial Institutions (INAFI Asia) ^[81]

Publications

• Personalising Development: Policies, Processes and Institutions for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods
• The Inter-Group Resource Book-FAO
• Ending Poverty in South Asia: Ideas that Work
• Sustainable Mountain Agriculture. 2. Strategies and Innovative Approaches
• Pakistan Horizon, Volume 59, Issues 3–4
• Lessons on Sustaining Communities and Forests from The Small Grants Programme for Operations to Promote Tropical Forests

References