Organizational Profile

Family Planning Association of Pakistan was founded in 1953. It affiliated with International Planned Parenthood Federation, London a year later. The status of the organization has changed, from affiliate to Member of the Federation. It faced many ups and downs but continued its pioneering work amidst tough resistance. Starting from one room operations it has now emerged as the largest service provider in the field of SRHR/FP in Pakistan. Organization has renamed itself as ‘RAHNUMA’, which means a guide (for development and prosperity), while positioning itself to respond to the challenges of the new age. The R-FPAP adheres to the Federation’s standards of membership responsibilities, normative standards and policies.

i) Advocacy for SRHR

ii) Access to SH and RH/FP services

iii)  Adolescents and catering to their SH and RH needs

iv) Post Abortion Care/Menstrual Regulation and

v) AIDS/HIV, combating HIV &AIDS. Sustainability, Leadership and Governance strategy had been set to provide support to the program

Rahnuma-FPAP, however, has revised its Vision and Mission statements for its new Strategic Plan 2016-19. The Vision is to ensure that ‘all people in Pakistan are empowered to make choices about their SRH and wellbeing in a world without discrimination’ and the Mission has been redefined as

  • to lead a movement for SRHR and FP as a basic human right in Pakistan and

to provide and enable sustainable and quality SH and RH including FP information and services to all particularly vulnerable and underserved in partnership with government and all other stakeholders.

  1. federal, provincial and district governments respect, protect and commit to sexual health and reproductive health and rights
  2. 48.5 million people are aware of and capacitated to exercise their SRHR
  3. 33.45 million quality integrated sexual health and reproductive health services delivered and
  4. a high performing, efficient and accountable organization. Social inclusion, diversity, passion, voluntarism and accountability will be the values framework in which R-FPAP will deliver. The organization will generate support of 53,000 volunteers and 75,000 online activists during the strategic plan period of four years.

Structure of the organization is comprised of two major legs; governance and management. Governance of the organization vests in its volunteers. The democratic Governance structure is based on National Council, National Executive Committee, Regional Councils and Regional Coordinating Committees. This governance structure is complemented by professional management, which is located in five Regional Offices (Punjab, Sind, Federal/AJK/Gilgit Baltistan, KPK and Baluchistan Regions) Ten Program Offices (PMOs) fall under the jurisdiction of these Regional Offices. They are currently located in Badin, Faisalabad, Chakwal, Turbat, Azad Jaummu and Kashmir, Gilgit, Kohat, Muzzafargarh, Mardan and Haripur. At the Head Office level, the Chief Executive Officer leads the professional team. Management at the Head Office level has two tiers; that is, Directors, and Managers, supported by Program Officers and Program Associates. The total staff strength of the organization in 1,117.

Rahnuma-FPAP’s contribution to the government’s national level CYP achievement has been in the range of 10-7%. The organization’s Service Delivery network is comprised of 104 Static Units including 9 Family Health Hospitals and 3 KATO Development Complexes; 2356 Associated Clinics; 10 Mobile Service Units; 6 toll-free Youth Help Lines, 6 Youth Friendly Clinics and 52 Youth Resource Centers and 2468 Community Based Distributors (CBDs). Organization has also established a Regional Training Institute (RTI) at Lahore to provide trainings to its own service providers, staff and volunteers as well as to the staff and volunteers of the other stakeholders. At present FPA Pakistan is covering an area of 77910 sq. km. and population of 12,569,000 in all its areas of operations.

In the Public Sector, the organization has experience of working with Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force, City Government Lahore, Pakistan Railways, Government of AJK, Northern Areas Health Department, Cantonment Boards of POF, Wah and Heavy Rebuild Factory, Texila. To promote service delivery, organization also implements women empowerment and youth empowerment programs with the provision of micro credits in collaboration with Khushhali Bank.

In private sector organization has developed partnership to increase the coverage of SRHR services and information. Organization has engaged 2169 private practitioners, 1519 community based distributors and 949 traditional birth attendants all over the country in order to expand the outreach and strengthen referral networks for quality SRHR services. Organization is also working with 35 NGOs supporting them both in technical and financial terms. Ten of these NGOs have been equipped to a level where they are now self-sustained and providing services to the people independently.

Accountability, Financial Management and Transparency:

Affiliated to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) an association of over 180 national MAs encompassing the globe, the R-FPAP adheres to the Federation’s standards of membership responsibility, normative standards and policies. Rahnuma-FPAP is regularly accredited by International Planned Parenthood Federation, London (IPPF), starting from October 2003, after every five years. Locally, R-FPAP is regularly accredited by Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) since February 2005.

Rahnuma-FPAP keeps a separate account in a scheduled bank for each other donor’s projects.  The transactions are made through bank transfers/cheques. A chartered firm with international affiliation audits the FPAP accounts.  Their reports are presented to National Council meeting and fully discussed by its members.  The audit reports are also shared with IPPF and its member associations in South Asia Regions and also with donors and public through FPAP’s Annual Reports.

System of Internal Control has been established and its operations are being regularly reviewed.  There are nine areas which have been approved for focusing in internal reviews such as

i) activities audit

ii) purchase

iii)        vehicle running cost

iv) sustainability fund

v) travel and daily allowance

vi) physical verification of assets in all system

vii)       legal cases

viii)      suppliers evaluation and enlistment at all regions and

ix) reporting formats

Rahnuma-FPAP has two type of audit. One is statutory audit conducted at the end of the year which includes all the projects run in that particular year. This audit is conducted by internationally recognized audit firm which is also accepted / recognized by the parent organization i.e. IPPF. Other type of audit is project audit which is conducted as mentioned in the project plan.

Recent research conducted on the beneficiaries of Rahnuma-FFPAP indicates that (66%) of these belong to Poor Marginalized Socially Excluded and Underserved (PMSEU) group. Rahnuma-FPAP has a ‘No Refusal Policy’, whereby anyone who is unable to pay for the already subsidized service charges, is served after due diligence without or at subsidized rates. Rahnuma-FPAP has a strong Quality of Care project through which Quality Assurance doctors and other monitoring staff conduct supportive supervision of all service delivery points. Also, frequent exit interviews are conducted, to ensure quality of care and client satisfaction. Indeed, 48% of Rahnuma-FPAP clients are referred by clients who were satisfied with the services and 7% of clients are referred to R-FPAP by other service providers in the locality. Furthermore, community mobilization activities are a regular feature of R-FPAP program, whereby support groups, peer educators and partner defined quality methodologies are employed.

Research always provides a basis for initiation and implementation of effective and innovative programs and this strategy has been regularly used by the organization to measure the progress and direction of its programs. Since its inception in 1953, the FPAP has conducted 131 studies to evaluate the programs and even to find solutions to the existing problems related to family planning and reproductive health for new programs. These researches/studies are held in house and with support from outside consultants/agencies. Studies also included the KAP surveys as well.

  • Pioneer of family planning movement in Pakistan
  • Moved from family planning to Holistic Development Paradigm in 1994
  • Providing SRHR/FP services to the people of Pakistan through a service delivery network of 104 Static Units including 9 Family Health Hospitals and 2 KATO Development Complexes; 2356 Associated Clinics; 10 Mobile Units; 6 Toll-Free Youth Help Lines, 6 Youth Friendly Clinics, 50 Youth Resource Centers, 1 VCT Center and 2 Drop-in-Centers (DICs)
  • Rahnuma has developed an Allied Support Structure of 2468 Community Based Distributors (CBDs)

Established a Regional Training Institute (RTI) at Lahore with state of the art facilities for training

The FPAP’s work has always been recognized nationally and internationally and organization has received a number of awards such as:

  • Global 500 Award of the Earth Summit 1992
  • Common Wealth Youth Service Award 1996 for promotion of small family norm amongst the newly weds
  • Common Wealth Award of Excellence 1997 for Girl Child Program
  • Common Wealth Service Award UK to FPAP’s Community Institution Project Faisalabad for its holistic and integrated family planning and reproductive health approach at grassroots 1997
  • Common Youth Services Award 1998 for Self-Employment Scheme for Youth and Service Delivery
  • Performance Excellence Award by the Government of Pakistan (2009)