My life will go on

Building a New Team

2012-02-10T23:38:00.004+05:00

Developing a contingency plan is very important for the project to be initiated by any Project Management Unit, this was today's conclusion in our meeting with all the team players. A few days back i started working to build a progressive team for the "Strengthening Rule of Law Project" and today was the day of my realization that my efforts were in the right direction. During the day with all the team players i enjoyed a lot, as after a long time the momentum came back. We ate, we worked and scheduled for upcoming tasks to be undertaken by each player. The event was designed, finalized and responsibilities were shared. each player (I would prefer to use this world as the project team is highly motivated to play the game) was given time to prepare his/her strategy for contributing to the project goal.

The project manager was appointed and i took the overall supervision only, to guide the team in respective scope. Rather than managing project i preferred to be a team player and developed my TOR to be in coordination wing only so that each player have enough space in decision making by their own.

My point in project management remains the same i.e "give space to the team players and develop trust" now when i am able to develop trust the project achieves its objectives timely, because trust in team is everything i build teams on trust and when it is gone, team is finished so for the whole one week we had exercises relating developing trust, and i assume i am pretty successful in my objective :).

One of the exercise which we really enjoyed was the "EYE CONTACT" in the eye contact exercise we build pairs of the teams and shuffled it from time to time, each member was to stare his/her partner for 60 seconds. at start it felt awkward but slowly and gradually all the players were synchronized. Another exercise was "The Mine Field" in this exercise we paired the participants one was eye blinded to cross certain mines on the ground and he/she should not talk while his/her partner can see and talk and guide him to avoid the mines on the ground. the mines were simple things like ball, pieces of paper and coins etc.

The exercises did well i hope so ......

02 - Day Seminar on "Peace, Democracy and Pluralism"

2012-02-05T02:10:00.002+05:00

Social Transformation & Empowerment Program (STEP) in consortium with xaqubz consulting solutions is organizing a 02-Day seminar on "Peace, Democracy and Pluralism". The seminar will commence on 17-18 february 2012 at Peshawar. The initiative has been for mobilizing youth to productive activities and the uplift of community in respect of creating harmony in masses.

100 participants from District Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi & FATA including Bajour, Mohmand and Khyber Agency will be participating the event. For the purpose all the logistics arrangements are been carried out by Social Transformation & Empowerment Program (STEP), while xaqubz consulting solutions is providing technical assistance to the intervention.

One major component of the seminar will be a dialogue between the elected representatives and the youth on peace building in the province badly hit by the harms of terrorism and war-on-terror.

The Resource Persons for the seminar will be:

Mr. Neveed Jan, Sahibzada, GM Human Resources NADRA Pakistan
Mr. Khadim Hussain, Managing Director BKTEF
Mr. Fazal Rahim Marwat, Chairman Textbook board KP
Professor Shahbaz Khattak, Professor in Pakistan Study University of Peshawar
and off-course me as well :)

further updates are coming soon. stay tuned...

Back to blogger

2012-01-31T20:51:00.001+05:00

After messing up the whole of wordpress blog i am back to blogger. Call it a failure or another development, i don't mind. Well actually the problem was the domain i was using, i was using my organizational domain for the purpose of blogging and encountered a few issues which were not making any sense to me.. i tried to stick with wordpress but that was not possible so i shifted my whole blog here again to keep on blogging. Though its a long time i am away from blogger but seems there are no major changes in the blogger layout and its structure. I hope this will be good for the future of my blogging.
I will try to bring up the missing blogs soon :)

Alternate Dispute Resolution - Gender Justice Through Musalihat AnjumanProject - UNDP

2011-08-01T02:44:00.000+05:00

When we think about social development and things that hinders the process we come across various issues in our social setup. One main factor which is known to all of us is the accessibility of a common man to justice. We may say that we have all the establishment working for the cause and we may argue that each district is having its judicial system but if we meet people coming to these facilities provided by the government, we can understand how tough it is while lagging a case for years. although judicial system is trying to speed up the process still there is a premise that can not be ignored, and that is, either the cases are in innumerable amount or the number of judicial setups present are very few. United Nations Development Program in collaboration with Local Government of Pakistan in response to the situation has initiated a project titled "Gender Justice Through Musalihat Anjuman Project". The Project aims to strengthen the Non-formal system present in our culture "The Jirga". Jirga plays a vital role in the provision of justice to local folks at their doorsteps, if strenghthened can impact on the enormous inflow of cases to the judiciary system. Thus UNDP and government in addition to the implementation partners mobilized the jirga members at each Union Council level and started strengthening the system by providing

Capacity Building Program
Organizational Development of Jirgas
Technical Assistance

For the purpose on 25th of July i was invited to conduct a training on Gender Justice Through Musalihat Jirgas, The training was a 04 day event at Swat. It was a memorable and wonderful event because of the inputs from participants.

During Session

Discussion with Participants

After the training ended a Training of Trainers was arranged by UNDP for all the consultants and Trainers on Alternate Dispute Resolution Skills. A 04 Day session at Abbotabad where Ms. Khudija was the facilitator for the workshop. The team was provided with the best of training methodologies and content. 3 days were given to the content review where each session was carefully reviewed. a few of the snaps from the TOT.

TOT - Gender Justice through Masalihat Anjuman Project (UNDP)

2011-06-06T00:24:00.000+05:00

United Nations Development Programme in collaboration with Government of Pakistan is strengthening Masalihat Jirga Forums at Union Council level. Government of Pakistan in Collaboration with UNDP established platforms Masalihat Anjuman on Union Council level to strengthen and improve the problems of local issues and gender infirmities through a project Gender Justice Through Masalihat Anjuman Project. This project is initially started in eight districts of all the four provinces and in each province two districts are selected by the consultancy of the administration. In Khyber Pukhtunkhwa the government at it first stage selected abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan though at its second stage districts of Haripur, Nowshera and Mardan were being selected. Where as in 2010 districts of Buner and Swat were also selected. In pakistan Gender infirmities, injustice and women abuse are the first hand problems one should face. Allah has rewarded man and women with equal rights and respect as Human Beings thats why men and women are given equal rights but if someone violates the rules or considers women weak and abuse them then this is our duty to stand against it. The project scope and objectives are;

To establish Masalihat Anjuman in all the Union Councils of the selected districts and ensure a substitute system to provide justice to those women who are victoms.
To enhance the capacity of Masalihat Anjuman in order to flourish gender justice
In order to create equal, considerate and accurate justice, establish linkages between Masalihat Anjuman, Police and judiciary
To aware and mobilize men against women abuse acts
In order to work on the project support will be taken from Federal and Provincial Organizations, district administration, civil society and law implementing authorities, judiciary, local scholars and all the concerned organizations.

During TOT

For the purpose a 05 day session plan was designed on June 01 - 05, 2011. In first 03 days Resource person focused on the modules developed to enhance the concepts and contents. In these three days following modules were discussed one by one;

SINFI HASASIAT, Module - 1
Qawaneen Sai Agahi, Module – 2
Masalihati Jirga – Qiyam – o – Faraiz, Module – 3

For each module one day was kept in session plan. During the sessions questions were asked by the participants and were duly answered by the resource person. The Resource Person actively involoved all the participants by different means in which participants’ presentation, brainstorming sessions, group work etc were noteworthy. The Participants were provided with a question answer session after each discussion that summarisd the whole discussion.
The last 02 days were scheduled in training design for modren training methodologies. During these 02 days the resource person made it sure to involove all the participants in learning the methodology of training to be delivered. During these sessions the resource person imparted emerging knowledge in training methodology.
At the end of the training each participant was given a session to deliver, the purpose of this activity was to aware each participant on his streghth and gaps. In feedback session at the end of each session participants were provided with a positive feedback to improve their skills in training methodology. The Training Methodologies discussed were;

Ice-breaking
Brainstorming
Group exercises
Use of Audio Video Aids
Energizers
Illustrated presentations
Case studies
Role Plays

FATA Livelihood Project by GIZ

2011-05-29T19:01:00.000+05:00

FATA Livelihood Project is an intervention of GIZ in collaboration with FATA Secretariat, Government of Pakistan. The intervention titled "QABAILI JUWAND JWAK PROJECT" is designed keeping in view the purpose of achieving “KHA JUWAND” for the inhabitants of FATA. The Technical Advisor of the Project - FLP Mr. Mumtaz Mehsood designed the project in 08 steps which the project team calls “08 Qadam”. At each step of the project the target beneficiaries are involved in the development process so that the target group/community shall understand the concepts developed and sustain after even the funding stops. For the purpose at this stage three organizations are assisting the project in their thematic areas;

Center of Excellence for Rural Development responsible for technical assistance to the target beneficiaries
CAMP assisting GTZ and target beneficiaries in the implementation of the project at grass root level
DEWAH, assisting the project steps in implementation

The eight steps developed in the project are;

Step - 01

At first step an introduction of the project is given at Tehsil & Village level. at Tehsil level Political Administration presents FATA Livelihood Project (FLP) and its Facilitating Partners to the elders of selected villages. After which the Facilitating partners presents the project to elders and influential community members at village level

Step - 02

The second stage of project is very important in a sense that it unites the community in the form of a Community Based Organization called “KALIWALA TARAQIATI GHWANDA”. At village level in consultation with community elders and members CBO leadership and members are nominated for the general body. The General Body then selects or elects the Executive Body usually with about 05 to 07 representatives.

Step - 03

Selection of Quick Impact Projects - QIP is carried out at this stage. Striving for consensus the CBO in consultation with Facilitating Partner chooses a quick impact project which is designed and implemented by Facilitating partner so that the CBO shall have an insight of project management in real scenario.

Step - 04

At this stage the capacity of CBO is built by involving the members in Community Based Management Skills Trainings (CMST) and Leadership Management Skills Trainings (LMST). This phase ensures that the CBO is capable of leading and managing the organization in context of project management and development.

Step - 05

After the capacity of CBOs is built the CBO develops a Village Development Plan called “Kaliwala Taraqiati Mansoba” The village Development Plan is the integral part of this project making it possible for the CBO to identify, design and implement a project at village level. The technical assistance needed at this stage is provided by FLP and facilitating partners

Step - 06

At this phase the for the developed Village Development Plan a project proposal is developed. In proposal project feasibility in technical, environmental and social perspective is carried out. furthermore work-plan and financial estimates are the key factors of this project document.

Step - 07

At this stage the project proposal developed is appraised and evaluated by local administration and community development fund. if the proposal is socially, environmentally and technically sound it is approved otherwise the proposal is sent back for redesigning.

Step - 08

At this stage of the project the funds are transferred to CBO for the implementation of approved proposal. The implementation of project leads to minimize issues and problems at local level by involving the target beneficiaries and leading them to the desired goal which FLP and the communities call “KHA JUWAND”

Personal Opinion

The success of any project lies in the ownership of implementing bodies, in the case of QABAILI JUWAND JWAK Project, involving community to bring a better livelihood can be a milestone for other projects. It is like developing community through community interventions, at the same time fund is injected in a way that is acceptable to the community and they perceive that it is the reward for what they are doing and what they have to do. Bringing the word development in the lives of vulnerable such as the inhabitants of FATA is a very difficult task, because of the process itself. If we think about the development process we come to know that it is far steady than one think and far slow than it looks like, but when you involve the community to participate in the process for itself, is just like you have injected a catalyst to a chemical reaction. I think and in my understanding which is too much little that project design at this point is very crucial aspect in the project management processes which here is being done in an extraordinary way. As we know here that the project is designed in such a way that the community is owning, facilitating and implementing by itself, can be a success factor for the project.

Some snaps from Enterprise Development Trainings (International Rescue Committee)

2011-04-19T18:53:00.000+05:00

Participants Presentation

Group Work during training

Product Development during training

Session delivery during training

Capacity Building of Community Entrepreneurs

2011-03-28T20:00:00.000+05:00

Due to recent floods most of the businesses were vanished in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. IDP’s were not yet even settled satisfactorily in their areas, displaced due to the War against Terror, that the destructions of the floods took place. Such people have lost their hope and they need to be reminded that it is never too late to start a new beginning. District Charsadda and Nowshera are among the worst affected districts in respect of various sectors like livelihood, infrastructure and local economy etc. To rebuild what our communities has lost various organizations are working in different thematic areas. Among these International Rescue Committee is one, working in recovery of livelihood at district Charsadda and Nowshera.

Today we have initiated a capacity building programme for local service providers and entrepreneurs of district Charsadda and Nowshera in enterprise development from the platform of International Rescue Committee. Day 01 was fun because of the energetic team we were having, though we had few challenges to be met like Resource mobilization to time management, each factor was considered priority by the team of consultants and IRC Team. Training started on time with expected number of participants, starting the training with icebreaking, sessions were conducted as planned. The energy level of participants and team was high. Besides the sessions we had a few activities as well which resulted in bringing up some innovative ideas from participants. The credit of this good start goes to Mr. Haseeb (Program Manager) Said Nasir, Miandad and other team members Thank you all. I hope the programme will achieve its targets. :)

02 Days at Jalozai Camp

2011-03-20T04:50:00.000+05:00

Working with UNHCR was a learning experience. a week ago the Organization for Youth and Development were asked to conduct 01-Day activity at Jalozai Camp. The objective of the activity was to get a fair number of Internally Displaced Persons living at the camp. As on my first visit i was a bit frightened because of the population i saw, and the area covered by the camp, but yesterday when we started the activity i got the impression that one day is fair enough to complete it. the enthusiasm and energy level of the enumerators was extraordinary and high. When we stepped in the field i said to Mr. Yaris supporting my team from UNHCR, that instead of 5 O'clock 04 O'clock is the time when i will submit the whole of data to you, he smiled and said OK. well roaming around supporting my enumerators and coordinating with camp office the task was well done and on time. before the activity we visited the jalozai camp and planned our strategy, that how each team should intervene in the camp and then the whole team was moved to Pearl Continental Hotel Peshawar for an orientation and finalizing the plans. Early next day the whole team was mobilized to camp and with in time data was collected.

My observations after the activity were;

The Implementation Partners were a bit confused what we were doing as we were not allowing them to be involved in the activity
For Security reasons the whole camp was sealed, no ins and outs were left
The Team Enumerators when they started took upto 8 minutes but later on data collection was carried out for one family in 2 to 3 minutes
Trust developed during and after the process with UNHCR and community
IDPs were frightened because of a rumor that we are going to evacuate the camp
The Planning process and implementation was synchronized timely as needed
The lessons learned were documented timely by each enumerators after the process
Resource Mobilization needs a little more focus

Enterprise Development Trainings at Charsadda & Nowshera

2011-03-01T02:51:00.000+05:00

Today had a fruitful meeting with officials of International Rescue Committee Peshawar, i wouldn't call it a meeting rather i will say it was an interview to hire consultants for Enterprise Development project (though this is not the right method for hiring some consultant). The project aims to be implemented for vulnerable flood affected entrepreneurs aiming to build their capacities in enterprise establishment, development and especially business plan development. In this project IRC expects following deliverables;

Module Development. In this respect IRC expects from the consultant to develop a training module that shall be taught in three day training workshop to community service providers and entrepreneurs. what i didn't get during the discussion was, the IRC officials were again and again redefining module in a certain specific manner, and the interesting part was they were not willing to incorporate the costing and business plan part in the module, though i insisted on it again and again. But god know what have they found in the need assessment phase

Training Workshops (Session Delivery) The second phase of this consultancy is to deliver the training to community entrepreneurs and local service providers. IRC have already assessed the need of target group and wants to design a three day workshop for the target group. The consultant shall deliver 06 training workshops.

Post Training Analysis I was a bit hesitated when we were discussing this point because of this issue that impact analysis can not be conducted just after you had imparted the training. the process is a slow process and impact comes after some specific time depending upon the nature of the training. i categorised these two concepts in two different terms first post test and second impact analysis. if it is post test then trainer shall be responsible for the post and pre test evaluation. while if it is impact analysis then the process changes its scope and it can not be done during the time span provided i.e 01 month for the whole project that means module development, trainings and post test evaluation, impact analysis can not be incorporated in this month with these activities.

i have suggested a few things to them regarding the reporting and evaluation of the training activities still, until and unless i am equipped with need assessment document i can not say anything in this respect. hopefully IRC will understand the actual need or communicate with me if i misunderstood the scenario.

best of luck for the coming time.

PS: The team has officially started working on institutional development for KIFI production, and Institute of Human Development (HYTECH)

Organizations and Development Sector at KPK

2011-02-21T02:21:00.000+05:00

We hear and see a lot of organizations working in development sector, contributing to same cause and developing communities by intervention in human development, research, infrastructure development and institutional building. Each organization claiming to provide the best deliverables and outcomes to the community and thus in document form we have the best model communities available at KPK. But it creates a lot of confusion when these organizations compare the documented improvements and developments with that of actually present on ground, a difference in ground realities and the claimed development is so big that again these organizations have to come up with some need assessment and starts working again.

and why is that, either they don't know or they don't want to know, whatever the case may be. As a consultant to various organization that wants to play their role in this development process and share their resources for the cause i usually stress on one thing and that only thing is the sustainability. most of the projects goes in vain because of this one point which usually is missing or is there but not actually formulated in a manner that can address it. each project or activity needs to be sustainable if we want to bring some change in the present scenario of our community or in a segment of a sector, because change never comes in one shot, it is a process that grows slowly and when it reaches to its maturity the audience or target group realize its importance. Till maturity its some thing that has to be persuaded and this sustainability factor is the only thing that pursued the the target group and process to attain maturity. Yesterday, i was having a meeting with a newly established organization who had worked in relief activity at flood affected areas of KPK. The organization has actively involved itself in the process with respect to bring prosperity to the general folks, but their activities starts ending one by one, they were having a better capacity building programme for a selected target group adding to that they were working for Internally displaced people and flood affectees as well but all of the activities were having one thing in common and that was lack or frail sustainability factor, and thus the projects ends up.

Not only development project, sustainability factor is very necessary for each activity that aims to bring some change in an organization, system or personal life. Be advised and think carefully about this factor while designing some project or change factor. best of luck for your efforts.

Know thyself, was Plato right?

2011-02-04T02:26:00.000+05:00

Today i had a strange encounter with an organization from DIKhan. One of my colleague called me to consult for some issues with an organization. I was wondering how and by what mean can i resolve something when i am bound of time as limited as 02 hours. well thats something another story, but the encounter i was talking about here was that my meeting was fixed with the organization that arrived to conduct some presentation to UNDP. Before the meeting started we had to discuss the different perspectives of organization, and after half an hour when they all said enough and i didn't get anything, confused and messy mind i thought there is something wrong with me. but all of a sudden a quotation hammered my mind "KNOW THYSELF", good i got it then, the team members sent by organization was having a problem and that was that they didn't have the complete idea of the organization. even when i asked about the Total Number of Assets the organization is having, i got an answer for the facilities they are providing.... and i got it ... time was short and they started their presentation, was good but not the best. and the only reason was that the presenter was not having complete insight of the organization. This is one kind of an organizational blunder to rely on someone who don't know much,the problem to the presenter was he was unaware about what is the purpose of this presentation, why they are presenting, and what perspective should they emphasize more during their presentation. The conclusion to me was simple that first know thyself then show thyself.

In normal life of an organization usually we encounter such situations when we are working in an organization, we see people who do not have enough preparation for their tasks and duties, are not aware of their own capabilities and capacities, their skills and knowledge and starts working on an assignment, their chances to failure increases. commitment here is something else but when you are starting something you should be aware of yourself, to how much extent you are capable of doing it. then when you identify the gap between your capabilities and the requirement for a certain assignment, it becomes very easy to accomplish it with in all constraints. Yesterday i was filling a form and at the end of the form i read "I have read and accepted the Terms of Conditions" and i realized thats this is the most ignored part in our everyday life, we do not want to analyze ourselves whether we are fit for the terms or not but in rush we sign and when we encounter some problem we starts blaming others. But the management is very clever, always say "you have signed it" and we say oooh.... but i haven't read that part.

so my point here to myself and you is KNOW THYSELF and before entering into any agreement, assignment or any working contract do read the terms and conditions as well because who knows, may be in future i or you are unable to fulfill the terms we have signed. do analyze your self do know thyself. i must say plato was right.. what do you say?

Need Assessment conducted at QIMS Swabi

2011-01-22T02:28:00.000+05:00

Whether you are in academics or in corporate, the changes that are vital in external environment affects you and your business. Quid-e-Azam Institute of Management at Swabi was established in 1993 from a school setup. Through continuos efforts and innovative ideas from the team the school was converted into a system of education spread over in 2 districts of Mardan and Swabi. A few days back during the discussion with governing body we came up to a decision to conduct need assessment for the organization. a session was scheduled today to conduct need assessment. during the session we had a focus group discussion, distributed questionnaires and conducted interviews from different tiers of management. interesting thing was when we interviewed the students there, it was astonishing that all of the respondents were satisfied. the data collected is now ready for analysis. hopefully the team will analyze it in couple of days.

Motivation …… does it mean money only

2011-01-11T04:41:00.000+05:00

Organizations usually think about performance of employees and motivation, and link them directly with basic needs identifies by Maslow without thinking being logical. And here logical means without finding out facts and figures that works for the organization. Every one knows from Maslow's Theory of Hierarchy that we have basic needs and then we have safety, belonging, esteem and self actualization stages. though most of us as managers in routine life think that Money is the basic motivator for all employees as we have basic needs and employees needs to fulfill it, so money can be the best motivator. But my thinking toward this issue is, as we live in a materialistic world our thinking is also becoming more and more materialistic. we see things and issues in a way that materialize it and hence money becomes the only solution to motivation etc. Yesterday when i was teaching my students on entrepreneurship and we came up with "thinking inside the box" in creative thinking we discussed it in detail that as every problem is unique in its nature so its solution shall be different from the previous ones, and when we think inside the box we came up with only one solution that is MONEY which in many cases is not the right solution.

a few days back i was studying a research conducted by MIT, the research is conducted in different environments and with different people and for every time the conclusion was;

As long as the task involved purely mechanical skills, the incentives worked as expected
Once the task called for cognitive skill – a larger reward led to poorer performance

the results of research were dramatically interesting and MIT conducted another test in INDIA where they thought that as the country is having low income rate and thus the money can be the basic motivator but still the results remained same.
Now if money is not the sole motivator for employees especially working with cognitive skills then what shall be the motivators then and after thorough studying they came up with few things like Autonomy, Mastery and purpose etc. And this means that people are not only looking for money where they work but they also look forward to Autonomy as they want to accomplish things in their own way, they have some urge to master a skill or be an expert in something or they work for some personal purpose. Now from this research i have come up with something like when your employees or the think tanks that are working for you, you should identify them psychologically as well what they want and how they want it, the more you have their insight the more you will be nearer to the best motivators for them. As for as money is concerned everyone work for money and no-one should work for free but besides money the employer shall also take in consideration the other factors as well.
Quotes about money and motivation
"Show me money, show me respect and show me attention ..... or show me the door"
"I want to be financially independent. I want to work (if I decide to work) on what I enjoy the most, not on what pays me the most"
"Your worth as a person does not come from what you are paid. It comes from who you are and what you give"
"Attitudes are more important than facts"

The Learning centers of Peshawar and Market linkages

2010-12-22T04:48:00.000+05:00

I have been in this business of Management Consultancy for past few years in peshawar. while dealing with management schools, other learning institutions and market i have observed a drastic gap between them. The corporate market and the learning centers at peshawar are in such situation where they seems to have limited access to each other. The corporate sector organizations at peshawar are lagging behind from the organizations present in other areas of Pakistan because of various issues including the political and geographical scenarios. As for as the development of any market is concerned it should be kept in mind that unless and until fresh energetic blood is injected to the market it can not evolve and develop. In most cases market is injected by innovation, human resource and other factors by various learning centers, that identify and fulfill the market demand as needed. At Peshawar unfortunately even the most prestigious and successful learning institutions have not developed any linkages with the market, and here i am not referring to just linkages i mean practical linkages which can benefit both sides.

When i was studying i had this perception in my mind that human resource needed by the corporate sector is actually filled by these learning centers, but when i graduated i came to know that practically due to weak linkages the corporate entities are very unfortunate to nurture their future and hence the institutions providing the human resource to these corporate entities are lagged behind in the field of research and development and most importantly market dynamism & innovation. these students and future managers and entrepreneurs while studying have only links with the theory and they have no exposure to the market which can envision the new ideas and future prospects. thus our future entrepreneurs need alot to learn when they come to market and practical life. life is not that easy for them because first they have to think out of the box which is created by the institutions itself.

These linkages can bring more prospects in development context for both the learning institutions (specially management Schools) and market, if strengthened. when this barrier is carefully tackled, most of the market needs will be fulfilled with in no time and can increase the career and employment opportunities in the current market. Most of the barriers that are resisting development will be erased from the scenarios and the corporate sector will able to see their prospective leaders, and entrepreneurs growing and opening new horizons.

Working with Brains

2010-12-09T23:25:00.000+05:00

After a long time i am back to blog. A few days back i got an opportunity to visit brains (Not that brains, Its Brains Post Graduate College at Peshawar). while conversing with Mr. Zafar, we came up with a plan to develop a Professional Development Center which shall be an autonomous body and shall be responsible for the development of Institute. Organizational Development is something which attracts me and i feel the inner satisfaction in this area. I met with the heads of departments and had a brainstorming session with them to get the most of them, and tried to come up with something. the increasing trend of accomplishments of tasks in projects and teams leading the Institute to bring an innovative way to capture its share in market. as per discussion with the team we agreed that the Professional Development Center will assist organization in technical assistance as well as shall conduct need based reasearches and build the capacity of its own employees as well as of the organizations in need.

from past few days i was working on this thing and came up with a plan which i am going to present it to the committee who will assess the plan. the salient features of the Professional Development Center are;

Professional Development Center (PDC) will work with entrepreneurial philosophy
It will generate its own operational funding and will be a source of funding to the institute
The employees of the PDC will be the in agreement with the PDC and not with the Brains till 1 year
the center will work in 3 thematic areas
- Human Resource Development
- Research & Development
- Technical Assistance in Management & Information Technology
The center will be having a flexible environment and will be a source of building the capacity of students in different skills.
Proactive Approach towards Emerging Issues and Affordable Cost will be the reasons for sustainability

for further details Brains P.G College

Institution Development – The Ideas to life

2010-11-04T04:53:00.000+05:00

FATA the Federally Administered Tribal Area in Pakistan is more prone and open to problems and issues related to livelihood and others. the office of administrator is trying its best to bring some initiative for uplifting the livelihood and fulfillment of needs for poor especially in Health and Education sector. At the moment there is no such systematic mechanism present at the office of Political Agent to facilitate the needy people in mentioned sectors in respect of needs fulfillment, cost and time. A few days back when i was meeting with the Political Agent of Khyber Agency, He showed me cases where the office provided a helping hand in terms of finances to the needy in provision of health and education facilities. They are helping and at the same time feeling that the efforts they are having needs to be more mechanized, efficient and effective by intervention of an institution which can handle all these cases timely, thinking about it while having enough time to study the mechanism and people, i developed a plan which was appreciated by the office. now the circumstances are such that time is too limited and short, and i had to deal it in such a manner that could effectively utilize the available resources for bringing up this idea to life.

I have started developing the Inception Report and this will bring us to a stage where we can further institutionalize it. main tasks in this assignment is the development of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). I hope this idea will bring a change in the livelihood of needy people from FATA.

Dengue Fever - Pakistan is alarmed

2010-11-01T02:37:00.000+05:00

From past few days i am observing smoke in different streets of our nighbourhood. first time when i observed it i thought something is burning in the street, went out but couldn't found anything. next day i realised its all about whats going on the media - The Dengue Fever and dengue virus.

The national Health Institute has confirmed one thousand, two hundred and seventy dengue cases across Pakistan. The News Channel Express 24/7 is of the view that One thousand cases have been reported in Karachi alone. if this is the case this virus is going to spread very quickly to areas where we had a long period of monsoon rains. The question is, could it be fatal? what should we do? do we have some vaccines to prevent it?
The dengue fever is something called a bonebreaker disease because of intens pain in the body. the symptoms are such that most of the people thinks that its a normal flu. Dengue fever usually starts suddenly with a high fever, rash, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, and muscle and joint pain. The severity of the joint pain has given dengue the name "breakbone fever." Nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite are common. A rash usually appears 3 to 4 days after the start of the fever. The illness can last up to 10 days, but complete recovery can take as long as a month. Older children and adults are usually sicker than young children.
Most dengue infections result in relatively mild illness, but some can progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever. With dengue hemorrhagic fever, the blood vessels start to leak and cause bleeding from the nose, mouth, and gums. Bruising can be a sign of bleeding inside the body. Without prompt treatment, the blood vessels can collapse, causing shock (dengue shock syndrome). Dengue hemorrhagic fever is fatal in about 5 percent of cases, mostly among children and young adults.
There is no specific treatment for dengue. Persons with dengue fever should rest and drink plenty of fluids. They should be kept away from mosquitoes for the protection of others. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is treated by replacing lost fluids. Some patients need transfusions to control bleeding.
There is no vaccine to prevent dengue. Prevention centers on avoiding mosquito bites when traveling to areas where dengue occurs and when in U.S. areas, especially along the Texas-Mexico border, where dengue might occur. Eliminating mosquito breeding sites in these areas is another key prevention measure.
Avoid mosquito bites when traveling in tropical areas:

Use mosquito repellents on skin and clothing.
When outdoors during times that mosquitoes are biting, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants tucked into socks.
Avoid heavily populated residential areas.
When indoors, stay in air-conditioned or screened areas. Use bednets if sleeping areas are not screened or air-conditioned.
If you have symptoms of dengue, report your travel history to your doctor.

Eliminate mosquito breeding sites in areas where dengue might occur:

Eliminate mosquito breeding sites around homes. Discard items that can collect rain or run-off water, especially old tires.
Regularly change the water in outdoor bird baths and pet and animal water containers.

Ref: http://www.dhpe.org/infect/dengue.html

Training Need Assessment of Female Community Entrepreneurs

2010-09-30T02:54:00.000+05:00

Today we had a scheduled meeting with Mr. Syed Zahid Ali Shah (Regional Coordinator AHAN) at 10:30am, after meeting him we had to assess the training needs of Female Community Entrepreneurs at Nowshera. AHAN is already working in Embroidery and other skills with the help of local influential community leader in Nowshera where they have remarkably well trained workers in the sector. we reached there by 12:00pm, had a focus group discussion with the local service providers and entrepreneurs. after thorough discussion and insight we concluded a few things to be assessed in near future for the better livelihood and skill enhancement of these entrepreneurs. on returning to AHAN we discussed the gaps identified with Mr. Zahid who agreed with our opinion for coming up with a pilot project to be implemented in the sector.

Now after assessment i have come up with same old gaps and stuff. As a community we have issues, problems which comes with our birth and evolves as we grow.... awareness and vision, we lack it. well educated and well groomed (known as such) still we are unaware of vision and we have little awareness of ourselves. Training doesn't mean to change the trainees in some kind of itchy witchy way it just gives you the insight, removes the coverings from the vision and bring awareness. I am trying to come up with a plan to overcome the above mentioned gaps in the cluster. Mostly i am convinced that the cluster needs a vision, awareness for gender roles and an insight in the enterprise development. Trying to come up with some new idea.... hope it will work.
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Moreover, today i also got an email confirmation from UNDP regarding the acceptance of our proposal on Sports Business Management Trainings in swat and buner, hopefully will be put in implementation as this months ends.
Peace to all:::
PS: Special Thanx to Ms. Roheen, Mr. Waqas and Ms. Saima (the upcoming entrepreneurs) for their dedicated inputs and hard-work in this regard. you are the best.....

Silence broken - From My Diary

2010-09-27T03:41:00.000+05:00

At last silence was broken today, after a long time i, all of sudden rushed to room took my diary and started writing something, a few moments later i had my poem. Its amazing when you get in to feeling like that. Its like mystical power drives you on a way which you don't know, but when you step into it, it reminds you some memories which are linked with it. Strange feeling it is, because you are sure about it that you don't remember a time when you had that moments but in subconscious you have a feeling that it happened somewhere in distant past. I had to admit that i am weak to these moments when ever they starts me carrying somewhere i don't resist and i flow with it because i feel peace in there like the taste of immortality. being carried by these emotional paradigm i feel strength with in me and that strength is enough for me and everybody else (i think) to start writing something or to express it with having some another way. PEACE to all

Snaps from Islamabad

2010-09-21T06:03:00.000+05:00

Had a visit to Islamabad to meet lali, while she was attending a Training on Teaching Methodology in English Access Micro-Scholarship Preogramme, we had good time there. snaps reminds me of the days i thought i misplaced the whole folder somewhere or deleted... khair it was fun.

Eid-ul-fitr

2010-09-12T04:24:00.000+05:00

I had this exciting feeling after a long time when I said my prayers early in the morning, enjoyed hot cup of tea with mother, and O God! The smell of those parathas, I enjoy it being at home with my mother and relatives and to feel the sense of unity and coherence. After I had my breakfast I went to my grandmother to wish her greetings of eid. Each one of the family member reveals his/her strange energy of life on this day. Being a Muslim we had our eid prayer and went to say our greetings to relatives and friends around. I also made a few phone calls to friends and relatives who were away especially my father who was at Lahore with Yaseen and Zarghona. The whole day was having fun excluding all those worrisome thoughts that were in my mind from past few days.

Every religion has rituals and stuff as the definition of religion says, “A set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power”. As Muslims this day for us is full of excitement and joy. Wearing all those colorful clothes, children running in happiness and demanding for eidi, and exploring each other with their new look and amazement the day starts with greetings and ends with excitement. As a matter of fact this day encourages us to meet, join and combine and to see each other for good and happiness. Usually sweet dishes are prepared especially vermicelli (Sawayyan) when it comes to literature. The Urdu and Pashto literature describes it very well in especially in novels and poetry. Books like Hilal-e-eid, mira-a-tul uroos etc. for further details on eid visit Wikipedia.

PADDS – A disease that threatens organizations

2010-09-04T02:59:00.000+05:00

Sometimes we feel bad things about the organization we are working for. we see things not going in right direction although inputs are being provided by the workers and members of the team, still find it hard to achieve what they target. ever imagined why our organizational costs increases without observing any change in the operational processes or outputs, ever seen clients slipping out from hands, ever thought about companies' reliability and customer satisfaction with a declining trend, if yes then your organization may be infected by a disease which is increasingly spreading like plague in the industry. The disease which i am talking about is known as Performance Attention Deficit Disorder Syndrome the disorder should be carefully and properly diagnosed as mostly we ignore these symptoms to be the lack of responsibility, ownership and bla bla in our team members (its not always the team members who are the cause for such disorders). The symptoms of the Performance Attention Deficit Disorder Syndrome are;

Incentives

In PADDS infected organizations people are not motivated financially to pay attention to process improvement. The process performance in these organizations are not measured and hence not tied to financial results and no compensation is given for the process improvement. the executives of these organizations and board of top management mostly measures the performance with tactical and transactional scales. The management do not identify real needs of the customers or relative health of a process. Resources and especially financial resources are usually managed by functions, markets and products etc and not by process. incentives are not present or if present are very less for process improvement.

Behaviors

Organizational time is spent on what. Top management in their decisions and policies etc show that they do not care about process improvement, especially when comes informal discussions in tea or lunch break they show less care about it. when top management communicate they don't make room for process improvement usually their communication is directive and hence resist innovation coming from the team members.

Usually in these organizations when new products and services are at launching phase, the planning does not include process improvement considerations or initiatives.

Organization

Healthy organizations have units for functions like process improvement etc. in these infected organization there is no focal point for managing processes. without any organizational focal point there is no power, and no point for attention. Organizations should care about a focal point for process improvement.

How to prevent organization from being infected with PADDS?

Involve the team members in the decision making process
Incentives should be provided for process improvement
Team members should be recognized for bringing positive process improvement initiatives or suggestions
Top Management while communicating formally or informally show that they care about process improvement
Progressively discuss processes and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for bringing any change keeping in view the changes coming from external environment
A focal point should be decided for the process improvements
Top Management should appreciate the team players for bringing up any process improvement initiatives
Developing SOPs employees should be kept in consideration and involved at each point of time
Pray to God and feel for your workers

Leadership ( A small intro)

2010-08-26T13:29:00.000+05:00

Leadership provides direction to the vision it is having. A leader is an influential person in any group who provides a vision for the future to its group and directs to achieve it. In organizations when we think and work on succession planning we are caring about our leadership, we identify and build the capacities of potential leaders.
leaders and followers have a relationship of trust and affiliation to the team, this brings a synergy in terms of inputs and productivity. In organizational scenario when leaders loose this trust, brings in issues which resist the advancement of human resource in terms of knowledge, skills and productivity. In this case slowly and gradually the workers loose ownership to the team and organization and brings the productivity with a declining graph. The leaders provide the trust and followers acquire it, leaders build the relationship and followers promote it.
In some cases leaders are not aware of the case that they are loosing the followers. In organizations while achieving its goals timely and improving its productivity while not recognizing the employees and team fellows they are having, is one of the main issue which even increase the employee turnover. And when employees turnover is high leaders find it hard to retain the employees worthy for the organization. in some cases leaders expect from the followers while resists and prevent the followers to expect things which are important to them, and it is with importance that in any relationship whether it is with in a family/friends or in a work/organization scenario for a win-win situation leaders/you must be able to accept the expectations followers/relatives are having otherwise soon he/you will loose leadership, because leadership is when followers are. to retain employees leaders must consider human resource with a 360 degree approach, should consider his working as well as personal needs.

leaders should;

should be congruent should Always tell the truth. when you tell truth it creates a foundation of fairness and openness.
Communicate constantly even if he thinks the information is not worthy to be communicated (considering time constraints) and exhibit strong and active listening skills.
Be approachable.
Be frank, but kind. Let everyone know what is expected and be demanding as far as standards and values are concerned.
Be encouraging.
Be a problem solver and part of the solution, and be willing to delegate.
Show patience, discipline and determination.
Love what you do and have a generous spirit.
Find balance in your work/life experiences and encourage and help others to do the same.
Lead by example. Be receptive to new ideas. Be both a teacher and a learner. Value creativity and let people stretch themselves.
Exercise moral courage.
Create an ongoing reward and recognition program.
Have a heart and don't be afraid to show it.

peace to all

Mr. Unknown

2010-08-15T03:53:00.000+05:00

Strange thing happened walking alone in the midst of a deserted place, unknown to me in my internal relics of civilizations…. I met him so called Mr. Unknown I don’t know why he calls himself; though I questioned him but at first he didn’t answered me. With a strange look in his eyes staring at me like he will eat me and cut through me in the wildest of manners.

Then i plucked courage and moved towards him to ask why he is so alone? And why he is living a life like this in a place where no one will think of. The conversation was not so long because of the fear I was having and the waves driving in my spinal in a painful manner. I asked a few things I want to share it with you?

Me: What is your name?

Mr. Unknown: Does it matter if you know my name? Who cares about a forgotten soul of his mother or father whom they burry under the ground and they hurry because they want to leave the place which is scary?

Me: I don’t understand?

Mr. Unknown: I myself do not understand you how can you leave me here in a place so deserted where I can hardly breathe?

Me: Still cannot get you, are you a philosopher?

Mr. Unknown: NO I AM NOTTT…

Me: I am sorry but you seem to talk like psychics or mystics, I cannot get you?

Mr. Unknown: That’s why you have left me you think I am difficult to be understood and difficult to be dealt with it, in fact I am not.

Me: You seem to be in pain, I am sorry if I have hurt you.

Mr. Unknown: Pain, how do you think a soul will feel when he is drawn from the body he is created for and was supposed to live with.

Me: Look my friend I don’t understand any word of you, please do tell me your name to call your relatives if possible. They will come after you I am sure and will take you from this deserted place.

Mr. Unknown: My boy, you asking for my name to ask my relatives for help, so go and tell all the Humans living on this earth that your soul named HUMANITY you left is alone in your deserted self. And by god you as you left me, you lived in a shallow world. Do not come to me to help me but be yourself and call me I will be there to make your life as it was before peaceful and humane, loving and cherishing and you will realize it soon but do not waste the time as it’s very little to calculate.

...

I didn't get this as well but with that words I left that place that “I will try to” and started looking for humans the relatives of this so called humanity, I Don’t know them if you know them please guide me to them so that Humanity could be relieved.