ABSTRACT
Pakistan's renowned development practitioner Akhter Hameed Khan identified three essential infrastructures – administrative, political and socioeconomic – for poverty alleviation and local development. The political infrastructure comprises all the elected bodies from the local to the federal government. Social infrastructure plays an important role in helping poor households’ access services from the administrative infrastructure. The author contention is that "means do exist for the population to free themselves, but the option has remained undeveloped" – that is, the weakness of civil society and donor-funded NGOs engaged in poverty alleviation and right-based development. Known generally as civil society, social infrastructure can be broadly divided in two categories: community organizations and support organizations. The knowledge deficit cannot be overcome by demanding more financial resources and a greater share in power by civil society but by gaining better understanding and knowledge of local priorities, tools, and strategies that can help deprived communities effectively meet their priorities.
