The PACS Programme is in its second phase and the current five-year programme (£25 million, 2009-16) supports civil society organisations (CSOs) in promoting inclusive local, district and state policies.

PACS aims

PACS aims to unlock the potential of civil society to address social exclusion, by providing:

1. Grants to CSOs to help them assist socially excluded people to claim their rights and entitlements.
    
2. Capacity-building support for these CSOs, on issues ranging from financial management to policy advocacy.
    
3. Opportunities for networking, alliance-building, communication activities and joint advocacy.
    
4. Knowledge management by tracking the progress of programme implementation, identifying and disseminating lessons learnt, filling operational knowledge gaps, and providing evidence for policy advocacy.

Key focus areas

PACS focuses on non-discriminatory access for socially excluded groups in two key themes:

1. Livelihoods (work, land rights, resources and skills)
2. Right to basic services (education, health and nutrition).

Geographical areas covered

PACS covers 90 selected districts in seven states: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
 

Find out more

• Socially excluded groups
• PACS management
• PACS work from 2001-2008
• Department for International Development (DFID) in India