Abstract
Village Development Organizations (VDOs) are non-profit volunteer organizations engaged n socio economic development in rural areas of Sindh province. Though the work of VDOs is under criticism, but yet their role in poverty alleviation cannot be ignored. The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the activities of the VDOs in poverty alleviation and to identity their problems in the district Sanghar. A sample of 10 VDOs and 61 sample members and officials were selected from the VDOs working in Sanghar district. A detailed questionnaire was developed and personal interviews were conducted for collecting data. The survey results revealed that 58% of the respondents acknowledge that the delivery of micro credit was the overwhelming service rendered by the VDOs. Similarly, 48% respondents replied that the health facilities were provided, 26% agreed that awareness seminars were held for the community. Only 5% reported that drinking water supply was provided. In terms of social mobilization, 16% agreed that it was provided to them at door step while 10% responded that income generating jobs were created. The main problems encountered were lack of cooperation from land department, less interest shown by the people to address their problems and shortage of irrigation water. It was recommended that credit agencies should provide interest free loans to the poor; VDOs should also liaise with bigger NGOs so as to create income generating jobs. Moreover, infrastructural development is inevitable for helping the on-going social and economic activities to alleviate the poverty in Sanghar.
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