NGOs and poverty issues in peri-urban areas

Poverty reduction is the top-most element in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations those have provided a broad way for the development planning professionals on the globe to assess their past performance in the important aspects of development planning as well as to plan their strategies for the design period of 2000-2015. The United Nations sees the nations as members of a global family and expects them to work for the fellow-beings setting some guidelines, for instance, ‘The millennium Development Goals can be achieved if immediate steps are taken to implement existing commitment.NGOs, poverty, peri-urban areas

NGO field workers in Pakistan

NGOs came into the society in their present form after World War II and more precisely in 1960s. Before that also different forms of philanthropy existed. Like elsewhere in the world, in Pakistan also state and the market were the two sectors catering for different needs of the people. When foreign funding started coming into the poor countries, the channel of NGOs was considered more appropriate including the fact they had roots in the society and the benefit could reach the far flung areas. NGO field workers are the real actors in the NGOs’ activities but sadly the NGOs those raise the slogans of working for the destitute do not bother to facilitate the NGO field workers. Eventually the NGO field workers are facing problems of job insecurity, poor salary structure, unhealthy working environment and even harassment especially in case of women NGO field workers in Pakistan.Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), NGO field workers, wage level and structure, working conditions

THE MARKETING OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES: Understanding the concepts of marketing and market orientation of social enterprises within the context of Pakistani market

The concepts of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises have been extensively discussed in the previous two decades, yet the topic is still not matured yet. Most of the available literature is focused on defining these terms. Similarly, limited number of authors has discussed the marketing function of these enterprises or how marketing is interpreted in social entrepreneurship models. However, there is a plethora of literature on marketing entailing many different theories, amongst which the newest one is the “market orientation concept”. Market orientation is a mix of customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination suggesting marketing to be a part of the business philosophy. This study focuses on the marketing and market orientation of social enterprises while giving an overview of the literature of marketing and market orientation in social enterprises. This study aims to provide two basic questions, 1) what is the literature on marketing and market orientation of social enterprises while explaining the literature of social enterprises in Pakistan and 2) how these concepts are interpreted in social enterprises in Pakistani market. Key features of research methodology include case study approach while conducting thematic analysis using thematic networks. The results indicate that only a limited number of authors have discussed market orientation concept in social enterprises. The results from the interview data indicate the usage of marketing by a firm unconsciously without a specific marketing department. In addition to that, it has been found that in social enterprise world competition is tackled through a win-win approach with a view that many enterprises working for society improve the society which is the basic mission of any social enterprise. The data also showed that in Pakistani market, social enterprise concept is not legally used yet, which allows for more room for innovation. This study intends to give a new perspective to the theorists to use market orientation concept in social enterprises and also to managers to use marketing as their business philosophy in order to satisfy the stakeholders for better delivery of their businesses and as well for social good.siirretty Doriast

The effects of utilizing smartphone in enhancing students' English writing skills in Pakistan

Though mobile learning offers myriad language learning opportunities to digitally smart learners, yet Pakistani lecturers are still utilizing conventional pedagogical methods to teach English writing skills. The objective of this 8-week study was to investigate the effects of smartphone in enhancing students’ English writing skills in Pakistan. To conduct this mixed method study, purposive sampling was employed to choose 45 intermediate students as participants. The pre-test/post-test, questionnaire on motivation and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. In addition, the study investigated the views of the one lecturer and four students regarding the effects of utilizing smartphone as a teaching and learning tool. The quantitative data was analyzed by applying Paired-samples t-test employing SPSS (Windows version 24.0). However, the qualitative data was analyzed and interpreted holistically based on the emerging themes. The key findings from the Paired-samples t-test indicated that the students significantly scored higher (after intervention utilizing smartphones) on their overall mean scores not only for the descriptive essay and its eight components but also for motivation. Similarly, the qualitative findings revealed that smartphone played an effective role that motivated the students to enhance their writing skills by engaging them in a fun learning and student-centered environment. Based on the findings, it is recommended that future studies should use smartphones to address other genres of writing with female samples from other provinces of Pakistan. Moreover, the findings support the theories such as multimedia, mobile learning, cooperative learning, process approach and theory of motivation. Besides, the curriculum designers should promote the utilization of smartphones to address issues in writing skills

Skill Formation Strategies for Sustaining 'The Drive to Maturity' in Pakistan.

This paper outlines some problems in the articulation of a national skill formation strategy seeking to sustain ‘the drive to maturity’ of the Pakistan economy. We examine the thought of two economists—Adam Smith and Amartya Sen—to identify market-, society-, and state-related skills that they theorise as necessary for sustaining an economy’s ‘drive to maturity’. We then briefly outline Michel Foucault’s social theory to contextualise these skill formation paradigms within the institutional structure characteristic of mature capitalism. We argue that integration within global capitalist order leaves little room for the articulation of such a skill formation national strategy. Pakistan is therefore likely to share the fate of the majority of the under-developed countries which are experiencing de-skilling and detechonolgising