PILDAT is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit Pakistani think tank focused on political and public policy research and legislative strengthening. Established in 2001 with a mission to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan, PILDAT adopts a fact-based approach to advocacy, and combines different approaches to generate impact on legislative and policy processes. These include:  

One particularly successful example was PILDAT’s work to form a caucus on immunisation in provincial and national assemblies in 2010. PILDAT also conducts regular briefings of provincial and national assemblies with a range of speakers and engages with the media. As a result the assemblies have agreed to review the legislation and are proposing a new law for Compulsory Immunisation.

Established in 1986, the Aurat Publication and Information Service Foundation (Aurat Foundation) is a civil society organisation committed to work for women’s empowerment and citizens’ participation in governance. AF provides information, builds capacity and undertakes advocacy through collaboration of citizens’ groups, organisations and a countrywide network of voluntary citizens’ groups and individual activists. The groups include Citizens Action Committees (CACs), Resource Groups and Aurat Foundation Resource Centres (AF-RCs) and Information Network Centres (INCs). AF has local partners in all the districts of Pakistan, making up the largest district level network in the country.

AF has developed programmes to undertake sustained advocacy with legislatures, executive authorities, media and political parties to positively influence policies, programmes and legislation for women. They have set up Legislative Watch Groups, at both provincial level and federal levels, which scrutinise the legislatures and undertake advocacy for women amongst public authorities and representatives. Legislative Watch activities include providing information for activists, media and the political parties, primarily on laws and legislative concerns for women, while undertaking capacity building for advocacy and negotiation skills. AF have also established a database of legislators, ministers, political parties, women’s wings of political parties, media representatives, NGOs and key bureaucrats to help strengthen their advocacy efforts.

In 1995, AF launched a countrywide advocacy campaign for establishing reserved seats for women in the local legislative bodies. Using the Legislative Watch Groups, AF were able to influence the Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa, Sindh and Punjab Provincial Assemblies to put forward a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would guarantee an enhanced number of reserved seats for women in the federal government. As a result, 33% of seats in the 2001 local government elections were reserved for women.

Working in Pakistan since 1958, the Population Council established a permanent office in Islamabad in 1992. It has come to be recognized as a premier science and public health research organization in Pakistan that responds to the pressing population and health needs of the country and works to generate high-quality research with the aim of informing and influencing policy dialogue.

From an early focus on capacity building in family planning in the 1960s and 1970s, the Population Council’s work in Pakistan has evolved into a multi-sector research and capacity-building programme. The primary focus of their work is in the area reproductive health, poverty gender and youth issues, with capacity building an important underlying theme. The Council has worked closely with the Ministries of Health and Population Welfare (In light of the 18^th amendment, the focus is shifting to the provincial level), as well as the NGO community, and is regarded as a premier social science and public health research organisation.

The Council’s 2001 national survey of adolescents made a significant contribution to understandings of poverty, gender, and youth issues in Pakistan.  It was also instrumental in the formulation of the 2002 National Population Policy and the dissemination and uptake of their 2004 Abortion study is another example of an effective dissemination strategy. This involved seminars involving the relevant stakeholders, media briefings and interviews and short policy briefings for decision makers. The Council was also proactive in ensuring that the study findings were disseminated to all the relevant Ministries, and identified the National Committee on MNCH as a key partner to develop the advocacy dimension.

A controversial issue, abortion was rarely discussed in the public sphere. The most notable outcome of the study was that it placed the issue firmly on the agenda of key stakeholders and succeeded in encouraging open dialogue about it.

MSS is a Global Partner of Marie Stopes International-UK. MSS was established in Pakistan in 1991 under the Societies Registration Act with the Vision to: ‘improve the reproductive health of people in Pakistan’ through an integrated approach combining comprehensive reproductive health services, social marketing, capacity building, advocacy and networking and information dissemination. MSS works in close partnership with the government and other stakeholders while being an active member of SRHR networks and platforms such as the Pakistan Reproductive Health Network (PRHN), Pakistan Alliance on Post-abortion Care (PAPAC), the Reproductive Health Steering Committee (RHSC), the national MDG 5b Alliance and NATPOW. 

MSS engages with the media on issues considered culturally sensitive such as sexual and reproductive health and rights. MSS believes in the importance of speaking with ‘one voice’ i.e. delivering a unified message through multiple platforms and mediums together will all stakeholders and partners. Appreciating the importance of media in reproductive health Behaviour Change Communications, MSS has held sensitisation workshops for representatives of the print and electronic media, using credible research as a critical element of their approach for effective advocacy.

MSS has been an active partner of the core working group on ‘Early Age Marriages’ – a statutory body notified by the Chief Secretariat of Sind to bring at par the minimum age of girls for marriage that is currently 16 years to the minimum age of boys for marriage that is 18 years on the premise of the girl’s sexual and reproductive health and rights and to bring uniformity in attaining age of majority in both sexes. In 2005, MSS commissioned research into awareness of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Pakistan revealed that despite significant barriers to sexual reproductive health (SRH), interventions aimed at both young people and those from whom they are likely to seek information have the potential to reduce those barriers. In order to encourage the exchange of SRH information among and between both younger and older people, MSS established community run ‘Community Advocacy Networks’ (CANs) and ‘Youth Advocacy Networks’ (YANs) in the study districts. In one community, sensitisation efforts with key figures to the benefits of providing SRH information led Imams from local mosques to offer land for ongoing CAN work. Although the sessions successfully broke the silence on SRH topics among young people, their parents and other adults, many topics such as issues of female sexuality could not be raised in the groups. Nonetheless, the networks provided much needed space for adolescents and parents to discuss issues around SRH and share information, and by gaining the backing of local leaders, young people and their parents have helped develop a common language through which they can discuss and explore SRH issues.