The Social Action Programmes (SAP) I and II were government initiatives launched in Pakistan to improve access to basic social services. SAP I ran from 1992-1996 and aimed to address needs in primary education, health care, population welfare and sanitation. It covered all government primary schools but lacked community ownership. SAP II ran from 1998-2004 and had the goals of improving quality of social services and increasing access, particularly for women and girls. It included four components: program support, participatory development, coordination and monitoring, and technical assistance.

1. The Social Action Programmes (SAP) I (1992-93 to 1995-96) and II (1998-99 to 2003-04)
Lecture 09
Social Action Program Project (01) 1992-93 to 1995-96
Pakistan launched SAP in 1993-94. This program, which was heavily funded by the Pakistani government
and international bodies like the World Bank, aimed to address a number of Pakistanis' basic needs that
were not being met. In particular, primary education, basic health care,population welfare and rural water
supply and sanitation. SAP covered all Pakistani government primary schools.
The biggest among these is the absence of community ownership in SAP's projects and the nominal role
NGOs play in their implementation so far. This is a major error as experience has shown in Pakistan and
other parts of the developing world, the great success of human development projects via grassroots,
community participation.
Social Action Program Project (02) 1998-99 to 2003-04
The overall goal of the Second Social Action Program Project (SAPP II) is to improve the quality of
social services,and to increase practical access to and use of these basic services, particularly for women
and girls and more generally for the poor. While SAPP II will work mainly with government, it will also
strengthen and finance nongovernmental organization (NGO) and private sector efforts through fostering
partnerships and establishing funding and communication mechanisms to directly support these efforts.
There are four components: 1) The Program Support component provides time-slice financing for each of
the total subprograms based on these agreements. Support builds government capacity for joint planning,
monitoring, and implementing of social service programs with civil society in the sectors of health
(including reproductive health), education, and rural water supply and sanitation. 2) The Participatory
Development component decentralizes decisionmaking and resource management; and strengthens
management capacity at the district and community levels and beneficiary participation. 3) The
Coordination, Monitoring, and Evaluation component strengthens government's monitoring and analytic
capacity at the federal and provincial levels. 4) Technical Assistance and Institutional Capacity
Development is made available to central and implementing line departments involved in the social action
program as a fourth component.**