Capacity Building Efforts for Chamber Secretary Generals in Pakistan

Emad Sohail
Participants at the 5th All Pakistan Secretary General Conference (Photo: CIPE Staff)
Participants at the 5th All Pakistan Secretary General Conference (Photo: CIPE Staff)

CIPE Pakistan has conducted Secretary General Conferences for the past four years to help build capacity through the training and development of Secretary Generals belonging to different chambers and associations. Networking and learning opportunities help these chamber leaders contribute to the country’s economic development: most Secretary Generals said that there has been significant improvement in members’ services and development since they began attending the conferences.

Keeping this annual flagship event rolling, CIPE organized the 5th All Pakistan Secretary General Conference held on 23-24 May 2013 in Islamabad, which was attended by 30 Secretary Generals from various chambers and associations across Pakistan. The focus of this conference was aligning vision and mission, improving effectiveness of staff and board members, financial management, and legal compliance under the Pakistani law. Secretary Generals of various trade organizations discussed issues which they faced in running their chambers and associations.

Workshop trainers focused on the following key areas:

  • How to manage not for profit organization?
  • Strategic planning focusing on membership development and services, managing growth, income diversification and leadership development
  • Developing the Administrative, Accounting and HR manual and whistleblower policy
  • Code of Conduct for MC Members and staff
  • Legal issues and internal controls, frauds and budgets
  • Trade organizations Act & Rules 2013
  • Case studies and group discussions benefiting day to day working of business associations

Majid Shabbir, Secretary General of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, gave a presentation about the Trade Organizations Act & Rules, which can help chambers and associations meet necessary requirements under Trade Organizations Act and Rules 2013, a summary of which can be found here.

“What we learned from this workshop, if implemented in its spirit will definitely turn our chambers and associations effective organizations that serve their members professionally, the purpose for which CIPE is endeavoring since last many years in the capacity building of the trade organizations.”

Amanullah Suleman, Secretary General – Travel Agents Associations of Pakistan 

Impact is the most crucial outcome, which can only be measured after the workshop and of course must be practically implemented. Such an example was provided by Rizwan Ali, Secretary General of the Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association:

“After going through the budget template which CIPE gave us, I had shared with my Accountant and found it very comprehensive, let me tell you the fact that by this date the accounts are being maintained in a formal way through making ledger and some entries in the registers manually,  but, this template has not only given a new trend but the procedure has also became simplified, as its format is not only covers the monthly budget, it has became easy to have a proper record of the income and expenditure throughout the year on this pattern.”

Sharing such practically applicable examples will help CIPE to further improve its capacity building initiatives. Therefore, this blog post can also serve as a platform for Secretary Generals (those who attended these conferences previously and those who attended for the first time) to keep us informed (in the comment box below) about lessons/key learning which they have practically implemented in their respective business associations.

Published Date: July 01, 2013