Social Enterprise Development Centre (SEDC)

SEDC embarked on a one-year project “Expanding the Role of Universities towards Socioeconomic Development Initiative” supported by the Citi Foundation in December 2011. The goal of the project was to assess and create awareness about the state of universities, industry and community linkages within higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan and thus promote the employability of graduates from HEIs. One of the aims of the project was to understand the processes through which these linkages could enable HEIs to produce more socio-economically productive graduates. Over 130 academicians, industry executives and members of the civil society participated in the project. Data was collected from a representative sample of 20 HEIs from across Pakistan on industry and community engagement in the areas of Governance, Curriculum Design and Development, Teaching and Learning Practices, Mentoring and Placement Activities and Alumni Involvement.

With financial support from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, SEDC implemented the 3-year National Leadership for Reproductive Health and Development Project (NLRHD) to enhance the capacity of reproductive health providers and formulate a Women Leaders Network in that regard. The project was designed to develop a network comprised of influential women leaders to advocate policy change with special focus on women transformational leadership.
Key Deliverables of NLRHD:

• National Women’s Leadership Network (NWLN) for FPRH and Development
• Health Enterprise Leadership Programme (HELP) trainings
• Strategic Papers to inform and guide future policy development
• National Conference on FPRH and Development Policy
• Dissemination of reading material and advocacy

Under this initiative, SEDC formulated a National Women’s Leader Workshop and conducted 20 trainings which helped train 426 individuals (98 females) from 129 organizations including INGOs, LNGOs, Government and the private sector. The trainings conducted under the NLRHD project were in a number of functional areas including:

• Integrated Project and Portfolio Management
• Team Building and Human Resource Management
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Systems
• Budgeting and Financial Management in Social Sector Organizations
• Leadership Skills Development for Social Sector Management
• Social Sector Project Management
• Qualitative Research for Social Sector Initiatives
• Strategic Management of Social Enterprises
• Marketing and Advocacy of Social Initiatives
• Results-Based Management Programme
• Leadership Development Programme for Women Leaders

SEDC received a grant of 35,000 USD from the Citi Foundation for the project “Living Literacy, Changing Lives: Citi -LUMS Youth Initiative” in 2010. The project trained the youth and students about personal financial skills with a better understanding of basic economics, basic finance and the benefits and risks associated with debt. Personal financial planning, savings plans, and knowledge of the basic financial products and services allowed the participants to manage their finances better.

SEDC received a grant of 68,000 USD from Citi Foundation and United Ways in September 2009 to develop the management skills of middle and top level managers of microfinance provider organizations in Pakistan to achieve the goal of poverty alleviation through improved service delivery. The project began in 2009 and targeted three sectors i.e. microfinance, financial literacy and higher education.

To get an overview of the microfinance sector in Pakistan and its issues and potentials, SEDC conducted a management audit of the partner organizations of PPAF (Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund) based on their efficacy and efficiency of projects, structures, policies, decisions making mechanism, sustainability and information flow charts.

The evaluation team at SEDC developed robust checklists for organizational assessments to appraise the leadership, adaptability, management, human resources, systems and infrastructure, culture, governance, operations and organizational capacity of the entities. The management capacity was assessed on parameters such as strategic planning, constituents’ involvement, organizational process, decision making processes, and human resource planning. The operational capacity was judged by staffing levels, skills, abilities, fundraising, communication strategy and management reporting system.

In 2008, SEDC partnered with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for a five-year healthcare programme that included the following two programmes:

• Health Enterprise Leadership Development Programme (HELP) from 2008 to 2010
• National Leadership for Reproductive Health and Development Project (NLRHD) from 2011 to 2013

Health Enterprises Leadership Development Programme (HELP)

In 2008, SEDC implemented the Health Enterprise Leadership Development Programme (HELP). The scope of work entailed examining the history of reproductive health services and its current state in Pakistan, identification of gaps in the provision of reproductive health services, major problems faced by reproductive health service providers/enterprises and the place that reproductive health occupies in the values of the Pakistani society as a whole. Training modules were then designed on the outcomes of the baseline survey and case studies.

Under this programme, SEDC undertook the management and leadership training of health officials to improve service delivery in the public sector through the following two separate trainings:

• Leadership Development Training for Managers (LDTM)
• Leadership Development Training for Executives (LDTE)

The Social Enterprise Development Programme (SEDP) was launched in July 2001 by the Lahore University of Management Sciences in collaboration with McGill University with financial support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The goal of this project was to improve the delivery of social services by developing the capacity of Pakistan's governmental and non-governmental organizations working at the community and district levels to manage their operations in a sustainable manner. 

The CIDA funded project ran for six years, from 2001 to 2007, in which more than 300 social service managers were trained and over 200 case studies were produced. A working paper series was also published under the title of “Managing NGOs in Developing Countries”. 

The project comprised of four components:

1. Developing the capacity of LUMS to implement an Outreach Continuing Education Programme on the topic of outreach for community and district social service managers
2. Providing training to local trainers and social service managers
3. Providing consulting services and institutional support to community and district social service organizations
4. Developing a centre of excellence at LUMS for the management of social services in Pakistan

SEDP met the challenge of providing and disseminating specialized management training to social sector organizations of Pakistan by building upon and using the expertise, knowledge, research, mentoring and training competencies of LUMS.

The implemented Outreach Continuing Education Programme was divided into eight key components:

1. Training for Development Programme (TDP)
2. Social Enterprise Management Programme (SEMP)
3. District Social Service Officers Training Programme (DSSO) - district social service officers underwent training in areas of budgeting and finance, operations management and leadership and governance to develop a skills base to efficiently operate social service delivery in their own areas and improve them
4. On-the-Job Assistance
5. NGO Pulse
6. IT Development Task
7. Devolution Research Project
8. Development of Teaching Material