Mission
PILDAT is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit indigenous Think-tank focussed on political and public policy research and legislative strengthening. It has over the years tried to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan.
In this process PILDAT has become a premier research organization of Pakistan focusing on democracy, governance and public policy analysis. PILDAT’s analysis and research is aimed at providing innovative, practical recommendations and options to policy makers and to inform the public debate through media. PILDAT has through its independent research on a variety of issues, under the broad framework of democratic strengthening, political and institutional reform, legislative strengthening, civil-military relations, federation-provinces relations, women and youth in politics, etc. and fact-based discourse on national issues through working alongside media, broaden public debate and understanding on these issues. Completing thirteen years of its contributions in Pakistan, PILDAT has continued to guard its independence and non-partisan approach. It has very carefully ensured that its research agenda and analyses are rooted in open-minded inquiry reflecting diverse points of view. PILDAT has developed a unique convening power that brings together diverse political spheres and voices from across the country on important national and global issues affecting Pakistan. PILDAT carries out annual performance reviews of the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies and Quality of Democracy. It has also carried out extensive research on the Local Government System and its Laws and is currently working on a report to document the most recent developments in the Local Government Laws in Pakistan. As democracy progresses in Pakistan, PILDAT believes the focus should now be on the performance of democracy as distinct from the process of democracy. PILDAT has launched a programme on the Assessment of the Quality of Governance in Pakistan to examine the performance of the Federal and Provincial Governments. In May 2015, PILDAT launched a series of Score Cards on Assessment of the Quality of Governance in Pakistan (Copies available on our website). These are the first of their kind assessments of the quality of governance in Pakistan upon the completion of the first year of the Federal and Provincial Governments since May 2013 General Election (The reports on the Second year of the Federal and Provincial Governments will be launched in this week(March 2016)). With these Score Cards, PILDAT seeks to understand the extent to which the democratic governments have delivered to their citizens in terms of providing good governance. While greatly benefitting from many international frameworks to assess the Quality of Governance, PILDAT’s framework has been prepared with the valuable input of a 27-member Governance Assessment Group comprising of some of the most eminent experts across four Provinces. Earlier, upon the completion of the first year of the Federal and Provincial Governments in office in June 2013, PILDAT had undertaken and published a Public Opinion Poll on the Quality of Governance in Pakistan: First Year of Federal and Provincial Governments, released in September 2014 and another followup poll in 2015.
