Review of Economics and Development Studies, Vol. 6 (3) 2020, 567- 573 567 Role of Non-government Organizations in Escalation of Educational Projects and Community Development in Balochistan: a Case of Balochistan Rural Development & Research Society Saif-ur-Rehman Saif Abbasi a , Ihtram Kakar b , Hassan Raza c , Nazneen Habib d a, b & c Department of Sociology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan d Department of Sociology, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzafarabad, Pakistan ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT History: Accepted 20 August 2020 Available Online 30 September 2020 Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) have been considered as the key player in the provision of services to address the economic, environmental and socio-cultural developmental issues. United Nations global sustainable development goals (SDGs) focused the role of partnerships between different sectors in addressing sustainable development issues. The study focuses on the role of NGOs especially the local organization called as Balochistan Rural Development & Research Society (BRDRS) in empowering community in Balochistan. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in two districts of Balochistan province to investigate role of NGOs among beneficiaries of BRDRS education projects and programs in focused communities by following the quantitative research approach. By using proportionate random sampling technique, 400 respondents were selected out of the total beneficiaries. The results indicated significant associations between BRDRS educational projects (i.e. Arranging Students Exposure Visits, Conducted Speech Competitions, Arranging Enrollment Campaigns, Renovation of the Schools, and Follow-up Mechanism to Schools) and level of satisfaction among the beneficiaries. The study recommends that government should also be involved to improve the policy and make a supportive and conducive environment through partnerships in the education sector with NGOs for the sustainable community development. © 2020 The authors. Published by SPCRD Global Publishing. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 Keywords: Community Development, Education, NGOs, Sustainable Development JEL Classification: R11, R19, I21 DOI: 10.47067/reads.v6i3.247 Corresponding author’s email address: 1. Introduction Despite the rapid transformation of social development during the last few decades, complex socio-cultural issues have emphasized increased attention across different sectors to facilitate social change (Yan, Lin, & Clarke, 2018). Though previous scholarships on the role of NGOs have been significantly instigated the process of socio-cultural development, there is still needed nuanced Review of Economics and Development Studies, Vol. 6 (3) 2020, 567- 573 568 explanations regarding the roles of NGOs in the process of community development (Chowdhury, Islam, & Abd-Wahab, 2020) NGOs have been considered as the key player in the provision of services to address the economic, environmental and socio-cultural developmental issues (Bostrom and Hallstrom, 2010). Nevertheless, the significance could be realized from the United National Global Sustainable development Goal (Goal No. 17) which focused the role of partnerships between different sectors in addressing sustainable development issues (MacDonald et al., 2018). Lin (2012) emphasized NGO involvement by making cross-sector social partnership (CSSPs) that may cause more proactive outcome while keeping less understanding regarding the numerous roles of NGOs in collaborative settings. Researcher highlighted two methods of community development which includes the government that provides basic and social facilities in the community, and NGOs that ensures community participation to mobilize and coordinate resources (Ehigiamusoe, 1998). NGOs perform two main types of activities which include service delivery to the individuals in time of need and organizations of policy advocacy for the ultimate purpose of change (Lewis and Kanji, 2009).The development interventions in the NGO sector have been consistently becoming a popular area in the research due to its wide expansion in various developmental activities. This is the reason that NGOs have become a part of various interdisciplinary academic fields including sociology, political science, anthropology and economics within the domains of exploring developmental issues (Lewis and Kanji, 2009). Pakistan as one of the low-income countries in South Asia, is characterized by moderate economic growth, and major human development deficiencies include basic health care, education and gender equality (Kurosaki, 2006). In this context, the study focused on the role of NGOs in Balochistan, especially the local organization called as Balochistan Rural Development & Research Society (BRDRS). The organization was registered with a registration No. DSW-1188 under voluntary social welfare agencies (Registration and Control) ordinance 1961 (XL VI of 1961) in 2002. The fundamental aim of the organization was to provide social services for the poor people in the area. Major working areas include Health, Education, Agriculture, Energy, Gender, Vocational training, capacity building and development trainings in Balochistan Province since 2002 (Arif, 2013). In the field of education, there are numerous projects implemented by the said organization which include the provision of information and communication technology materials, scholarship awards, renovations of the schools, construction of the schools buildings, the provision of school furniture, trainings of teachers, and tutoring support among the students of rural communities. Keeping in view of various plans with respect to the community development in Baluchistan, it is necessary to conduct an empirical study to understand the impact of BRDRS working on education sector in the local community. The BRDRS is working currently in the targeted districts that included, Zhob, Sherani, Killa Saifullah, Ziarat and Harnai. in the field of education. BRDRS with the financial assistance of government education department implemented the project namely, Global Partnership for Education - Baluchistan Education Project (GPE -BEP) that was a two and half (2.5) years project totally focused on social mobilization, Larger Community Meetings (LCM), Parent Teacher School Management Committees (PTSMCs) formation, capacity building of PTSMCs, regular monitoring of project activities in coordination with relevant stakeholders, ensure and supervise the construction and up-gradation of project schools through the relevant firm(s)/consultants of the project as per the guidelines of Project Management Unit. The project targets include community mobilization on 185 land mutations for Review of Economics and Development Studies, Vol. 6 (3) 2020, 567- 573 569 schools, conducting 185 Larger Community Meetings (LCMs), 185 PTSMC Formation and Notification. Material development includes training material, monitoring formats etc. and capacity building of the 185 PTSMCs, all the selected teachers and education department officials on various topics; disaster risk reduction, PTSMC trainings on roles and responsibilities with refreshers training of teachers and PTSMCs Child Protection, SHN and School development plans. 2. Methodology The principal question in the study addresses that what are the contributions of NGO in education sector for the community development? The main objective was to explore the associations of BRDRS interventions and educational services in the process of community development in Balochistan. Significant ingredients were studied with respect to the role of BRDRS in community development that are, partnership with the government to improve the education structures, capacity building trainings to the educational professionals, and the organization of seminars and workshops for the awareness of the general public on education related issues. Quantitative research approach has been applied to study the role of non-governmental organization (i.e Balochistan Rural Development & Research Society, BRDRS) by employing education schemes and programs in focused communities at Balochistan province. The respondents of the study consisted on the beneficiaries of BRDRS education projects. A cross-sectional survey was performed in two districts of Balochistan province, that includes, Killa Saifullah and Pishin. District Killa Saifullah has three tehsils and Pishin has four tehsils respectively. For the collection of information in the study, two union councils were randomly selected from Killa Saifullah district and three union councils from Pishin district were randomly selected respectively. By using proportionate random sampling technique, 400 respondents were selected out of the total beneficieries who were benefiting from the health and education activities of BRDRS educational projects in the project area. From the proportionate selection of the beneficiries in Killa Saifullah, UC Kan Mehterzai sample consits of 38 Male and 42 Female respondents while 33 Male and 34 Female from UC Kanchoghi. In district Pishin, there were 36 Male and 50 female were selected from UC Bostanand and UC Murgha consists of 39 Male and 35 female while 60 Male and 33 female were selected from UC Khanozai for the study. Table 1: Proportionate Random Distribution of respondents in Union Councils of District Killa Saifullah and District Pishin Name of Union Council Male Female Total Kan Mehterzai 38 42 80 Kanchoghi 33 34 67 Bostan 36 50 86 Murgha 39 35 74 Khanozai 60 33 93 Total 206 194 400 Keeping in view the goals and objectives of the study, a questionnaire as a tool for the collection of data was designed which include socio-demographic profile and the questions on the provision of BRDRS education delivery services in the respondents’ area and types of education initiatives implemented by the said organization in their respective villages. The same was approved later from the Departmental Doctoral Advisory Committee, International Islamic University after minor Review of Economics and Development Studies, Vol. 6 (3) 2020, 567- 573 570 corrections. The data was analyzed by employing univariate and bivariate statistical techniques through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). 4. Results Table 1 reports the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. The result shows that 206 (52%) respondents were male while 194 (48%) of the respondents were female. Additionally, a significant majority of the respondents 325 (83%) were married and 50 (12%) of the respondents were unmarried followed by 11(3%) were divorced, 14 (4%) were widowed respectively. The result illustrated that overwhelming majority 382 (95%) of the respondents were living in joint family system. Furthermore, there were 34 % of the respondents who fall within the category of “no education” and 34% who were in the category of 6th-10th level of educational qualification while a significant minority (5%) of the total sampled population was remained in the categories of 15-16 and 13-14 level of education respectively. The table indicates that 29% of the respondents were reported their profession as housewives and slightly more than one fourth of the sampled population were farmers. Additionally, more than two thirds (62%) of the sample had monthly family income within the range of Rs. 10001 to Rs. 30000, and 24.3 % of the respondent’s family income was Rs. 30001 to Rs. 50000. Table 2: Socio-demographic characteristics of beneficiaries selected Variables Category Frequency Percent (%) Gender Male 206 52 Female 194 48 Marital Status Un-Married 50 12 Married 325 81 Divorce 11 3 Widowed 14 4 Family Type Joint 382 95 Nuclear 14 4 Extended 4 1 Level of Education No Education 137 34 1-5 47 12 6-10 137 34 11-12 41 11 13-14 17 4 15-16 21 5 Profession Govt servant 48 12 Private service 32 8 Business 36 9 Farmer 104 26 Review of Economics and Development Studies, Vol. 6 (3) 2020, 567- 573 571 Table 3 states the bi-variate associations between BRDRS projects in the education sector and level of satisfaction among the respondents. In response to arrange students exposure visits by BRDRS in the area, 63% of the sample were reported as ‘always’ while 59.1% marked ‘sometimes’ and they were highly satisfied with the statement. Moreover, 48.9 % in area were highly satisfied and 12.8 % of them were not satisfied at all with statement. The association between arranging students’ exposure visits and level of satisfaction with educational projects was statistically significant (χ²= 9.570, p.value= 0.048). The table further illustrates that 32 (82.1%) of the respondent were marked as ‘always’ while keeping them highly satisfied to conduct the speech competitions. Moreover, slightly more than half (51.6%) of the respondents were marked as sometimes while highly satisfied with the statement and 39% were marked as sometimes and they were satisfied with the statement. The association between conducted speech competition and level of satisfaction with educational projects was statistically significant (χ²= 13.827, p.value =0.008). The results illustrate that majority of the respondents (62.2 %) were reported as ‘always’ with marking of highly satisfaction with the statement, while slightly less than one third (31.8 %) were reported as never and satisfied regarding the statement. Additionally, 57 % of the respondents reported as sometimes with highly satisfaction with the arrangements of enrollment campaigns while 63.9% were reported as satisfied within marking of sometimes category. Additionally, there were 46.5% of the respondents were marked ‘never’ within the response category of highly satisfied and 38.1% satisfied while 15.5% were having no satisfaction respectively. The association between arranging enrollment campaigns and level of satisfaction with educational projects was statistically significant (19.990, p.value =0.001). The results describes that significant majority (72.1%) of the respondents were reported as ‘always’ with highly satisfaction with the service delivery as renovations of the schools. Moreover, 56.3% were marked as sometimes with highly satisfaction with the deliver services while 45% of the respondents were reported as ‘never’ with highly satisfied category. The association between renovations of schools and level of satisfaction with educational projects was statistically significant (χ²= 21.666, p.value =0.001).The results highlighted that majority of the respondents (72.9 %) were reported as ‘always’ and highly satisfied with the statement of having great follow up mechanism in BRDRS. In addition, 55% of the respondents were reported as sometimes with highly satisfaction category while 39.8% and 5.2% marked as satisfied and not satisfied category respectively. Furthermore, 45.3 % of the respondents reported as ‘always’ with highly satisfied category while 37.4 % were marked as ‘satisfied’. The association between follow up mechanism to schools and level of satisfaction with educational projects was statistically significant (χ²= 27.784, p.value=0.001). Skilled worker 32 8 Un-Skilled worker 12 3 Livestock rearing 18 5 House wife 118 29 Family Income Rs. Up to 10000 8 2 Rs. 10001-30000 248 62 Rs. 30001-50000 97 24 Rs. 50001-70000 22 6 > Rs. 70000 25 6 Review of Economics and Development Studies, Vol. 6 (3) 2020, 567- 573 572 5. Conclusion and Discussion The aim of the study was to explore the role of BRDRS (NGO) through educational projects to empower the community in Balochistan. In this study, it was found that the association in education and community development projects which play a vital role in community development. The results of the study were in line with Mora et al. (2020), where education seems to have an important role for contributing and developing suitable and appropriate competencies for the sustainable development in the community at large. Another study (Brude, 2004) focusing the INGO’s best practices in educational projects were aligned with current research, where Non-Governmental Organization could potentially serve in the education sector to promote or develop the community at large at national and international level. However, the role of NGO’s may not be negated in empowering community for the sustainable development process in the society (Nikkhah and Redzuan, 2010; Hibbard and Tang, 2004). The paper illustrated the significance of various BRDRS educational projects in achieving community development. These projects ultimately trigger to develop the capacities of the individuals to improve the level of the quality of their lives. 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