Giving Compass' Take:

• The Nation reports on the 1st National Forum on Philanthropy in Pakistan, which included a call to fund more education initiatives for children in need and to support small businesses.

• Will outside NGOs be able to make a difference in this region with more buy-in from the government and in-state actors? The Forum is a positive indicator.

• The Gates Foundation recently announced financial aid for Pakistan, and there are more resources for donors looking to get involved.

The 1st National Forum on Philanthropy in Pakistan was hosted by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) jointly with Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) and Global Donors Forum (GDF) at the Commission Secretariat here on Tuesday.

The theme of this forum was “Conventional to Strategic: A New Paradigm in Giving” held with an aim to celebrate the achievements of PCP since 2001 and join heads to bring improvement in philanthropic operations of PCP.

Addressing the forum, Dr. Ishrat Hussain remarked that philanthropy in Pakistan has three supporting instruments including state, market and community. He said the state allocates resources to various sectors while performing the responsibility of ensuring equitable resource distribution.  He maintained that the philanthropic organizations play a great role in filling gaps by taking care of people deprived of necessary facilities. He stressed the need for enabling the underprivileged segments of society to create their own assets.

He further said philanthropic organizations need to help out-of-school children acquire education. Investment in provision of skills including vocational and technical training makes a big difference. He urged the charity bodies to pay due attention to micro financing, as creating know-how of small businesses among the poor is a significant task.

Read the full article about what philanthropy in Pakistan looks like by Rahul Basharat at nation.com.pk.