LIST OF ACRONYMS:
AKRSP Aga Khan Rural Support Program
VOs Village Organizations
WOs Women organizations
NAC Northern Areas and Chitral
SOs Social Organizations
MACP Mountain Area Conservancy Project
CIDA Canadian Institutional Development Agency
NRM Natural Resource Management
FMU Field Management Unit
AKDN Aga Khan Development Network
VBIs Village Based Institutions
VBOs Village Based Organizations
PM Program Manager
RPMs Regional Program Managers
GaD Gender and Development
MIES Mountain Infrastructure and Engineering Service
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Aga Khan Rural Support Programs is a private and non-government organization established by Aga Khan Foundation. In its 29 year of operation continues to be an effective instrument to improve the quality of life through income generation, skill development and technical training of the communities in Northern Areas and Chitral, and the welfare of families in these communities. This has resulted from its interventions in productive investment, productive-support investments, such as access road, training and financial and technical services. A key element has been institutional development at the village level: Village Organizations (VOs) and Women Organizations (WOs): which has provided the framework to organize the energies of community members to avail themselves of outside assistance as well as to direct their own resources into more productive endeavors. AKRSP has demonstrated that and external agent can facilitate the organization of communities to develop their own self-help capability, provided that agent has the appropriate strategy and the facilities and staff to implement it effectively.
The approach that has been articulated by the AKRSP to achieve its objectives is instilled from the experience of agriculture cooperative movement in Europe and Asia (including Scandinavia, Japan and South Korea). The key feature of this approach is the insistence that small farmers organize themselves into based, multi-purpose village organizations (VOs) and Women Organizations (WOs) to overcome poverty. The second approach of AKRSP is that farmers must submit to discipline of contribution to collective savings.
The underlying theme of AKRSP support to community base gross unit’s development in the NAC is to build capacity of the local people to sustain and improve the quality of their lives. The instrument through which the AKRSP implemented its development programs at the village level is the village organizations (VOs) and women organizations (WOs).
AKRSP offers different development programs for the betterment of the people of NAC that include Social Organizations, Gender Development, Micro-Finance and enterprise development coordinated with government departments like Local Administration, Agriculture, Forestry, livestock and National Agriculture Research Council Islamabad and other national and international NGOs that include IUCN, MACP, CABI bio-Science International and WWF.
AKRSP has three principle objectives, income generation, developing institutional and technical models for equitable development and developing long-term strategies for productive management of natural resources. Average household income appears to have almost double in real terms during the program implementation period. The basic production system of most households which is a minimum of agriculture/livestock production and off-farm often non-agricultural, use of the family labor has not changed. However, agriculture is still usually the major source of household income and improvements in agriculture have made a major contribution to income improvement. AKRSP has been partner in this agricultural development. AKRSP help the communities to enhance the supply of irrigation water, this as been important for the expansion of cash crops such as fruit trees and vegetables, but also for forestry which has a longer term benefit and for alfalfa as a fodder crop for livestock production. Credit has been made easily accessible so that households have been able to purchase more production inputs and hold their produce to gain higher prices. The women members of households have benefited from special programs through WOs, including vegetable and small-scale poultry production and have realized a degree of independence by having their own personal savings accounts. AKRSP aims at providing equal opportunities to all women. Illiteracy and religious and culture factors inhibits change in the traditional role of women, more so in some location than others, and the program has to e realistic in estimating the pace at which change can be achieved.
With natural resources the staff attention concentrate on the drive towards achieving strategic focus of NRM related activities to ensuring meaningful community involvement in resource management and conservation effort. The operational strategy devised to this end to seek to encourage to local communities to effectively evolve a balance between growth and conservation efforts. To manage the natural resources AKRSP has introduced new technologies in fruit vegetables, tomatoes and forestry and significant advances have been made in animal health and poultry production. Recent initiatives have attempted to make the program more responsive to local needs by decentralizing it to the regions and ultimately to Field Management Units (FMU).
Traditionally personnel management was viewed largely as involving the performance of the certain basic personnel functions such as selection, training and compensation. Human Resource Management as it is practiced today represents a system approach. This recognizes the dynamic interaction of personnel with each other and with the objectives of the organization. The formulation of personnel policy is a continuous one that responds to the development needs of the organization. A business policy was developed and approved by the board of directors in April 1996. In November 1996 certain part of the policy manual was revised and subsequently approved by the board of directors.
Immediate supervisors shall ensure that all full time employees have read the manual and understood. A certificate shall be obtained from each employee with employee’s confirmation that he/she is fully agreed to the terms and conditions of the organization. AKRSP employs thee type of employees; full time employees, part time employees and daily wagers.
Recruitment in AKRSP shall be based on merit. There shall not be any discrimination on racial ethnic base and religion. Preference shall be given to existing employees for professional and managerial vacancies provided that he posses the required qualification and experience. All individuals employed against full time positions shall have to be through a period of probation unless specifically exempted by the board/general manager.
The place of work of and employee shall be specified in his contract of employment. Individual selected for full time employment shall have to undergo a medical examination by a doctor specified by the AKRSP. Full time employees are entitled to many benefits like Provident Fund, Life and Accident Insurance, Out-payment Medical Allowance, Hospitalization Facilities, Personnel Loans and Salary Review etc.
Some important achievements of AKRSP are Poverty Alleviation Projects, Shubinak Project, Gender and Development, Power Generation Projects, Irrigation Channels, Infrastructure Projects, Enterprise Development Mountain and Fruit Limited. In 2004, AKRSP won the ASHDEN AWARD which caused world wide recognition of AKRSP.
AKRSP has made a major contribution in Human Resource Development through its training programs. The concept of training villagers in specific fields so that these individuals will continue to provide services within their communities has been a key element in the AKRSP strategy. Another important aspect of human resource development relates to the training of AKRSP staff. It has been the policy of the institution to recruit local staff to the minimum extent possible.
The human resource committee which consists of three regional program managers, HRM and finance managers meet seven times during the year. Other staff members participate in the committee on an invitation. The members of this committee discuss the main issues of community and decide the project in the community. For project feasibility; the project must be the felt need of the community. The project must be freed from mutual conflicts. 25% of the total cost of the project should be financed by the V/WOs of the community. The project committee will arrange labor and material for the project. The community will be bound to establish a maintenance fund for any AKRSP assisted project.
During my internship I learned the functions of accounting department and the responsibilities of social organizers and mobilizers working with them in the communities.
Accounting Department of AKRSP is fully computerized and well maintained. Books maintained by AKRSP are Bank book and Cash Book. The accounting department performs different activities like transaction records, distribution of cash, records of sales. In addition, AKRSP gives staff loans to the members of its staff for one year and could be 12 installments to the month’s pay. All the accounts of AKRSP are sent to Karachi for audit where Rhods Robben, Marrow and Co chartered accountant Karachi audits the accounts of AKRSP.
However, not all of the activities of the program have been equally successful and major adjustments need to be made to improve the effectiveness of some development instruments. Also the persistence of the typical household economy model, in which nearly half of the income is not farm related, emphasizes the need to examine longer-term prospects and opportunities in designing support strategies. AKRSP has opportunities to promote development programs by coordinating with other NGOs working within the area and there is very low literacy in Chitral due to scarcity of educational facilities, therefore, AKRSP can play an important role in this field.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION:
The Aga Khan Rural Support Program is a private and Non government Organization established by Aga Khan Foundation to help improve the quality of life of the people in Northern Areas and Chitral. It was established in 1982 as a part of AKDN and started is operations in Chitral in 1983 with a mandate to focus in income generation in collaboration with government departments, elected bodies, National and International development agencies and commercial institutions. Although AKRSP’s own emphasis is on income generation, it is also expected to assist other agencies in promoting social sectors program. AKRSP is expected to act as a catalyst for rural development organizing resources so that the organization itself can gain progressively with from the project area as local structures gradually evolve to sustain the development process. AKRSP is Non commercial organization working with all the people of its project area and recruiting its staff from among Pakistani Professionals of the highest caliber. AKRSP retains a major part in rural development all over the country and make intellectual contributions by participating in various government agencies on development and providing training to staff of other agencies seeking to similar development activities. OBJECTIVES OF AKRSP AKRSP operates in an environment where it acts as a catalyst to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of Northern Pakistan. AKRSP’s specific objectives have been formulated to compliment and supplement the activities of government as well as other development organizations and agencies. AKRSP has three principle objectives: 1. Income generation and improving the quality of life of the people of remote and backward areas in Northern Pakistan. 2. Developing institutional and technical models for equitable development. 3. Developing long-term strategies for productive management of natural resources in areas of Northern Pakistan.
MISSION OF AKRSP:
Poverty Reduction through sustainable improvement in the livelihood of mountain communities of NAC. AKRSP has launched major research program to conduct theoretical and implied work on poverty, equity and livelihood dynamic issues.
General poverty alleviation at the household in community group and specific targeting of the poorest of the poor are two distinct issues, and AKRSP is engaged to overcome the issues and problems well since 1983 and succeeded in this regard but still AKRSP realize that much more remains to be done for the mountainous communities of NAC.
AKRSP is best known for its efforts to foster the development of village based institutions (VBIs) and build up their capacities to become active and effective partners in development process. AKRSP is busy in facilitating and supporting the mountain peoples in the process of development by organizing rural people a broad based platform to harness their collective potentials and capabilities by making various village based organizations (VBOs).
BOARD OF DIRECTORS: * Mr. Ali Noormahomed Rattansey Chairman * Mr. Thomas Joseph Gerald Austin Member * Mr. Azizuddin Shamsher Ali Boolani Member * Mr. Hussain S. Tejany Member * Mr. Shoaib Sultan Khan Member * Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qureshi Member * Mr. Afzal Ali Shigri Member * Dr. Karim Ali Bhai Member * Ms. Shandana Khan Member * Ms. Shazreh Hussain Member * Ms. Nusrat Nasab Member * Mr. Ghulam Tahir Member * Dr. Inayatullah Faizi Member * Mr. Saeedullah Jan Member * Ms. Shamsah Valli Mohammad Member * Dr. Rozina Karmaliani Member * Mr. Sohail G. Khoja Member * Mr. Izhar Ali Hunzai Ex Officio Member/GM
APPROACHES:
The approach that has been articulated by the AKRSP to achieve its objectives is instilled from the experience of agriculture cooperative movement in Europe and Asia (including Scandinavia, Japan and South Korea). The key feature of this approach is the insistence that small former organize themselves into based, multi-purpose village organizations (VOs) women organizations (WOs) to overcome the handicaps of their substance making and monitoring progress. The second principle of AKRSP’s approach is that farmer must submit to discipline of contribution to collective savings, made at each meeting base these savings on contribution. Record of individual contributions ore kept and all the member to participate in activities of V/WOs. The third principle is that farmers need to upgrade their skills in order to undertake development activities. V/WOs set development objectives. The village specialists provide services to V/WOs members in return for a free determined by the V/WOs.
STRATEGIES:
The underlying theme of AKRSP support to community base gross unit’s development in the NAC is to build capacity of the local people to sustain and improve the quality of their lives. From time to time AKRSP brings changes in its strategies according to the needs and requirements of mountainous communities of Chitral. Now AKRSP initiated its new program the institutional development program for the poverty reduction (IDPPR) funded by the Canadian International development Agency (CIDA) the last quarter of 2004. The new strategy aims at institutional development through providing the communities with technical experience in order to accelerate persisting poverty and gender inequalities in Chitral.
The success of AKRSP is well documented and evident from its all pervading influence on the majority population living in the NAC and the proliferation of similar rural support programs in Pakistan and elsewhere that have emulated its approach. AKRSP’s unique contributions include generating the community spirit for self-help integrating women in all its development initiatives shaping as informed and increasingly confident civil society in NAC and providing inspiration to other development actors notably government to pursue inclusive development policies and workable approaches. In this sense AKRSP has played a unique rule in the transformation of NAC and by example demonstrated the potential for the rest of Pakistan.
Still many challenges remain. Incomes in the North are still well below the national average. Gender inequalities and insensitivity persisting. Growing population pressure, continued isolation, lack of five energy and income generating opportunities and other development constraints at the macro level are continuing challenges that call for a broader approaches and new partnerships with government, civil society organizations, private sectors and global initiatives.
IMPLEMENTATION:
The instrument through which the AKRSP implemented its development programs at the village level is the Village Organizations (VOs) and Women Organizations (WOs). The V/WOs are a coalition of a village whose common economic interest is best served by organization as an interest group. AKRSP maintains that stagnation in substance farming can be overcome by insisting in the individual and jointly managed stock of physical capital in villages. The village organization is formed around an infrastructure project that villagers feel will unleash their income the project is offered as a grant by the V/WOs members commit themselves to the discipline of the organization and collective savings and the V/WOs commit itself to implement the project. The project serves as an entry point for a wide range of development activities that are undertaken jointly by AKRSP and the V/WOs.
The micro finance program helps to improve basic financial management skills to village communities and also help in developing financial system to meet the credit needs of village based institutions.
The strategy followed is derived from the mountain farmer’s approach to mountain land use which consists of an integration of crop production, horticulture, livestock, farming and farm forestry spread over a wide vertically distributed range from high altitude pastures to valley based crops fields. All available biomes are utilized within the same system. AKRSP programs consist of multi-pronged efforts to improve cereal and fodder crops. Fronts and productive land is viewed as an integrated resource.
THE PROGRAMS OF AKRSP: 1. SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS: AKRSP enters into a partnership for development with villagers of its project area in the return for the demonstrated commitment to establish village organizations or women organizations rely on them as the primary vehicles for village development. On behalf of AKRSP the task of helping from village and women organization is undertaken by field base staff whose interest on regular bases with village women organizations to promote cooperative endeavor, encourage the accumulation of capital, upgrade managerial skill and identify activities for development.

2. GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT: The methodology for gender development introduced by the AKRSP appears to have taken roots. The visible success of the village organization have encouraged women in the project area to form their own organizations collect savings and hold regular meetings and seek development assistance from AKRSP to increase their income. It goes to the credit of village women that they have taken the initiatives and form women organizations before seeking AKRSP. The grant being an investment in organizations the villagers undertaken the responsibility to implement and maintain the project. The villagers for village organization implement the entire scheme. AKRSP provided technical guidance where necessary. 3. MICRO FINANCE: AKRSP’s micro finance program demonstrates the ability of small farmers to accumulate capital through discipline and regular savings, however, small. The program also enables farmers to overcome the limitations of scale by contributing their savings into a joined village and women organization’s pool for use as equity capital, regular contribution by the members to collective V/WO’s saving is one of the cardinal principles of AKRSP. The micro finance program encourages gradual accumulation of capital. More often, they use the savings as collateral to obtain credit for development activities.

4. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT:
The objectives of the enterprise development are to support on-farm and off-farm entrepreneurial activities by import substitution and export promotion of goods and services in terms of their values. 5. LINKAGES:
Active linkages are formed with other NGOs and government departments to share experiences and technical expertise and also avoid duplication.
AKRSP Chitral has coordination with the following agencies both at local and national level.
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT: * Local Administration. * Agriculture. * Forestry. * Livestock. * National Agriculture Research council Islamabad. * Pakistan Forest Institute Peshawar. * Project for Horticulture Promotion Swat. * Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department. * Universities.

AGA KHAN DEVELOPMENT NETWORK: * Aga Khan Health Services. * Aga Khan Educational Services. * Aga Khan Planning and Building Services.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NGOs: * Sarhad Provincial conservation Strategy. * Mountain Area Conservancy Project. * CABI bioscience International. * WWF.
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT:
The past 29 years have witnessed concerted AKRSP intervention and activities in agriculture, livestock and factory sectors collaboration with community organizations. Sometimes there has been growing realization of inadequacies in the traditional individual sectors specific approach to address border and more complex issues arising out the greater dependent rapidly in the dwindling of natural resource base with associated long-term implications such environmental degradation necessitated a shift in AKRSP’s programming strategy. A uniformed and integrated approach to natural resources management was thus introduced in an attempt to take into account the wider perspective in which sector specific activities take place. The shift in strategy prompted different policy responses from the three regions. Chitral regional decided to continue with much the same organizational set up as before. Gilgit region pressed ahead with the merging of three ALF (Agriculture, livestock and forestry) sections into natural resourced management sections. In Baltistan, a unit by the same wing for analysis of resources came into being to conduct and promote research on integrated natural resources management issues.
OPERANTIONAL SRATEGY:
With necessary changes in organizational management in place, staff attention concentrate on the drive towards achieving strategic focus of NRM related activities to ensuring meaningful community involvement in resource management and conservation effort. The operational strategy devised to this end to seek to encourage to local communities to effectively evolve a balance between growth and conservation efforts. In addition, the scope of further development of linkages with national and international research institutions will be explored to introduce innovative scientific technologies and prompt relevant research to natural resource management in the program area. For this purpose of experimentation with new strategy NRM sites have been set up in selected villages of program area. These sites are being utilized to test and packages in integrated natural resource management as for as for conducting applied research.
AGRICULTURE:
Rapidly growing population coupled with continuous fragmentation of land resources intensified the pressure to produce more and better quality agriculture output for both human and animal consumption. To this end activities in various agriculture subsectors continued in the year under review.
FRUITS DEVELOPMENT: Encouragement and support for private fruit nurseries continued with number of new nurseries coming to operation this year. In Chitral collaboration with PHP (project for horticulture promotion) SCD started with the aim to develop a cadre of registered private fruit trees nurseries in the district. Nursery owners were provided training in nursery production practice through workshops and study tours. In addition to establishing new private fruit nurseries owned mainly by women were established during the year under review. AKRSP managed nurseries also continued routine operations.
Additional fruit orchards were established and potential areas for further expansion in the number of orchards identified. Rehabilitation work has also carried out on old private fruit orchards. New varieties of various fruits including apples distributed to V/WOs. Research work on identifying appropriate fruit varieties continued. Work also commenced on discovering possibilities of preservation of non-traditional exotic indigenous fruit species including grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, pears and almonds.
VEGETABLES DEVELOPMENT:
Vegetables production in the northern areas and Chitral has traditionally been considered as being mainly female activity where women cultivate different types of vegetables for domestic consumptions. The primary focus of AKRSP activities in this sector last year was on supporting increased in production of vegetables at the household level not just for consumption but also commercially for income generation particularly for women. A major activity in the year under review was training WO members in the cultural practices of growing different vegetables. New vegetables crops not previously grown including broccoli, cabbage were also introduced for commercial production and which performed remarkably well. In addition, improved quality potato and pea seeds and onion bulbs were also provided to V/WOs. Experiment was also made in the growing of off-seasonal vegetables with the use of low plastic tunnel technology. Initial result turned out to be quite impressive. Practical research associated with the growing of vegetables crops, cauliflowers as well as summer pars. Production similarly trails on fertilizers application and disease control in potatoes were also held.
SPECIALIZED TRAINING:
During the year under review a number of specialized training in various agriculture fields were provided. In addition, constancies on agriculture related topics were also completed.
FORESTRY:
The forestry program witnessed a number of new initiatives along with reformats in its traditional areas of activities. The section describes some of the salient features of the forestry program for previous year.
NURSERY DEVELOPMENT:
To ensure the supply of rooted plants, it was establish nurseries in the private sectors. So far hundreds of nurseries have been established by the V/WOs while AKRSP owned nurseries has mostly been privatized.
LIVESTOCK:
Small animal size, low productivity and fertility rates and high mortality characterized livestock in the northern areas and Chitral. These problems stem out inherent inferior genetic capability, sever climate condition and acute shortage of animal feed in the areas. Livestock section in three regions face continuous challenges in breed improvement and ensuring adequate levels of fodder supply.
BREED IMPROVEMENT: A breed improvement program for cattle and sheep continued and placed emphasis on the development of indigenous breeds adoptable to the local environment. Preference for indigenous of problems arising from the introduction of exotic breeds and cross breeding of local cattle such as increased workloads of women mismanagement due to lack of technical skills and acute feed shortages.
Under the new program “nucleus herd” comprising o cows and bulls will be selected annually at the field office. Data computation and estimation of breeding values at there sites will provide guidelines for developing breed improvement program in future. In addition, animal fairs and shows were arranged to develop further awareness in communities regarding merits of new and better-treed livestock in the program area.
POULTRY DEVELOPMENT:
During the year under review a number of activities were undertaken for poultry development. Local community organizations particularly WOs were mobilizing for commercial poultry training. Checks were brought from down country to meet the growing demands of commercial poultry owners. In addition, technical assistance and incentives like drinkers and feeders as well as management training provided. Support was provided for opening of a large number of brooding centers in commercial poultry farms throughout the program area. Work is currently underway to develop better marketing linkages of these enterprises.
FEED IMPROVEMENT:
Under the feed improvement packages, a large number of silage and urea straw treatment demonstrations were given in the year, as a result of which silage production in V/WOs increased manifold.
Another important activity carried out in the previous year with the regard to feed improvement was construction managers to reduce wastage of fodder and prevent animal diseases arising from the practice of ground feeding.
ANIMAL HEALTH:
The animal vaccination and medication drives continued with in the year past with large number of animals being vaccinated including goats, sheep, cattle and poultry.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Traditionally personnel management was viewed largely as involving the performance of the certain basic personnel functions such as selection, training and compensation. These functions often promoted without much regard for their interrelationship of intended contribution to the organization objectives. In contrast human resource management as it is currently perceived represent the extension rather than the rejection of traditional requirements for managing personnel. Also required the knowledge and understanding the various personnel functions performed in measuring human resources as well as the ability to perform them in accordance with organizational objectives. An awareness of existing economic, social and legal constraints upon the performance of these functions is most essential.
Human resource management as it is practiced today represents a system approach. This recognizes the dynamic interaction of personnel with each other and with the objectives of organization. Most important, it recognizes that human resource planning must be effort in human resource is being directed towards providing more support for the achievement of the organization operating goals.
PERSONNEL POLICY FORMULATION: The formulation of personnel policy is a continuous one that responds to the development needs of the organization. A business policy was developed and approved by the board of directors in April 1996. Since then, it is being implemented across the organization and the human resource section has provided considerable support to the regional office in ensuring that the new policy is understood and implemented. In November 1996, certain part of the policy manual were revised and subsequently approved by the board of directors. All of these issues are clearly explained in order to bring uniformity in personnel system in the organization.

STAFFING:
Almost two hundred people work in AKRSP among which 30% are female staff. Currently AKRSP is planning to reduce its permanent staff up to 40%.
EMPLOYMENT ACCEPTANCE: Immediate supervisors shall ensure that all full time employees have read and fully understood the personnel policy manual. A certificate shall be obtained from each employee along the following lines and placed his personal file. I have read and fully understood AKRSP’s personnel policies manually. I can confirm that the AKRSP‘s personnel policies manual has been fully explained to me. I confirm that I accept and shall abide by;
All the policies set own in the manual along with all procedures and instructions framed there under and;
Any amendment in the policy, procedures and instructions referred to in above, issued from time to time.
Employee Signature …………..
ID No ……………
Date …………….

EMPLOYMENT: Persons employed in AKRSP should aware of the following: Some skills currently need by AKRSP may have to be replaced by new skills in the future as a consequence of changes in the AKRSP’s objectives. AKRSP’s programs are entirely dependent on donor funding.
In view of the above, continuity in employment will depend on the continuing relevance of an individual’s skills to AKRSP’s objectives and on the availability of donor funding.
TYPES OF EMPLOYEES:
FULLY EMPLOYMENT:
Full time employed individual who is performed in full time basis against a vacancy within the strength for full time employees approved by the board.
The salary and other terms and conditions of services of a full time employee are covered by his contract of employment read with the manual and the procedures and the instructions framed there under.
PART TIME EMPLOYMENT: Part time employees and individuals that are employed on a part time basis and their working hours do not exceed four hours per day. The salary and other terms and conditions of services of part time employees are covered by their contract of employment.
DAILY WAGERS: Daily wagers and individual that is hired on a daily wage basis for working of an intermittent nature or for the period of absence of a full time employees. A wager is entitled only to a daily wage, which shall be fixed on the basis of guidelines issued by the core office. Daily wager shall not be hired on daily wages for a continuous period of more than 89 days without a break and for not more than 182 days during any period of twelve consecutive months. Daily wagers may be hired whether direct or through a contractor. If hiring is done through a contractor, then AKRSP shall deal direct with the contractor and not with the individuals working for the contractor.
RECRUITMENT:
1. Recruitment in AKRSP shall be based on merit. There shall not be discrimination on grounds of race, ethnic origin, sex or religion. However, in line with AKRSP’s objectives to improve economic condition in the program area, preferences shall be given to local candidates provided that the criterion of merit is not violated. 2. AKRSP shall not employ any individual who is below 18 years of age. 3. The appointing authorities for recruitment of full time and part time employees as follows.

TYPES | AAPOINTMENT AUTHORITY | Strength all AKRSP recruitment: Direc-F, PM-RPMs. Board. All other in grades 4-9. Daily wages workers. | Board GM PM, FM PM, FM |
Note: - The general manager shall approve recruitment indents before action is initiated. 4. Candidates for full time appointment in grade 4-9 shall have to appear before a selection board which shall recommend appointment to appointing authority. Where the sanctioning authority is the board the selection board shall comprise of 2 board members (nominated by the board), General Manager, Program Manager and Finance Manager (as secretary).
Where the sanctioning authority is the general Manager the selection board shall comprise of Program manager, finance and administration (member/secretary), program manager, relevant regional program manager, immediate supervisor (of the job which is being filled).
EXISTING EMPLOYEES:
Preference shall be given to existing employee for professional and management vacancies provided that they possess the required qualification and experience. Otherwise recruitment shall be through open competition. Under any circumstances AKRSP reserves the right to invite applications candidates are available from within the organization.
PROBATIONERS:
All individuals employed against full time positions shall have to be through a period of probation. Unless specifically exempted by the board/ General Manager.
The probation period for grade 1-3 shall be three months. The probation period may be extended for a maximum of three or six months respectively. If the immediate supervisor and program head/ Regional program manager agree that given the extended period the probationer’s performance is expected to match job requirements.
The immediate supervisor of the probationer’s performance through monthly performance reports and the immediate supervisor in the final performance report endorsed by the program manager / regional program manager. During the probation period AKRSP and the probationer can terminate the contract of employment without notice or payment on lieu thereof.
The provisions of this manual are also applicable to probationers except where specifically stated otherwise.
PLACE OF WORK:
The place of work of an employee shall be specified in his contract of employee however. AKRSP reserves the right to post an employee either temporarily or permanently to work anywhere in Pakistan.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION:
Individual selected for full time employment shall have to undergo a medical examination by a doctor specified by the AKRSP. The cost of this examination shall be borne by AKRSP. Employment of an individual is conditioned on his being declared medically fit for the job.
CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT:
All full time and part time employees shall be required to sign contracts of employment with AKRSP in the form specified by AKRSP. By signing the contract of employment and employees agree to be bound by the terms and conditions contained therein and in this manual.
COMPENSATION GUIDELINE:
The following guidelines have been applied in designing compensation packages for full time employee. Packages shall be competitive with those offered by comparator organization/ or in the open market for individual comparable qualification and competencies.
Terminal benefits scheme shall be in place with the objective if providing employees a reasonable sum or money at the end of their contract period. Financial support to employees depend shall be provided in case of death of an employee while in the service or tin case o a medical crises in the family employee shall be provided financial support to meet special expense e.g. marriage, renovation of house, higher education fees etc through a loan facility compensation shall be linked with job performance. 1. The compensation package shall be reviewed prior to the preparation of AKRSP’s five year plan/ funding proposal based on: * Future manning requirements numbers and skills. * Compensation packages being offered by competitor organization. * Projected availability of donor funding.
SALARY STRUCTURE:
The following criteria have been applied in developing a salary structure: * The type and quality of staff required meeting the objectives of AKRSP for the next few years. * The relative importance of respective position in AKRSP. * The prevailing salary levels in AKRSP compared with comparator organization/ or open market.
The salient features of the salary structure appendix. A. are as follows: * The structure is based on 9 grade levels. All jobs with the exception of the general manager are included in the structure in order to give flexibility to the board to devise a compensation package for the general manager. This position is not included in the salary structure. * Salary scales are based on gross salary. * A minimum and a maximum salary have been fixed for each grade based on the value assigned by the board to the job group in each grade. * Starting salary for a new employee reaches the maximum in his grade. He will receive no further increment because this is the maximum value assigned to his job by board unless. * There is formal compensation review as a consequence of which minimum and maximum salaries are adjusted upwards here by opening up space at the top for employees who are at the maximum in their grades. Or
The board decides to allow a portion of the annual salary increase as cost of living adjustment: employees at their maximum shall be eligible for this adjustment.
BENEFITS:
Full time employees are entitled to the following benefits: 1. PROVIDENT FUNDS:
This is contributory scheme to which both AKRSP and the employee contribute at the rate 10% of basic salary.
A board of trustees comprising of the following five trustees, manages the fund: * Three regional program managers. * Director finance (management representative). * Program manager finance & Administration. * The commissioner of income tax government of Pakistan approves the provident fund
Scheme and there for is income tax exempt. * A full time employee is eligible to become a member of the fund from date of confirmation in his job subject to the provisions of the trust seed and rules for receipt of gratuity at the time of leaving service provided that he has: * Completed two years of continuous service. * Not been dismissed from service on account of misconduct. * Gratuity is payable at the rate of one month last drawn gross salary for each completed year of confirmed service. * This scheme applies only to employees with full time status on or after 1st January 1997. It is applicable to these employees from the date they were appointed to this status by AKRSP but not earlier than 1st January 1987 subject to any exemptions approved by the board. * The commissioner of income tax Government of Pakistan approves the scheme. Therefore gratuity payments are income tax exempt. 2. LIFE AND ACCIDENT INSURANCE:
AKRSP has arranged group life and accident insurance cover for its employees. Payments under this cover are linked to the employee’s salary e.g. payment under group life insurance is calculated on 24 salaries based on the last salary drawn by and employee with a guaranteed minimum payment of 500000/. 3. OUT-PAYMENT MEDICAL ALLOWANCE:
A medical allowance as determined by the board is paid to employees of outpatient treatment of themselves and their dependents.

4. HOSPITALIZATION FACILITIES:
AKRSP has arranged a medical insurance cover for hospitalization facilities for employees and their insurance policy. 5. PERSONNEL LOANS:
An employee may apply for a personnel loan up to a maximum limit of three months salary after completing 12 months service with AKRSP. This facility available to assist the employee to meet immediate additional financial needs and is provided is free if service charge.
The program manager finance & Administration (for the core office) and regional program managers (section 15.9 of the sanction limits and authorities memorandum) approve application for personal loans. Each application is dealt with on merit and approved is also subject to; 1. Availability of funds which are allocated separately for the core office and each region. 2. Availability of sufficient balance in the employee’s provident fund and gratuity fund to cover the amount of loan.
A loan is repayable in 12 equal monthly installments. An employee shall not be eligible for a fresh loan until the previous loan has been fully repaid.
Note:- The board may be compelled due to financial or other constraints to modify from time to time withdraw the above benefits without notice per subject to notice as provided for in the case of certain benefits.

6. SALARY REVIEW:
A: There shall be an annual salary review subject to availability of funds with AKRSP or any other consideration before the board.
B: The review shall be based on an overall increase percentage and any other guidelines by the board.
C: Salary increase shall be effective first January. And employee who joins AKRSP before first July shall be eligible for a salary increase in January of the following year. 7. LEAVE: 1. Management has the discretion to grant leave to an employee keeping in view his work commitments and other exigencies of service. 2. Leave entitlement is based on the calendar year. In the year an employee joins/leaves AKRSP; his leave entitlement shall be prorated based in the complete period of service during that year. 3. An employee shall be entitled to pay leave for 50 days per calendar year to cater for annual casual and sick leave subject to the following conditions. * Leave can be accumulated up to a maximum of 60 days. * At the time leaving AKRSP an employee can encase up to a maximum of 60 days leave (which include his entitlement for the current year). An employee can encase up to 15 days leave once in each calendar year; provided that he avails a minimum of 15 days leave in one stretch during the year. * In case of prolonged sickness, an employee may be granted additional leave (with or without pay) at the discretion of the General Manager.
MATERNITY LEAVE:
A female employee can avail maternity leave up to maximum of 90 working days with pay after completing 12 months service in AKRSP.
Maternity leave can be availed for a maximum of three times during the total period of service and not more than once in a three year period, the total period of is defined as all previous periods of service with AKRSP as well as the current period.
UNPAID LEAVE:
In special circumstances and employee may be granted unpaid leave Program Manager Finance & Administration (for the core office) and regional program managers are authorized to sanction this leave for employees in grades 1 to 3 up to a period of one month. Unpaid leave in excess of one month for these grads and all leave for grads 4 to 9 shall be authorized by general manager.
SEDIMENT:
The board of directors shall approve sediment of employees to other organizations within outside AKDN on recommendation of the general manager.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL & RECOMMENDATION:
The performance of all employees shall be evaluated at least once a year. The program manager, finance manager and administration which shall issue a timetable along with format and guidelines to appraising authorities shall coordinate this process;
The following shall be appraising authorities:
Appraising Authorities: Appraise:
Chairman GM
REPORTERS
PM/RPMs All direct reporters
Manager in core RPO Employees in this respective
SECTIONS
FM/RPMs All employees in FMU
Performance appraisal format for employees holding professional and man aerial positions shall be designed to record the following; (a) Results annual/estimated achieved by the appraised against his objectives for current (appraisal) year. (b) Factors which or hindered the appraised in achieving his objectives (to be taken into consideration when agreeing objectives for the following year). (c) Appraisal’s objectives for the next year with target dates. (d) The time frame for periodic review of progress on objectives and feedback to the appraiser. (e) Appraisal’s technical and managerial (including behavioral competences) identification of strength and weakness and agreement on developing inputs with dates.
Note:- When the appraise has a dotted line relationship with a functional manager, the appraiser shall consult the functional manager, in finalizing the appraisal’s development. 1. Performance appraisal shall reflect discussion and agreement between the appraiser and the appraisal. 2. The immediate supervisor of the appraiser shall review performance appraisals and his comments, if any shall be shown to the appraisal. The general manager shall also review performance appraisal of employees in grades 7 & 8. 3. Promotion is based on performance. It is neither automatic and nor is it based on seniority; however, promotion from within the organization shall be given preference provided that high performance candidates with the required skill and experience are available. 4. Above average performance may be rewarded through merit awards increments and poor performance may be penalized through withholding of increment and /or issue of written warning. 5. Recommendations for promotions merit awards/increments and withholding of increments shall be made through the performance. 6. Appraisal process shall be consolidated by program manager, finance & administration and tabled at the GM’s forum for consideration and endorsement before approval by the general manager.
Note: - The board on his recommendation of the general manager shall approve promotion to grades 8 & 9. 1) An employee considered for promotion may be placed on probation for a period of there to six months; during their period the employee should continue to receive his current salary. If employee does not complete his probation satisfactorily, he shall be received to his previous job. 2) On promotion an employee’s salary shall be fixed at the minimum of his new grade or the basis of a specified percentage increase in his current salary. 3) In approving increments the general manager shall ensure that the overall salary increase percentage approved by the board neither is nor exceeded. 4) In the case of poor performance besides withholding of increment and employee shall also be issued a written warning and his performance placed under observation for a maximum period of six months. If the employee fails to improve his performance to the required standard his services may be terminated.
CONSULTANCIES BY THE EMPLOYEES: With the objectives of personnel development an employee may be allowed to undertake consultancies for other organizations subject to the following conditions. * The general manager’s approval shall be obtained in writing for undertaking the consultancy and for the use. If required of AKRSP resources; the general manager shall approve charge for the use of such resources. * On consultancy shall be allowed perineum and the consultancy period shall not exceed one month. * The employee shall be considered to be on leave without pay during the consultancy period. * He shall be entitled, however, to retain fees earned from the consultancy temporarily and permanent transfers.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF AKRSP CHITRAL:
AKRSP Chitral has worked for the welfare of the mountain communities by initiating various poverty-targeting projects in Chitral. It is difficult to cover all the achievements of AKRSP but some important details are given below on behalf of the AKRSP’s developmental works in the program area.
POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROJECTS:
Extreme weather conditions, remote geographical location, scattered population across many small and distant villages, rudimentary physical and social infrastructure, under-developed markets and inadequate investments in financial and human capital have been some key defining characteristics of the poverty problem in Chitral.
It was these conditions that the AKRSP Chitral started work in 1983 to directly address the poverty challenges in Chitral. AKRSP has launched many poverty-targeting projects in grassroots level with the help of Village and Women organizations (V/WOs), Village Based Institutions (VBIs) and Local Community Organizations (LSOs) in the valley.
SHUBINAK PROJECT:
In khowar (Chitrali language) ‘Shubinak’ means Spider, nature master weavers. Shubinak has borrowed the term to describe an enterprise system that reaches into and involves women of the households of the isolated mountain villages of Chitral where life is hard and fragile and even a small amount of cash income can make a big difference.
This project was initiated by AKRSP Chitral, in late 1997, with and objective to create a network of traditional cottage craft workers which will grow into a business entity that will be able to protect and develop the interests of village women, maximize their cash income and keep control of production firmly in their hands. Women spinners of Chitral villages are the cornerstone of Shubinak and spin yarn so fine that it can be woven by village weavers into light windproof woolen fabric called “Shu”.
Shu is produced under sustainable and environmentally friendly conditions. It is hand-spun and hand-woven in the villages Chitral with skill and pride in an age when human hands have been largely replaced by machines. The results of the project have been simple and direct a return to the high production standards of the past, and a forty percent increase in direct cash income for guild members. The project has created range of eleven garments based on a combination of local and classic western designs. These have received enthusiastic initial market reviews and are now being test marketed in the United States (US) and Europe.
This what “Shubinak” is called “the quiet revolution” changing things by changing the way women see and feel about themselves and the rest of the world not by telling them how they should act. Even at this early development stage, Shubinak is already deeply embedded within and highly relevant to the villages of rural Chitral. Any benefits that accrue are local, highly visible and easily measured.
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GaD):
Gender and development section of AKRSP Chitral is working for the full participation of women in the development and decision making activities of the village the program area. GaD represents and working for all the issues related to women population of the region. GaD is busy in organizing and making of women organizations in grassroots level, so that women can participate in the development process of the area. GaD is arrange workshops, seminars and trainings for increasing the capacities of the women in Chitral.
AKRSP is motivating and supporting other women organizations in the program area to establish literacy centers in order to increase the literacy rate of both genders in Chitral.
TRAINING AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT:
AKRSP, so far organized many formal and informal trainings in various fields of operations. Forma training courses are conducted in various Natural Resource Management fields, such as Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry. As a result trained labor is now increasingly available in villages of program area. The end of 1998 had developed a cadre of approximately 20,000 trained villagers in various productive fields.
One of them is Farman Nizar. Farman has been marketing apples for many years. In previous season, according to him, he made never made a profit of more than Rs.25000 to 30000 per season. But this year after participation in a training course on post harvest management and marketing, Farman Nizar was able to market his produce on a larger, expanded scale. The new skills he acquired including how to access relevant market information and information on improved packaging and material development techniques. Farman is now proud entrepreneur who earned a net profit of Rs 200000 during this last season.

POWER GENERATION PROJECTS:
At the time when there is much gloom in the country owing to economic depression, lawlessness and political polarization, even something very small that is positive is welcome. Of all the places, such a positive message is coming out from Chitral, which is one of the remotes mountainous districts of KPK, Pakistan.
Without waiting for the Government WAPDA to provide them electricity which would have taken years or many never have come during lifetime of many Chitralies, almost 15000 households in the district have turned to community run Micro Hydro-Electricity Units to meet their lighting needs. A recent survey by the AKRSP showed that 12405 households were already receiving electricity from these MHUs, while another 2410 households would be benefited once the 20 ongoing projects are completed within the next three months. The AKRSP contribution is made once the fund has established. For the 79 projects that were completed with Rs. 4.4 millions raised thus far in maintenance fund.
A recent visit to Chitral, one witnessed the glimpses of change that electricity has brought into the lives of the rural communities of Chitral. Women are perhaps the biggest beneficiaries because they perform certain household chores at odd hours and the availability of light has made a difference to their lives. They butter churners run by electricity have reduced workload for women and the use of washing machines, irons and fruit dryers have brought them much comfort. Families point out that electricity enables their children to study late at night, which was not possible with the lanterns using kerosene oil.

IRRIGATION CHANNELS:
The construction of irrigation channels with technical and financial assistance of AKRSP Chitral, while bringing vast tracts of new land under cultivation has brought about significant improvements in the livelihoods of the local peoples. A study of six large irrigation channels revealed that as a result of these projects, average cultivable farm size in the beneficiary villages had increased by 10 canals. It was estimated that as a result of bringing new land under cultivation, the area under woodland had increased by 105% area under orchards by 92% and area under crops by 40% in the beneficiary villages.
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS:
Only few decades ago the mountain communities of Chitral were left far behind the rest of the world due to a lack of basic communication infrastructure. Access and communications have been powerful agents of change for the isolated communities of Chitral.
Shoist and Lasht are two villages located in upper Yarkhun valley at about 75 km from Mastuj and almost 188 km from main Chitral town. Winter is often very harsh spread over 7-8 months. In summer the valley changes colors from white and brown to lush green, offering a stunning view of the rugged mountains with an abundance of blossom trees set against the towering peaks.
Acute poverty prevails in the valley where one can find extreme weather and with the poor infrastructure facilities, inhabitants largely depend on livestock, seasonal employment and agriculture for their livelihoods.
The cluster organization of Yarkhun Lasht took an initiative and approached AKRSP Chitral, for construction of a suspension bridge. The work on bridge started in March 1996.4 months. In summer the valley changes colors from white and brown to lush green, offering a stunning view of the rugged mountains with an abundance of blossom trees set against the towering peaks.
Acute poverty prevails in the valley where one can find extreme weather and with the poor infrastructure facilities, inhabitants largely depend on livestock, seasonal employment and agriculture for their livelihoods.
The cluster organization of Yarkhun Lasht took an initiative and approached AKRSP Chitral, for construction of a suspension bridge. The work on bridge started in March 1996. Shoist Cluster organization provided labor for construction. The bridge is 127 feet long and 8 feet wide. After three years of hard labor, the bridge was completed in 1998 with an estimated cost of Rs 2428972. Two buttresses were built to protect the bridge from the summer floods within this estimated cost.
The bridge has increased the mobility of the villagers, giving them the opportunity for interaction with the outside world. It is now possible for the Government and other line departments to approach the valley for provision of health and medical facilities, which has decreased maternal and infant mortality rate.
ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT MOUNTAIN FRUITS LIMITED:
Building on two decades of AKRSP work in promoting agricultural technologies, an experiment was launched in 1999 to introduce a new method for drying apricot, the abundant and delicious fruit of Chitral. The experiment of drying whole apricot proved successful and the product was able to meet the stringent international quality standards. Based on die encouraging demand from the market, AKRSP launched a separate project named Dry Fruit Project to train apricot fanners in the new fruit-drying technology and run the project as a business. The project was able to break even in 2002. In 2004 Dry Fruit Project was formally registered as a business entity with the name of Mountain Fruits Limited. Providing seasonal job to 50 women and benefiting a total of 1500-2000 apricot producing families, MFL sets precedence for the creation of professional and profitable business with a social conscience.
ASHDEN AWARD 2004:
The winning of ASHDEN AWARD alternatively known as “Green Oscar” by AKRSP in 2004 was a worldwide recognition of AKRSP’s management and technological innovation in the field of renewable energy. AKRSP given this prestigious award in the category of (cash prize of Rs 350000) for harnessing the power of mountain streams and communities to bring clean, affordable electricity to over 17000 households in the high valleys of the Hindukush by constructing around 200 community managed small hydropower generation units, which in the words of the judges is a truly remarkable achievement all the more so because the project is co-managed and maintained by the villagers themselves. The Awards ceremony was hosted at the Royal Geographical Society, London UK.

CHAPTER 2
As an internee I worked as a social organizer in communities and also worked in accounting section. I learnt the criteria of AKRSP’s projects feasibility in the communities and accounting functions of AKRSP.
PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT:
The HRM committee plays a vital role in guiding the policy making process particularly in relation to the staff development and personal system and procedures. The human resource section is key to coordinating the activities of this committee. The human resource committee which consists of three regional program managers, HRM and finance managers meet seven times during the year. Other key senior staff member participates in the committees on an invitation. Key decision of HRM committee focused on the issues of recruitment procedures, internship policy and management issue as well as regular staff development issues. This committee functions as an important forum for the regional office to participate in the formulation of the personal policy and development of other system and procedures. A special focus of HRM committee is to insure staff development on the need basis as well as to ensure that gender issues are considered in both personal and staff development.
FELT NEED OF THE COMMUNITY:
The project must be the felt needed of the community. During the last dialogue, the FMU staff should look at the need of the project, its benefits and the level of the community contribution. The condition of cash contribution should play a significant role in indentifying the projects which are really the felt needed of the community.
NEW AREA FOR AKRSP INERVENTION:
The FMU staff should insure that the AKRSP investment in uncovered area in terms of AKRSP assisted infrastructure development is preferred during the prioritization process. Focus should be on that area where either AKRSP has not invested previously of the investment has comparatively been low. Communities belonging to Union Councils where AKRSP investment has been relatively low should also be preferred. The repeating beneficiaries should be considered only where the justification for the second time investment is adequate and strong.
FREE FROM COMMUNITY CONFLICTS:
The existences of any kind of community conflicts badly affect the implementation process and maintenance of a particular project. During the social survey the existence of community disputes particularly on land and water rights should be considered and decisions regarding the prioritization of pips should carefully be taken. Those demands of community for assistance where are disputes among the community members should not be prioritized.
EXISTENCE OF SOUND IMPLEMENTING BODY (V/WOs CLUSTER):
The FMU staff should also ensure the execution capacity of the community organizations applying for AKRSP assistance. All the records of the applying organization should be checked properly and a report of the proceeding of the meeting of the AKRSP official with the general body of the applying organization must be submitted to the MIES section before conducting the technical survey. The community will form the following functional committees before the initiation of the project to ensure the successful execution of it with adequate community participation. The FMU must ensure the functionality of these committees. a. PROJECT COMMITTEE:
The project committee will also consist of four members. This committee will select a chairman to preside over it. The committee will arrange labor and material for the project. It will lie with AKRSP and ensure the release of project installations from AKRSP. Moreover, it will arrange all purchased input machinery, pay for the labors maintain master roll, and maintain accounts and deep records of the project activities. It will be responsible for maintaining quality of work and progress of the project. As a whole the committee will be accountable to the general body of VO. The signature of the chairman of the project committee will be compulsory in the resolution submitted for the release of installment. b. AUDIT COMMITTEE:
The audit committee will also consist of four members. This committee will also be chaired by a member selected from within the committee audit all the activities and accounts of the project maintained by both the project committee and maintenance committee with the help of project accountant. The committee will be provision of satisfactory audit report clearance certificates from the audit committee and on its recommendations. This committee will also be responsible for its service to the general boy of VOs. And present the audit reports on a monthly basis to the body the signature for the release of installments. MATURITY PERIOD:
The age of village women or cluster organization applying for PPI’s must be more than three months starting from the date of formation (the date mentioned on the resolution of formation of the organization). The SOs must verify the records of the organization on an open meeting and mention the information (with his comments) in the visit report submitted to MIES section.
LABOR INCENTIVE/ CAPITAL INCENTIVE PROJECT:
From the last two years AKRSP has been experiencing the difficulty regarding per household AKRSP contribution. This has been high due the selections of capital intensive projects i.e. pipe irrigation, lift irrigation and water delivery.
The performance for irrigation channel is not only reducing the material cost but also provide laboring opportunity of locales. Thus the selection of labor incentive project would result in increased community share in infrastructure.
GESTATION PERIOD:
Another indicator for selecting IP’s is the proposed period. The projects having shorter proposed gestation period should be given weigh during the prioritization process.

GENDER SENSITIVITY:
To increase work for women due to the proposed project should also be considered. The female should be consulted curing the second dialogue to avoid the initiation of gender blind project.
MAINTENANCE FUND: The community will be bound to establish a maintenance fund for any AKRSP assisted project according to following calculations (the following paragraphs have been taken from the agreed paper, “A DISCUSSION PAPER ON ISSUES IN MOUNTAIN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR CONSIDERATION OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS”) on infrastructure policy for Chitral region. 1. Channel road and pipe irrigation the average maintenance cost comes to 20000/km/annum. The total maintenance cost can be calculated on the basis of actual length of the project. So it was decided that community should compulsory collect 25% of the estimated maintenance cost in the advance before its formal initiation. 2. For calculating maintenance cost of bridge project it has been assumed that a project having a span of 300 to 400 ft with a standard width of 9 ft will have an average cost of Rs 2 million for its construction. Where it has been calculated that his percentage timer used in such a project that is normally depleted is wooden planks and nails. Therefore depreciation can only be considered as the replacement of wooden planks in a bridge, so annual depreciation in this regard is considered as 3% of total timber cost of the project. We assume that there is not much traffic on these are usually constructed in remote rears where the traffic is low for this calculation the cost to maintain a bridge product comes to Rs 20000, therefore it was decided that community will be asked to collect 50% of the amount in advance before its formal initiation. 3. For hydel power project it has been observed that communities get minor repair work done on their own including payment of wages of one or two operators but have to do the rewinding of alternators from outside. The alternator is the most expensive and sensitive part in a hydel project so AKRSP decided communities would be asked to create a maintenance fund for its replacement before the initiation of a project.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF FIELD MANAGEMENT UNIT:
The FMUs will ensure the completion of the following activities before the submission of the filed to the MIES section at regional office. 1. Preparation of prioritized list of infrastructure project for a particular year/ quarter. The copy of the list will be attached with the file of each project file submitted to MES section. 2. Electronic database regarding the profile of the communities applying for projects should be maintained. The database may have the information about the area/ village of the applying community and it will be about geography, demography, socioeconomic data household profile act. 3. The FMU manager and concern social organizer should ensure that at least 90% of the community members applying for projects the resolution to avoid forge signature. The FMU manager wills that verify the resolution before adding it to the project file. 4. The visit report of FMU paid to the area (applying community) before the prioritizing process will be the compulsory component of project file this report will contain the information regarding the willingness of the community in terms of their contribution the proposed project. The socioeconomic data from should be filled in the same meeting. The communities’ member will also be informed in the same meeting that the communities responsible to facilitate the survey team of AKRSP. The community is also responsible to complete the project within the proposed time frame. 5. The FMU manager will also submit the second visit report to the MIES with the copy of top signed by the community in the meeting before the third dialogue. 6. The MIES section is the planning to hire some project accountant to make the audit more transparent. It will be compulsory that before the release of any installment. The site supervisor/ engineer’s report must be etched with the resolution. The resolution will be signed by the 90 % of the beneficiary community members.
RESPONSIBILIES OF MIES:
The MIES section will responsible to undertake the following activities to initiate a project. 1. The section will form a project survey committee comprising of concerned FMU staff survey and engineers. The representatives of the community applying for project will also be included in the committee. This committee will be established after the submission of project file to the MIES section. 2. This committee will be responsible to manager the following activities; * Paper calculation of community contribution in local materials i.e. land compensation, extra hours devoted to unskilled labor and extra work (beyond the original design). * Assurance to the availability of man power for both skilled and unskilled work. * Proper calculation of the cost of local materials. * Providing basic information regarding the physical benefits of the project (direct and indirect). * Submission of complete file to the MIES section after survey completion. * Sharing the file information with manager MIES section.
One of the engineers based on the region will be responsible to crosscheck the file to ensure that no information is missing in file. Then the file will be submitted to the secretary of the regional infrastructure approval committee. The manager MIES will present the project and the concerned FMU manager will defend the project of its feasibility.
IMPLEMENTATION:
The following activities will be the essential part of implementation stage of any PPI. The check will be given to the community representative in an open meeting conducted with the community members. The project accountant will also be responsible to ensure the transparency of payments for various expenditures of a particular project.
The resolution for release of installments will be signed by at least 75% of the beneficiary community. The resolution will be submitted in a given format provided by AKRSP and the following documents will be attached with the resolution. * Expenditure statement of previous installment with proper receipts. The project accountants will be responsible to check the bill and receipts. SOs and FMU managers will verify the statements and the vouchers receipts. * Report recommendation of site supervisors/ engineers for release of installment.
All documents will need the seals of officials of FMU who sign the resolution or verifying any bill.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMEMENT SYSTEM OF AKRSP: (ACCOUNTING SYSTEM OF AKRSP)
Accounting department of Aga Khan Rural Support Program is fully computerized and well maintained.
Books maintained by AKRSP are: 1. Banks Books. 2. Cash Books.n
FUNCTIONS OF ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENTS:
The functions of accounting department are as under; 1. Recording of transactions. 2. Distribution of Cash. 3. Keeping detailed records of sales. 4. Maintenance of supplies.
CASH CONTROL SYSTEM: 1. Cash in hand and petty cash. 2. For more 200 payments are made through banks.
The following two groups are authorized for payments.
GROUP A:
It consists of the following; 1. General Manager. 2. Finance Manager. 3. Program Senior Engineer. 4. Program Social Organizer.
GROUP B:
Group B consist of the following members; 1. Program Internal Auditor. 2. Program Accountant. 3. From group A any one of the members.
Demands are prepared by the department and then approved by the G.M the account section then issues demand notice for the purchases.
STAFF LOANS: AKRSP gives staff loans to the members of its staff. The loan is not given to the non-permanent employees and trainees. The staff loan is given for one year and could be in 12 installments to the months pay.
AUDIT OF ACCOUNTS: 1. INTERNAL AUDIT: There are internal auditors but according to accounts their record is never internally audited. 2. EXTERNAL AUDIT:
The chartered accountancy firm annually audits the accounts of AKRSP. The firm Rhods Robben, Marrow and Co chartered accountants Karachi. The whole accounting records are sent to Karachi for the audit each.

CHAPTER 3
SWOT ANALYSIS:
The process through which strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analyzed is called SWOT analysis.
STRENGTHS OF AKRSP: * Internal Image and reputation. * Efficient computerized management system. * Efficient computerized accounting system. * Efficient and qualified staff. * Linkage with social organization internationally. * Internet facility to all workers. * Efficient transportation system. WEAKNESSES: * It has no good image in SUNI dominated areas of Chitral. * Instead of expending of his operations AKRSP is limiting its operations. * From previous five years AKRSP is continuously decreasing number of its employees. * Up till now AKRSP has failed to prove that it I working for the betterment of all religious sects.
OPPORTUNITIES:
* Easy availability of donations from international donors. * AKRSP can promote its operation throughout Chitral by satisfying all the religious sects. * It has opportunities to promote development program by coordinating with other NGOs working within the area. * As literacy in the area is low due to scarcity of educational facilities therefore AKRSP can play an important role in this field. * It has a lot of opportunities to promote enterprise development programs in the area.
THREATS:
* The big threat for the future of AKRSP is that most of the people believe that it is a source of FAHASHISM and it is promoting western culture in the name of advancement modernization. * New NGOs such as SRSP, SHARP and FOCUS etc have started working in the area limiting operations of AKRSP.

SUGGESTIONS: After studying the operational activities of AKRSP the following suggestions are recommended. * Make efficient the planning and reporting system including eye indicators for program activities. * The training program should be relevant to the geographical location for which regional and filed-based training should be given. Thus the specialists will be able to gain more knowledge relevant to their area of operation. * During selections of the specialists V/WOs members concentrate only on whether a member will have a time to work for the organizations. With this criterion the following should also be considered. * The member should be able to read and write. Though he can maintain the record and other document. * The member who is selected for training should be permanently available the village throughout the year. * The specialist should be a social person having good relations with other V/WOs members. * Further developing programs for V/WOs. * Conduct research to identify the problems of particular geography. * More focus on education. * Encourage feedback from the community. * Consider mounting a review and assessment of access to credit particularly of he poorest and women. * Develop improved methods of training needs assessment for both village-level and staff development. * The specialists should not be given only technical training they should also given communication and social training. The specialists should be told about how to deal with V/WOs members. Because the dealing of person contributes in the success and failure of the program. * Focus on making clusters of V/WOs. * Encourage the V/WOs to enhance the savings. * The members of WOs should be educated in Hygiene principles. * Focus youth generation by providing more technical trainings. * More focus on domestic products.

CONCLUSION:
The Aga khan Rural Support Program has been working for the betterment of the people of northern areas and Chitral in collaboration with government department and other development agencies for the past twenty nine years. The partnership in development has been a vital and dynamic driving force behind the transformation that has occurred in the lives of the people lining in the valleys of this remote mountain region in northern Pakistan. AKRSP has been working to enable the communities to bring about equitable and sustainable improvement in their lives. By focusing both the enhancements of institutional capacities of the people and their economic development, the program has used these two broad objectives as part of its integrated approach to rural development. The formation of V/WOs has brought a visible change in the lives of Chitral and they are organized to fight poverty and to enjoy the better qualities of life. But there are much more to do in Chitral specifically in educational field, AKRSP can play its role to promote education in Chitral.