LCA020

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AT SOCIETY FOR EMPOWERING HUMAN

RESOURCE (SEHER)
On 20 January 2013, Abdul Wadood, CEO of SEHER (Society for Empowering Human Resource), was looking
at the report prepared by the external consultant hired to evaluate the recent organisational level changes at
SEHER. This report highlighted the results of the initiatives undertaken by Wadood to transform the
organisation into a sustainable institution. Wadood was confronted by the following thoughts:

I want SEHER to have such processes and systems in place that even “post Wadood” SEHER
can survive on its own. Have I done enough to transform SEHER into an institution or is a lot
more required? The vision of SEHER in alleviating poverty and bringing social justice can
only continue in the long run if the organisation transforms into a self-sustaining institution,
by having a highly motivated human resource as well as developing a strong organisational
structure and clearly delineated processes.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Society for Empowering Human Resource (SEHER)

SEHER was founded in 1998 by Abdul Wadood.1 The main objective of SEHER was to empower the
marginalised and ill-treated segments of society, particularly children, women, and minorities.2 The
organisation started with only 4 employees but over the years, the workforce increased to 236 employees.
SEHER had an annual budget of USD 1,617,388 for the year 2011-12 and was funded by many sources such as
UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP, and other international NGOs.3

1
See Exhibit 1 for the objectives of SEHER.
2
Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former SEHER employee.
3
Ibid.

This case was written by Sara Alvi and Nayha Mansoor under the supervision of Dr Anwar Khurshid and Dr Abdul Karim Khan at the
Lahore University of Management Sciences to serve as basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective
handling of an administrative situation. This material may not be quoted, photocopied or reproduced in any form without the prior written
consent of the Lahore University of Management Sciences. This research was made possible through support provided by the United States
Agency for International Development. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the US Agency for International Development or the US Government.

© 2015 Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences

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Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860
 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

Table 1: SEHER’s Number of Employees and Annual Budget (2009-2014)4

Year Employee (#) Budget (Rs)5

2009 95 24,770,024.00
2010 107 36,817,234.00
2011 119 54,313,012.00
2012 148 60,887,543.00
2013 193 100,464,206.00
2014 165 139,366,440.00

Source: Company Documents.

SEHER not only pursued strengthening of intra-organisational capacities (through partnerships, alliances
building, advocacy, campaigns and programme cooperation at operational as well as policy levels) but also
developed a strong relationship with government departments such as law enforcement agencies, education,
social welfare, women development, and human rights departments. SEHER ran different projects under
thematic areas of child protection, women empowerment, and poverty alleviation through sustainable
livelihood, legal empowerment, and emergency response (see Exhibit 1). Each thematic area/programme had
various projects to achieve the objectives of the respective programme.

SEHER emerged as an agent of change for the societal pattern that caused development to halt for the people of
Balochistan. The organisation did this by pursuing a range of activities, e.g., community development, social
mobilisation, infrastructure development, provision of essential services and policy reforms to foster reliance on
conventional wisdom, indigenous knowledge, and skills of the Balochi people. In sixteen years, SEHER
successfully built a network of partners with aligned perspectives, resulting in exemplary sustained models like
CPC (Child Protection Centre), PCPC (Police Child Protection Centre), and Jails (Quetta, Much & Gaddani).
SEHER treated the survivor(s) as "subjects of the change process" by undertaking activities that trained,
educated, and equipped them with skills to make them productive individuals for society.

Current Organisational Structure

SEHER’s organisational structure was decentralised to encourage rapid decision-making as well as to bring
efficiency and accountability to operations (see Exhibit 2). SEHER was headed by the executive director (ED).
The whole organisation was divided into three main departments, i.e., Operations, Programmes and
Supplementary Support Structure (SSS) which reported to the ED. The operations department comprised
finance, human resource, administration, and procurement. The programmes department had been divided into
thematic areas. These included child protection, women empowerment, poverty alleviation, emergency
response, health, and legal empowerment. Each thematic area had its own dedicated manager with his team of
project coordinator, project officer, and field staff. The SSS included monitoring and evaluation (M & E),
internal audit and compliance, information, communication and technology (ICT), programme development,
and resource mobilisation. All the functions of SSS were led by its respective manager and support staff.

4
Data collected from Mr. Haroon Rashid (SEHER Head Office, Quetta).
5
From 2009–2014, the average exchange rate for the U.S Dollar to the Pakistani Rupee was 91.45. Source: State Bank of Pakistan,
www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/ibf_arch.xls, accessed December 2015.

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

SEHER’s Strategy for an Emancipated Society & Pilot Study

The SEHER model was based on the belief that a sustainable change could only be brought in the society
through joint work and collaborative efforts with the government and civil society organisations (CSOs). For
this purpose, SEHER had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with organisations that included
NGOs as well as government departments. These included

 Dar ul Aman for Proposed Improvement and Renovation;

 Regional Directorate of Human Rights Balochistan for Sexual Gender Based Violence;
 Regional Directorate of Human Rights Balochistan for Rehabilitation of Children in Conflict with
Law;
 Provincial Commission of Child Welfare & Development for the Child Protection Programme;
 Regional Directorate of Ministry of Human Rights of Balochistan for Legal Empowerment of
Vulnerable Segments of Society (LESS); and
 Al-Nijat Welfare Society for commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS through integrated treatment, care and
prevention programmes6 (see Exhibit 3).

Non-government organisations’ (NGOs) conventional approaches to development not only vilified the
government role but also made it indifferent towards changing the state of the people, as NGOs were believed
to be doing so already. Moreover, isolated efforts for change by NGOs came to a halt after the completion of
their assigned projects.7 This usually resulted in the worsening of people’s situations and did not address the
factors that had created these worsened conditions in the first place.

Wadood thought that the key to helping the poorest was through non-financial services to curb resource
depletion. Through SEHER, a small pilot project was launched in the Kalat district of Balochistan. The project
entailed working with the poorest families—those that regularly went without food for some five days a month.
These people were trained to track living expenses, identify and stem loss of resources, and then build assets
using their savings, employing a communications strategy based on the traditional group discussion practices of
the community in Balochistan. The families involved went on to save and buy mutual property (goats), thereby
improving their overall finances. The pilot project was conducted in four villages in the poor union council
Gwarghan in district Kalat, approximately 160 km from Quetta. It was a very poor area with a conservative
outlook and resistance to change. SEHER conducted an exercise with each family to assess the income and
consumption patterns of a household, number of assets (livestock, cultivable land, etc.) a family possessed,
handling of incidental costs such as sickness, religious/social events, and who paid for them.

This project was then replicated in district Lasbela, approximately 700 km from Quetta. The place was selected
because of its abject poverty and similar socio-political situation as Gwarghan. By the time it was replicated, the
SEHER strategy had improved on RIE (resource-infrastructure-environment) tools, which primarily involved
exploitation of existing resources within the village identified and SEHER was able to facilitate the poor by
helping them assert their rights. The poorest people themselves addressed the problems of exploitation by
establishing linkages with the concerned government line departments. Simultaneously, SEHER sensitised the
government departments to be more sympathetic towards the poor. This was done through training
“animators”,8 i.e., local facilitators from the villages who conducted the RIE and replicated the process in the
entire union councils. The groups of the poorest were formed, trained, and facilitated which ultimately led
people to improve their economic condition. Having demonstrated through this successful effort the ability of

6
Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former SEHER employee.
7
SEHER, “Executive Director’s Desk,” http://seher.org.pk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=191, accessed
December 2015.
8
Animator is a change agent or catalyst.

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

even the poorest to reverse the downward spiral of poverty without financial aid, Wadood now wanted to test,
demonstrate, and spread his poverty alleviation strategy of focusing on non-financial services delivery through
SEHER.9

Similar Work in Action

Deep analysis of the micro-macro development indicated that “poverty was a dominance-dependence
relationship; the more one is dependent, the more she/he is poor.” Furthermore, empowerment of the poor was
critical to poverty alleviation because powerlessness and poverty were almost synonymous. The pragmatic
reality that the poor lacked choice over resources and the right to influence their future formed the basis of their
powerlessness. SEHER pursued a holistic approach towards the empowerment of the poor, treating them as the
subjects of change through its programme Poverty Alleviation through Sustainable Livelihood (PASL). In this
regard, the following efforts were made:

 Mitigating Urban Poverty Programme (MUPP) involved the establishment of four community based
production centres for women to enhance their skills.
 A display centre was developed in the city to showcase and market the products of the beneficiaries of
the project.
 MoU was signed with the Labour and Manpower Department for specialised diploma trainings.
 To ensure the sustainability of the process after SEHER’s withdrawal, twenty youths of the target area
had been trained as animators.

Such programmes addressed the causes of poverty, rather than treating the symptoms. This empowered the poor
people of Balochistan to assert their rights and bring long lasting change in their current situation.10

Abdul Wadood-The Founder/Leader

Abdul Wadood came from a poor family in Balochistan. He was educated in Quetta and obtained his Masters in
Social Work from the University of Balochistan. Remembering his tough childhood, Wadood recalled:

During my early childhood and youth, we survived difficult times. My family was too poor to
afford shoes for all the children. In winter, my brother and I shared a pair of shoes on our way
to the ration depot to retrieve coal for fuel. My brother wore the pair until my feet got numb,
and then we would switch. My elder brother started working at an early age and managed to
finance a decent education for my younger brothers.

Wadood started his career working as a coordinator for the Society for Community Strengthening and
Promotion of Education, Balochistan (SCSPEB) that aimed to promote education as a whole, especially for
girls. It sought to promote human development by utilising community mobilisation strategies to establish
government-community partnerships. Promoting education as a whole, especially for girls, required support
from all stakeholders, i.e., parents, community, schools, education department, and local government. It was
only through the active interest and sense of shared responsibility of such stakeholders that access to and quality
of education can be ensured.11 This provided Wadood with an opportunity to use his social work skills. During
the promotion of primary education, the enrolment remained at a very low percentage of the total school going
age girls’ population in Balochistan. A more in-depth study of the communities revealed that the poorest were
unable to send their children to school for a variety of reasons. A chance opportunity to attend a workshop
introduced Wadood to the concept of “social mobilisation methodology” for reaching out to this group and
9
Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former SEHER employee.
10
SEHER, www.seher.org.pk, accessed December 2015.
11
Society for Community Strengthening and Promotion of Education, Balochistan, http://www.scspeb.org/, accessed December 2015.

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

identifying the inefficiencies that kept them poor. With a desire to contribute towards their betterment, Wadood
established SEHER, a non-profit organisation that aimed to test, demonstrate, and spread his poverty alleviation
strategy of focusing on non-financial services delivery.12 Wadood commented:

I believed in learning by doing and I wanted to bring change in Balochistan through testing
my concept with SEHER. Having lived a tough life myself, I hoped to bring a change in the
lives of the people in Balochistan so that the future of our communities was brighter than the
existing tough conditions.

Another person who played a vital role in SEHER’s starting years was Ayesha Wadood, wife of Abdul
Wadood. Ayesha had obtained her Masters in Business Administration (Finance) from PIMSAT University and
Masters in English Literature from the University of Balochistan. Her work experience included working with
local and national organisations, UN, and INGOs in Pakistan. She had worked for UN Women Balochistan as a
Gender Advisor and in Asian Development Bank as a Gender and Governance Specialist focusing on the
Gender Reforms Action Plan for Balochistan. She had contributed to the funding of SEHER in its initial years
through her consultancies with foreign donor agencies. Initially, she was associated with SEHER as the
Programme Development Advisor. Later in the institutional development phase, Ayesha helped in conducting
the internal compliance audit for operations and programme for SEHER.

Difficulty of Operating in Balochistan13

Balochistan geographically was the country’s largest province and it covered 44% of Pakistan’s total territorial
area; however its literacy rate was only 34%, which was lower than any of the other provinces. The population
density in Balochistan was 19 people per square kilometre, which posed challenges of access and reach,
translating into higher costs of welfare. Although Balochistan was important nationally and internationally
owing to its geographical location, it remained underdeveloped due to no planned investment projects by the
government. Thus, Balochistan presented very tough working conditions for non-government organisations.

This province had a low literacy rate coupled with long distances between districts as well as between villages.
There was a culture gap between different villages and therefore, people would resist change. The security
situation included threats to lives of employees; kidnappings for ransom made it difficult for NGOs to operate
in Balochistan. Additionally, there was scarcity of experienced and skilled human resource in this province. For
organisations like SEHER, it was very difficult to find trained human resource. Secondly, retention of human
resource also posed a challenge because the trained employee(s) were picked up by international organisations
that offered handsome compensation packages and higher salaries to SEHER’s employees. In spite of such
working conditions, SEHER’s programmes’ geographical outreach extended to the most neglected areas of
Balochistan (see Exhibit 4).

Evolution of HR Systems at SEHER

With its inception in 1998, SEHER had a very humble start and the workforce initially consisted of only four
individuals, i.e., Abdul Wadood, Ayesha Wadood, and two members of the clerical staff. Abdul and Ayesha
Wadood were both experienced and educated individuals who were working with no financial resources and
infrastructure, and were funding SEHER through their jobs and consultancies with different organisations.
Ayesha Wadood commented:

HR is directly related to the financial resources of an organisation. In the starting years,

Wadood Sahib14 did everything himself. We only kept two staff members who weren’t that

12
Ashoka, “Abdul Wadood,” https://www.ashoka.org/fellow/abdul-wadood, accessed December 2015.
13
Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Karachi, “Balochistan
Province,”http://www.rusconsulkarachi.mid.ru/doc/balochistan_eng.htm, accessed December 2015.

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qualified as we didn’t have the financial muscle to pay handsome remunerations to the
qualified HR. This was what we could afford at that time.

There were no rules and procedures; a single person was handling administration and logistics. It was a tough
time for SEHER as the organisation not only had to survive financially but also prove the viability of its
business model. Wadood stated that “We had no peon or security guard. I used to make my own tea and I was
putting in whatever resources I had in SEHER to make it survive.”

From 2004, SEHER’s projects had increased multi-fold and so did the funding from international donors. This
entailed an increase in manpower that had gradually reached to 130. This led to a dramatic increase in
recruitment and hiring of required staff. It was around this time that problems started to surface with respect to
ambiguities in job descriptions (JDs). The existing JDs were very basic and instead of clarifying individual roles
and responsibilities, they were ambiguous regarding the jurisdiction of employees in various functions. Former
Monitoring & Evaluation Manager Saif Zakwan described it in the following words:

A general attitude in the organisation was that whenever any matter was referred to an
employee, he didn’t know whether or not he had the authority to take a decision on it because
his job description was so ambiguous. The response was mostly to pass the buck to another
person so that he wasn’t held accountable for taking a decision on the referred matter.

In 2005, effort was undertaken by Wadood to develop the HR manual. The role of HR was still confined to the
“clerical approach” of maintaining files. The HR department was being run by one person who was responsible
for handling all functions of administration, human resource, and logistics. SEHER did not have any well-
defined guidelines or policy and procedures (P&P) manual. It was around this time that SEHER started facing
problems of donor dissatisfaction; donor agencies, government departments, and other relevant organisations
started giving SEHER low rankings in their assessments due to lack of organisational structure and HR policies.
The recruitments were still largely based on referrals or personal preferences, without paying much heed to job
descriptions. This practice was more evident in projects/programmes where project managers hired employees
who were personal relations or references. No recruitment committee was involved in the process and no formal
job advertisements were used to hunt for the talent pool. The employee record management was inadequate and
poorly maintained. Instead, it was more like personal files of the employees were being maintained.

The employee capacity building process was virtually non-existent and the HR department was unable to
conduct orientation training sessions for newcomers. The employees were not able to make use of any capacity
building opportunities through either internal or external sources. The performance appraisal of employee was
still not properly conducted which led them to feel that they were not given enough opportunities for
increments/benefits. Additionally, the grading system for employees at different levels was not defined in
SEHER. Thus, fringe benefits did not match any grading system. This led to dissatisfaction among employees
working at different hierarchical levels and a perception of unfairness developed among them.

Though general norms existed regarding how a SEHER employee was expected to behave, the organisation’s
shared values were not written down; an employee had to refer to his boss for organisational decisions in case
of ambiguities. Empowerment and delegation were lacking in employees and rapid decision-making on any
important matter was not possible due to this process of referring back and forth to the higher ups. Importantly,
while an employee didn’t understand how his work was linked to the strategic orientation of the company, he
was expected to perform his duty in contributing to the organisation’s larger goals and objectives.

Having observed these gaps in the HR at SEHER, Wadood made general policies and formed administration
and human resource departments to handle the issues arising due to HR problems. The period from 2004-2011

14
Pir Sahib’ is a title given to a person in the Pakistani society who is respected as a spiritual guide.

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

was still marked by constrained resources, not very refined recruitment and selection processes, and ambiguous
job descriptions and appraisals. Referrals were being used for recruitment.

By 2011, SEHER was a leading organisation in Balochistan for its efforts in alleviating poverty in the province.
Thus, it was felt that strong structure and policies were needed to be put in place at SEHER. Wadood felt that
employees needed to be empowered through decentralisation. This was required to push down decision-making
for swift response on projects.

The period from 2011-2014 was the time of organisational restructuring and institutional development for
SEHER. This change in organisation was initially envisioned by Wadood based on his own observations, and it
was further endorsed by donor feedback and assessments. In line with his vision, Wadood developed and
trained a team of senior level managers as change champions. These managers were assigned roles for building
ownership of the process in the organisation. This led to the evolution and implementation of the institutional
development phase. In this phase, a committee of the selected managers was formed to lead the process.
Furthermore these change champions were prepared keeping in mind possible impediments/resistance that they
would face. They were trained to maintain patience and motivation in this phase to make it a viable change
process.

Additionally, a layout of the HR department and its systems was developed in order to meet the requirements of
international donors. This was needed to attain quality human resource for SEHER’s programmes, operations,
and SSS in a very transparent manner, with the primary focus on finding the “right person for the right job.”
Now the scope of the organisational projects required regular feedback and monitoring systems. These
requirements were not being fulfilled by the current SEHER structure. Wadood undertook steps to address these
issues as follows.

CLEAR SENSE OF PURPOSE

As part of the development process, Wadood felt that a clear sense of purpose needed to be established by
forming the vision and mission for SEHER. By doing so, Wadood tried to instil a sense of pride in the
employees who were associated with this organisation. The vision and mission made the employees feel that
they were contributing to the rehabilitation of poverty stricken people. This clarity of purpose in the
organisation was created through a powerful vision and mission statement (see Exhibit 5). One employee
commented on the vision statement:

I feel a sense of pride to be working for an organisation that wants to bring social change in
Balochistan which is a poverty stricken province of Pakistan. Our leader Abdul Wadood has
established SEHER’s vision that not only acts as a guiding light as to why the organisation
exists, but also motivates us to work towards empowering the poor, marginalised,
downtrodden, and untouchables to assert for the rights and resources that they are entitled to.

Shared Values

Wadood wanted to establish values that would serve as building blocks for the organisation. The core values of
SEHER included honesty, transparency, bottom-up decision-making, punctuality, caring and sharing,
interdependency, taking responsibility, mutual respect, integrity and effectiveness. Wadood understood that
establishing a list of values wouldn’t serve any purpose unless it was put to practice. He encouraged open door
policy for employees so that they could walk into his office any time they disagreed with any decision taken by
him. No corner meetings or whispering were allowed in the official space. Conspiracy and lobbying were
discouraged to deter polarisation among employees, and strict action was taken against any individual who tried
to do these. In order to promote mutual respect, caring and sharing, quarterly picnics were arranged. Birthdays
of all employees were celebrated regardless of their ranks in the organisation. In case of the death of any
employee or his family member(s), everyone from top to bottom in the organisation was expected to visit that
employee’s house and offer condolences to show solidarity in a time of grief with the employee and his family.

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Maternity leaves were granted generously and the mother was allowed to bring her baby to the premises of
SEHER during her office hours if she had no one at home who could take care of her child. Religious diversity
was respected and an equal number of holidays were given to employees belonging to minorities for their
religious events and festivities. Wadood commented:

We often disregard the fact that like Muslims’ Eid, our minority groups like Christians and
Hindus celebrate Christmas/Easter and Holy/Diwali as their Eid. Realising this, our
organisation gives 3 holidays on Christmas (25-27 December) to Christian employees and 3
days off to Hindus on Diwali so that they can also enjoy their religious occasion fully with
their families.

Documentation of Policies and Practices

Wadood felt that many employees were following an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) without
understanding its link to SEHER’s strategy. He was frequently approached by employees to clarify procedures.
Keeping in view this problem, Wadood along with his management team developed a P&P (policy and
procedures) document to serve as a guiding bible for new and old employees. The P &P manual included
comprehensive chapters on general guidelines regarding the organisation, programmes and projects,
administration department, finance department, internal control, human resource department, IT section, M &
E, and internal audit and compliance. This P&P document explained everything from dress code to procedures’
linkage with policy matters. It helped in empowering employees as they were able to take decisions themselves
regarding day to day procedures by referring to the manual as and when required. It enlisted the dos and don’ts
for SEHER employees. It also shifted pressure from the executive director (ED) as he could now concentrate on
strategic matters instead of being entangled in the organisational day to day matters. Wadood considered the
manual to be a cornerstone for the organisation as it not only delineated policies and procedures, but also served
as a guiding force for successors of SEHER in the coming years. He said:

Through documentation of policies and procedures, we are trying to transform SEHER into an
institution as documentation empowers employees by making them aware of the
organisational framework they are expected to operate in.

Zakwan added:

Even the smallest of operational issues like those pertaining to leave sanctioning of an
employee were being referred to the ED. The ED was occupied in handling day to day work
rather than focusing on issues of strategic importance. Having a P&P manual in place not only
covered policies on employee leaves allowed, but also highlighted the procedure of getting
them sanctioned. Now, an HR manager was empowered to decide issues in his domain. This
was the case with everything in the organisation and it expedited decision-making.

The contents and details in the manual were primarily written by Wadood who followed international best
practices and used his own experience in the field. It took 12 months to draft the manual and reach its
implementation phase.

Departmentalisation

In 2011, as SEHER started to expand its operations, Wadood felt that it needed to streamline its structure for
agility and smooth working of the organisation. In a move towards decentralisation, the organisation was
divided into three main functions, namely operations, programmes and SSS (Supplementary Support Structure).
Operations involved HR, finance, administration, and procurement. Programmes involved all programmes that
were run by SEHER and SSS involved internal audit and ICT web function (see Exhibit 6).

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The human resource department was divided into two functions, i.e., HRM and HRD (see Exhibit 7). HRD
looked into the capacity plan, succession planning of SEHER, induction and orientation, and conducted
motivational surveys. HRM was mainly concerned with recruitment and selection and day to day operations like
job analysis, HR record management, leave record management, and performance appraisal on bi-annual and
annual basis.

Job Descriptions Linked to Performance Evaluation

The scope of the SEHER projects made it imperative that clear job descriptions had to be developed for each
job. SEHER conducted its workforce analysis (see Exhibit 8). Wadood undertook a rigorous organisation wide
exercise in which employees were evaluated on the nature of their work and expected performance goals.
Wadood wanted an integrated process of objective setting, performance evaluation, and assessment so that it
linked to individual, departmental, and organisational growth. This process led to the drafting of detailed job
descriptions (JD) for each job. Based on an individual’s JD, key performance indicators (KPIs) were established
and his performance evaluation was based on his KPIs (see Exhibit 9). This not only established clear
accountability but also removed role ambiguities for all employees. The Management Information System
(MIS) at SEHER further clarified the roles and responsibilities for all employees as their progress was being
monitored on a regular basis.

Employment of Information Technology

SEHER faced a dilemma whenever any employee left because not only did the organisation lose the knowledge
possessed by that employee but it was also very difficult to track the progress of SEHER’s various programmes.
To address this issue, Wadood initiated the process of developing the MIS that not only helped in tracking the
progress of each programme but also assisted in establishing performance transparency of employees. The
interface of the software called dashboard summarised the programme’s total budget, its variance reports, and
progress (see Exhibit 10).

This helped in data security of the organisation and enabled the new employee to track the performance of the
previous employee and build on it, rather than start afresh. It also assisted the ED in remaining updated about
the progress and current status of programmes. Additionally, it facilitated managers in monitoring, analysing
and establishing accountability, and attaining information on real time basis regarding programmes/projects.
This enabled rapid decision-making.

The MIS was an online reporting and tracking system developed by SEHER with sophisticated techniques for
streamlining effective and impact based information for timely and right decision-making. The application was
dynamic and user friendly. Its purpose was to keep an eye on the status of programme activities, outputs, and
programme performance. The operations and flow of information were catered to at three different levels (see
Exhibit 11).

Monitoring and Control Systems

In order to monitor and control different programmes, SEHER introduced the review and action process. A
multi-stage review process was used to identify successes and failures in the implementation process of
programmes (see Exhibit 12). Zakwan stated:

One of the key success factors of SEHER is that it has tried to develop a systemic monitoring,
accountability, and tracking system for efficient and effective implementation of
interventions. Project managers undertake interim reviews of their projects to identify
adjustments during project implementation.

The review process was initiated with the project/departmental internal review. The next step involved the
monthly project management review. After the management review, the operations management review was

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

conducted and the process was completed with the final SSS management review. The mid-term reviews and
evaluations helped in identifying deviations and implementation failures in the programmes, and translated
them into corrective action of the projects. Wadood said:

SEHER was the first organisation in Balochistan to launch the Management Information
System (dashboard). It was a desk monitoring and analysis software wherein not only the
executive director but also managers could monitor and analyse projects’ progress, attaining
information for rapid decision-making while sitting at their desks.

CHALLENGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEHER

Wadood understood that many challenges lay in the development of new approaches in SEHER. As a leader, he
had formulated a clear strategic vision and mission statements, establishing core values to form the basis of
SEHER’s culture. He himself modelled the behaviour and attitude that reinforced those core values but he
wanted each and every employee of SEHER to believe and practice SEHER’s shared values too. It was easier
said than done, as this meant identifying current systems, policies, procedures, and rules that needed to be
changed to align with the new values and desired culture.

After the establishment of the M & E mechanism, accountably increased, departmental conflict ensued, and the
senior management started destabilising the systems and putting pressure on the ED for reversal to the old
system. Wadood wanted to communicate the positive aspects of monitoring and evaluation because it would
lead to corrective action during the implementation process, rather than in the final phase of the programme.

Though the P&P manual empowered employees at SEHER, Wadood felt that it also led to loss of control and
power for certain employees. The policies and procedures were made transparent and employees could refer to
the manual for all issues as it covered all areas of human resource, internal audit, M &E, programmes and
projects etc. Therefore, the policies couldn’t be twisted to favour one employee over the other. This led to
unease on the part of some supervisors who felt threatened that their power was compromised since they were
no longer the gatekeepers of policies and procedures. Wadood felt the general resistance to the policies. He
hoped that rather than being threatened by the policy manual, employees could see it as an empowerment. The
manual would eventually result in less burden on them and they could direct their energies towards the work
they were being evaluated on, rather than getting bogged down in explaining policies and procedures to other
employees.

Performance evaluation based on employees’ KPIs was a new concept in SEHER. This system was primarily
introduced to not only link job descriptions with the performance evaluation system but also to identify future
leaders in the organisation and chart their career progression. Through this system, training and development of
an individual were to be identified to better equip him with the skills required for performing his duties
efficiently. Feedback sessions to employees were also conducted. Recently, it had come to Wadood’s attention
that the performance appraisal system wasn’t going down too well with the employees. He felt one reason for
this was that supervisors were not trained in appraising employees and used subjectivity. Feedback sessions
with employees were used to identify weaknesses and had often put the employee in an uncomfortable position.
This was demoralising the employees and affecting organisational productivity. Wadood wondered what could
be done to address these issues in the performance appraisal system.

With the introduction of MIS (dashboards), many problems arose. Firstly, employees who were weak in
computer skills resisted this system. Secondly, as it established strict controls and accountability, employees felt
uncomfortable with it. They didn’t want it to be a successful tool and often did not enter projects’ progress in it
on time. A project manager at SEHER said, “MIS system is extra workload for us and sometimes we have to
put in extra energy in understanding the software.”

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

WAY FORWARD

Wadood did not want SEHER to be an organisation with no life beyond him. He wanted the succession to take
place in time and that too into safe hands. He knew that organisations crumbled in the absence of strong
leadership and succession planning. He also felt that not all steps towards the advancement of SEHER were
being readily accepted by the employees, and wondered what else was required to transform SEHER into an
institution and make this process even more powerful. This was necessary so that current employees bought into
it and future employees conformed to the organisational mode. He wanted to leave behind a sustainable
institution that continued its mission for the betterment of the Balochistan community.

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Exhibit 1: SEHER’s Objectives and Programmes/Projects

Objectives
REHABILITATION OF CHILDREN & WOMEN: Rehabilitation of children and women in difficult circumstances and
strengthening right-based support system for prevention and protection of children/women from all forms of violence, abuse
and negligence.
REHABILITATION OF SURVIVORS OF SGBV: Rehabilitation of survivors of sexual/gender based violence, CSEC, 15
trafficked, abused, discriminated and bonded labour children and women.
DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD: Develop a sustainable livelihood model to alleviate poverty
using participatory approach for empowerment of poorest of the poor.
PROVISION OF LEGAL SERVICES: Provision of legal services to the vulnerable women, children, minorities, refugees
including juveniles/Foreign Act prisoners, trafficked/smuggled children/women, and commercially sexually exploited
children/women.
ADVOCACY: Advocate and play a proactive role for democratic values, peace and human security to respond to all forms
of violence and injustice through alliance building, partnership cooperation and campaigns.
WOMEN & CHILD PROTECTION: Ensure protection of women and children in the application of human rights in
times of natural calamities and in situations of conflict.

Source: SEHER, “Vision, Mission and Objectives,’’ http://seher.org.pk/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=215, accessed December 2015.
15
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC).

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

Exhibit 2: Current SEHER Organogram

Source: SEHER, 2012 Annual Report, [http://seher.org.pk/index.php?

option=com_flippingbook&view=book&id=8:annual-reports- 2012&catid=11:seher-s-
institutional-annual-report&Itemid=286], accessed December 2015.

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

Exhibit 3: SEHER Donors/Partners

List of Donors/Partners of SEHER Partner Organisations

Al-Nijat Welfare Society
Regional Directorate of Ministry of Human
Rights of Balochistan
Provincial Commission of Child Welfare &
Development
Dar ul Aman
Taraqee Passand Organisation-TPO
Roshni Welfare Society Layyah
Khushal Awareness & Development
Organisation (KADO)
Kohat Youth Action for Pakistan,
Hyderabad

Source: SEHER, “Our Partners/Donors,” http://seher.org.pk/, accessed December 2015.

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Exhibit 4: Geographical Outreach of SEHER

Source: SEHER, 2012 Annual Report, [http://seher.org.pk/index.php?

option=com_flippingbook&view=book&id=8:annual-reports- 2012&catid=11:seher-s-
institutional-annual-report&Itemid=286], accessed December 2015.

Exhibit 5: SEHER Vision and Mission Statement

Vision Statement “A Prosperous and Violence Free Society”

Mission Statement “To empower the marginalised segment of the society to assert for their social,
economic and political rights”

Source: SEHER, “Vision, Mission and Objectives,” http://seher.org.pk/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=215, accessed December 2015.

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 Development Process at Society for Empowering Human Resource LCA0

Exhibit 6: Evolution of Organisational Structure/Management Map

Source: Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former
SEHER employee.

Exhibit 7: Functions of Human Resource Department at SEHER

HumanHuman
ResourceResource DevelopmentManagement

Source: Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former
SEHER employee.

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Exhibit 8: SEHER Workforce Analysis

Society For Empowering Human Resource (SEHER)

WORK FORCE ANALYSIS

HR
Educational Duration Contract Dates Funding
Sr. # Position Name Budgeted Approved requirment & Duty Station (Months) Start End Status project Remarks

1 HR Assistant Ayesha Bano No Yes BBA/MBA(HR) Head office 8 14th May, 31st Dec, Hired SEHER
14 14

Internal Audit
Educational Duration Contract Dates Funding
Sr. # Position Name Budgeted Approved requirment & Duty Station (Months) Start End Status project Remarks

1 IAD Officer N/A YES YES ACCA/ ICMA Head office 6 N/A 31st Dec, Vacant BEP/PNA
14

PPAF
Educational Duration Contract Dates Funding
Sr. # Position Name Budgeted Approved requirment & Duty Station (Months) Start End Status project Remarks

Project Master in Seeking

1 Coordinat N/A YES YES Social Head office/ 6 1st June, 14 31st Dec, for PPAF
or Sciences Bostan 14 Candidat
e

IMNCH
Educational Duration Contract Dates Funding
S. # Position Name Budgeted Approved requirment & Duty Station (Months) Start End Status Project Remarks

1 SM Najeebullah YES YES BA Sanjavi office 7 28th April, 14 31st Dec, 14 Hired IMNCH
2 SM Tabinda YES YES BA Sanjavi office 7 28th April, 14 31st Dec, 14 Hired IMNCH
Seeking for
3 SM N/A YES YES BA Sanjavi office 7 N/A 31st Dec, 14 Candidate IMNCH

Source: Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former
SEHER employee.

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Exhibit 9: Sample Job Description at SEHER (p1 of 2)

Annex: HR-034

Society For Empowering Human Resource

Job Description

Job Title: Legal Counsellor

Project/Dept.: Voices of Prisoners
Reports to: Project Coordinator
Supervises: Nil
Location: Head Office – Quetta

Purpose of the Position

This position leads the legal assistance component of the project. The legal counsellor shall ensure through legal
aid that all legal matters and documents are complying with applicable laws. He/she will review legal
documents and ensure that they are effectively drafted and interpreted. The legal counsellor conducts legal
education sessions, drafts session reports, and gives advice to prisoners about their legal matters.

Main Responsibilities of the Position

 Provide legal support, guidance and advice as required

 Ensure the conduction of legal education sessions to prisoners
 Advise on minimal liability and legal exposure for the legal matters
 Suggest and advise on legal matters to prisoners and arrestees
 Ensure that legal documents are drafted, reviewed and interpreted as per applicable laws
 Take appropriate steps in different types of legal issues
 Be able to handle external as well as internal legal resources
 Keep appropriate level of management informed of issues and coordinate/initiate required actions

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

 Qualification: LLB with at least 1 year of practice experience

 Good command over written & oral English
 Good analytical skills
 Facilitation & communication skills
 Case management & documentation

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Exhibit 9: Sample Job Description at SEHER (p2 of 2)

Deliverables:

Sr. Deliverable Frequency of Report Submission

1 Plan and Review Report Daily
2 Legal Education Sessions Weekly
3 Legal Advice As & when required
4 Monthly Internal Review Monthly
5 Monthly Work Plan Monthly
6 Monthly Progress Report Monthly
7 Managing and Maintaining Project Dashboard Monthly
8 Quarterly Work Plan Quarterly
9 Quarterly Progress Report ( Institutional) Quarterly
10 Court Appearance for Hearing As & when required
11 Dispose-off Completed/Verdict Cases with Detailed Reports As & when required

Signed by Employee:

Name Signature

Reviewed by Supervisor:

Name Signature

Approved by Executive Director:

Name Signature

Source: Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former
SEHER employee.

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Exhibit 10: SEHER Project Dashboard

Source: Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former
SEHER employee.

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Exhibit 11: Information Flow of MIS

Executive Level

Management Level

Field Level

Source: Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former
SEHER employee.

Exhibit 12: Monitoring & Control at SEHER

Monthly Review Annual Review

Midterm Review
Daily Review

Source: Data collected from SEHER company documents provided by Mr Saif Zakwan, a former
SEHER employee.

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