Institute of Rural Management
Encyclopedia
Institute of Rural Management (IRM) was established in 1993 as the Human Resource Development (HRD) unit of National Rural Support Programme which is a non profit organization working for the cause of poverty alleviation in Pakistan. Over the time span of 18 years, IRM has earned recognition as a leading training facility in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and pacific region that provides capacity development opportunities through formal training, on-job technical training and experience sharing seminars and workshops both for the community members as well as the staff of Public, Private and Non-Profits Organizations. As a specialized training institute, it develops training manuals and modules for all its courses and follow full training cycle management protocol according to the needs of the partners institutions it works with.

History

IRM is a learning organization that has transformed itself with time; from a one room Human Resource Development (HRD) unit, set up in 1993 back at the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) Head Office, to an establishment that now has 15 offices all across Pakistan including 6 Vocational and Technical Education Centers in Punjab, Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the early years of its inception, IRM focus was mainly to support the development agenda of Rural Support Programmes in Pakistan by providing human development services however with time it expanded its range of training services. Today it caters to capacity building needs of the public as well as private sector.

During the year 2010, IRM registered as a separate legal entity and subsequently it has undergone many strategic transformations. The leadership formulated new systems and procedures to provide a framework for sustainable growth of the new organization.
Over the course of one year period following its registration, IRM forged partnerships with national and international academic institutions while strengthening its relations with Government institutions particularly public sector technical bodies as well as with multilateral and bilateral organizations. With growing outreach and expansion moves, IRM is now exploring opportunities at a global level.

IRM is strengthening the professional capacities of various public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...

 and private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...

 organizations by designing and conducting trainings for their senior and mid level management. This include providing institutional building services to organizations including Khushali Bank, World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

 and Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...

, International Labor Organization, Punjab Rural Support Programme, Ghazi Barotha Taraqiati Idara, Sindh Rural Support Organization, DTCE – Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment, Human Resource Development Network, United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...

, South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme and National Bank of Pakistan
National Bank of Pakistan
National Bank of Pakistan is one of the largest commercial bank operating in Pakistan. It has redefined its role and has moved from a public sector organisation into a modern commercial bank...

.

Focus areas

IRM is involved in the capacity development of a wide array of professionals through its series of long and short term training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

 programmes, field oriented research studies,symposiums, national and international workshops and exposure visits.

It has been catering to the capacity development needs of professionals and organizations from various parts of the world, including South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, USA (in addition to all the countries of South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

 Region) by offering need based learning opportunities.

Approach

The institute claims to employ a diagnostic approach for assessing the capacity building needs and the functional maturity of its clients. This approach, as it states, provide a strong basis for need-based guidance for subsequent human and institutional development and other technical support. The methodology it offers is based on a combination of formal interventions like training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

 workshops and informal interactions such as mentoring and coaching. However these interventions are designed after assessing the individual/ organizational needs.

Training programmes

The following are the major training programmes offered by IRM;
  • Vocational Training
    Vocational education
    Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...

     Programme
  • Business Development
    Business development
    A subset of the field of commerce, business development comprises a number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at:1. Researching new types of business/products/services with an emphasis on identifying gaps in the mitigation of needs of potential clients .2. Attracting new customers3...

     Services
  • Social Sector Services (Education and Health)
  • Management Development
    Management Development
    Management Development is best described as the process from which managers learn and improve their skills not only to benefit themselves but also their employing organizations....

     Programme
  • Micro Finance Training
    Training
    The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

  • Social Mobilization Training Programme
  • Center for Executive Education
    Executive Education
    Executive Education refers to academic programs at leading graduate-level business schools worldwide for executives, business leaders and functional managers. These programs are non-credit and non-degree granting...

  • Environment
    Natural environment
    The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

     and Natural Resource Management
  • Information and Communication Technologies
    Information and communication technologies
    Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...


Vocational Training Programme

Vocational Training
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...

 Programme (VTP) offers skills training to the underprivileged rural community specifically youth and empower them economically by generating self-employment opportunities. IRM has developed training modules in over 150 different trades and vocational skills on the basis of a system of labor market survey and feedback from partners. The Vocational Training are offered on the premise that better skills leads to better jobs, greater earning capacity and the opportunity to achieve on the basis of individual’s ability.

Vocational, Technical & Education Centers

Vocational, Technical and Education Center (VTEC) have been setup in several locations to give practical and hands-on knowledge and skill to disadvantaged youth, who are unemployed and are seeking to come out of poverty. Presently following centers are functional in different parts of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

:
  • VTEC Rawalpindi
    Rawalpindi
    Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...

     (Punjab)
  • VTEC Nowshera  (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
  • VTEC Jamshoro
    Jamshoro
    Jamshoro is a city in Jamshoro District, Sindh, Pakistan. It is located on the right bank of Indus River, approximately 18 kilometres north-west of the city of Hyderabad and 150 kilometres north-east from the provincial capital Karachi....

     (Sindh
    Sindh
    Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

    )
  • VTEC Sukkur
    Sukkur
    Sukkur, or Sakharu , formerly Aror and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the...

     (Sindh
    Sindh
    Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

    )
  • VTEC GPIW -Sukkur
    Sukkur
    Sukkur, or Sakharu , formerly Aror and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the...

     (Sindh
    Sindh
    Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

    )
  • VTEC Bahawalpur
    Bahawalpur
    Bahawalpur , located in the province of Punjab, is the twelfth largest city in Pakistan. The city was once the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur. The city was home to various Nawabs and counted as part of the Rajputana states...

     (Punjab)

Business Development Services

The Business Development
Business development
A subset of the field of commerce, business development comprises a number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at:1. Researching new types of business/products/services with an emphasis on identifying gaps in the mitigation of needs of potential clients .2. Attracting new customers3...

 Services were initiated in 2010, in order to assist and encourage economic growth and income generation activities in the rural areas of Pakistan. The focus of BDS is to improve the performance of small enterprises of women and men by creating business associations or clusters of skilled labour called Business Development Groups (BDGs) under the guidance of experienced BDOs (Business Development Officers) which include both women and men. The section offer services including training, consultancy and advisory services, marketing assistance, information, technology development and transfer, and business linkage promotion.

Education & Health Services Training Programme

IRM has been offering Education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 and Health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

 related Training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

 services to support communities in building skills and finding solutions to their problems. This is mainly done through implementation of training focusing on bringing economic and social changes in the lives of the poor. The programme focuses on improving and strengthening the health and education sector through capacity building of the activists, health workforce, community members and school teachers.

Management Development Programme

MDP is specifically designed to equip mid-level professionals with skills to enable them to assume greater responsibilities within their organizations. MDP is offering a range of training and workshops. Broadly these training can be categorized in three major groups:
  • Women Focused Programmes
  • MDP Projects
  • Professional development short courses
  • Tailor-made courses for organizations

Micro-Finance Training Programme (MFTP)

Micro Finance is a potent tool for poverty alleviation as it allows individuals and communities to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty with an injection of much needed capital. Loan Portfolio Management, Operational Risk Management, Bank Customers Training and Credit Appraisal Recovery Techniques are some of the offered Training for community members under MFTP.

Social Mobilization Training Programme

The focus of the programme to develop skilled development practitioners and master trainers in the field of social mobilization. It mainly offers training in the area of social mobilization, participatory development, management development
Management Development
Management Development is best described as the process from which managers learn and improve their skills not only to benefit themselves but also their employing organizations....

 and organizational development.

Center for Executive Education

Academics section of IRM which is now known as Center for Executive Education was initiated in 2003 with the aim to augment the capacity and qualifications of professionals. A number of diplomas are being offered in collaboration with various academic institutions.
The center focuses on meeting the academic needs of university students as well as management needs of professionals from Banks, local and International NGOs, Rural Support Programmes, Government agencies and International organizations.

Environment & Natural Resource Management (ENRM)

For the purpose of creating a culture of effective and sustainable management of natural resource at the grassroots level, IRM is involved in developing a cadre of activists in various disciplines. The institute has responded to the issues related to ENRM through:
  • Introduction and orientation to improved appropriate technologies;
  • Establishing strong and productive linkages for extending outreach of government and other line departments at the local level;
  • Training of master trainers for enabling them to train other community members at the local level.

Faculty and trainers

The institute possesses a pool of in-house resource persons, whose varied experience is instrumental in catering to the needs of a range of target recipients. These professionals have hands on experience in their respective areas including management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

, social mobilization, training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

, project management
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...

, planning
Planning
Planning in organizations and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; and the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior...

 and research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, business development
Business development
A subset of the field of commerce, business development comprises a number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at:1. Researching new types of business/products/services with an emphasis on identifying gaps in the mitigation of needs of potential clients .2. Attracting new customers3...

, project monitoring and evaluation, and financial management
Managerial finance
Managerial finance is the branch of finance that concerns itself with the managerial significance of finance techniques. It is focused on assessment rather than technique....

.

In addition to in-house expertise, the Institute maintains a portfolio of expert professionals from external organizations, academics and research and development who specialize in an array of subjects. The diverse skills that arise from such an extensive portfolio enable the institute to cater to the organization specific requirements and needs.

Organizational capacity

As of June 2011, the IRM has trained more than one million individuals, specifically youth in diverse areas, including entrepreneurship development, professional and management skills, Internship programme, life skills, vocational and technical skills, diploma as well as certificate courses.

Planning, monitoring, evaluation and research

To ensure that programs undertaken by the IRM are mission-driven, outcome-focused, effective, and efficient, a Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation & Research (PMER) section has been setup. For this a string system of monitoring is undertaken which provides continuous feedback on the impact of the work done to the management and other development partners. Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) of development activities provide better means for learning from past experience, improving service delivery, planning and allocating resources, and demonstrating results as part of accountability to key stakeholders.

Gender mainstreaming

IRM follows a two-pronged strategy to achieve gender equality by taking measures at the Institutional and Programme level. At the Institutional level, IRM promotes and supports organizational change by encouraging women’s greater participation throughout the organization and developing strategies to increase their representation in decision-making at all levels. At the programme level, Sector specific strategies cover engendered actions to ensure gender integration in all the policies, programmes and projects of IRM. These strategies are an integral part of the Gender Mainstreaming Policy. The Gender Mainstreaming Policy provides guidelines to the employees of the IRM as well as programmes undertaken by the organization. A Gender Resource Group (GRG) has been formed to facilitate, monitor and support the implementation of IRM’s Gender Policy. All the team leaders are member of GRG however one of the Team Leader is a gender focal person

Knowledge management and social media

Throughout the organization, IRM promotes translating field-based learning of its staff into knowledge for broader academic discourse. IRM Library is like a knowledge bank which collects and consolidates all existing material and knowledge on rural development. IRM has a huge collection of Audio/videos, proceedings of conferences and training reports. All these knowledge resources are being catalogued, digitized and placed on the website for providing access to interested readers, researchers, development professionals as well as policy and public opinion makers.

Honors and recognition

IRM has been implementing projects under bilateral agreements and direct agreements with International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...

, World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, UNDP, Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...

, Swiss Development Corporation, IFAD, Department for International Development
Department for International Development
The Department For International Development is a United Kingdom government department with a Cabinet Minister in charge. It was separated from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1997. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". The current...

, ESCAP, UNOPS, and UNICEF etc. Due to its efforts and services in the field of empowering people through HRD, the institute has been declared as the “Centre of Excellence” in 2001 by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific , located in Bangkok, Thailand, is the regional arm of the United Nations Secretariat for the Asian and Pacific region. It was established in 1947 to encourage economic cooperation among its member states...

.

Academic partners


  • International Training Centre of International Labor Organization (ITC-ILO), Turin
    Turin
    Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

     Italy
    Italy
    Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

  • Asian University for Women
    Asian University for Women
    Asian University for Women is an international university in Bangladesh. It is located in Chittagong, port city of Bangladesh.-History:AUW's first academic program, the pre-collegiate , opened in March 2008 with a class of 130 young women from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan and...

    , Bangladesh
    Bangladesh
    Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

  • International Islamic University, Islamabad
    Islamabad
    Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...

  • Iqra University
    Iqra University
    IQRA University is a private higher education university in Pakistan with main campus located at Karachi, Sindh and campuses at Islamabad, Karachi and Quetta. It was established in 1998 by the businessman Hunaid H...

    , Islamabad
    Islamabad
    Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...


  • University of Arid Agriculture
    University of Arid Agriculture
    The University of Arid Agriculture is located at Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan. In the 1970s, the government of Punjab established an Agricultural College in Rawalpindi for the development of rain fed agriculture. The college was upgraded to the level of the University in 1994.. The University is...

    , Rawalpindi
    Rawalpindi
    Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...

  • HITEC University
    HITEC University
    HITEC University of Engineering and Management Sciences, Taxila, more commonly known as HITEC University , is a private sector university located in Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan.Taxila, a historical seat of learning and an important archeological site, is situated about 30-kilometers North-West of...

    , Taxila
    Taxila
    Taxila is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.Taxila is situated about northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road...

  • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University, Peshawar
    Peshawar
    Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....

    (AUP)


External links



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