OPP has been the focal point for ACHR activities in Pakistan since we began in 1988, Arif Hasan - a founding member of ACHR - was its director then. During the following decade many people in various countries in ACHR visited OPP and learnt many lessons. - from OPP and the "Masters of Survival" - the people of the the Orangi township.
In particular OPP gave many groups in Asia the confidence to deal with poverty on SCALE. OPP were able to manage community based sewerage for the Orangi township of squatters - providing sewerage disposal for over 1 million people - all built by the community themselves. It was Dr. Ahmed Khan the founder of OPP who saw the people themselves as their own best resource. It was Arif Hasan and his team who gave the technical advice.
In OPP jargon - they helped the poor overcome 3 barriers to community development - the technical - the economic and the psychological .
And they passed the message around Asia through ACHR exchange support and their own initiatives and particularly through the concise and precise words that wise-men bring - the books and writings of Arif Hasan.
With Arif’s retirement from OPP as Director, things went a bit quiet on the exchange front between OPP and ACHR. The good news was that we were able to involve Arif Hasan more in our Advisory Programme - in Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and anywhere we could entice him to travel for us. And he guided us to a better Understanding of Asian Cities; His words are all over our web-site - see right column.
And OPP’s younger sibling the URC- Karachi figured in ACHR exchange programmes as a model for - information gathering, organising urban forums on hot issues, proposing feasible and attractive alternatives to city plans impacting on the urban poor - see right column
So what has OPP, URC and Arif Hasan been up to recently. You can check this page for updates or visit the OPP web-site.
