Member Programmes » Pakistan

LEAD Pakistan 2005 Highlights

LEAD Pakistan’s 129 Fellows have a strong impact on their respective communities. They spread over more than 16 different cities representing over 80 organizations from five key sectors—academia, business and industry, government, media and NGOs.

These members are working at various levels — from policymaking to policy implementation. They are actively participating in voluntary work. They contribute to the society in various ways that helps bring a positive change. They undertake different activities — for instance, some are serving on the boards of various organizations. They attend the proceedings of public hearings related to the environmental and development issues. They attend seminars, conferences, workshops, stakeholder dialogues, etc on a range of issues as active members of civil society and promote LEAD’s mission through their participation. Thus, they have strong presence in each area of life. LEAD Clubs, or informal associations of LEAD members in various cities in Pakistan, in Lahore and Islamabad held their regular meetings.

Fellows Training Programme:

LEAD Pakistan has successfully graduated 2005/2006 participants of the Fellows Training programme. Each participant undertook a LEAD Project as a mandatory graduation requirement, which varied from Hand Book on "how to undertake a field visit" to Environmental Governance at Local Level: A Case of Abbotabad District, to Child Labour in Forestry Sector.

Fellows Achievements:

LEAD is a network and as such believes in carrying out its mission with the supports of its Fellows and Associates.

LEAD network in Pakistan responded promptly to the devastating earthquake of October 8 that killed more than 100,000 people. LEAD network teamed up with a good number of organizations, particularly the ones who were actually spearheading the work with the earthquake victims. LEAD forged working partnerships with Seimens, Telenor (a communications giant) and several other corporations and non-profit organizations (HRDN, SPARC, Adventure Foundation) to assist individuals and communities in need. LEAD set up a base camp in Mansehra in partnership with Community Uplift Organization that is already working as a makeshift hospital. LEAD is now engaged in policy dialogue on issues surrounding rehabilitation and reconstruction and reaching out to potential partners for a shared plan of action.

Action-orientated Projects:

Special Opportunities Fund (SOF)

Under this fund from LEAD International, LEAD Pakistan with the involvement of Fellows and Associates, undertook a series of dialogues in various cities and also prepared case studies and papers.

  • LEAD Pakistan staff and Fellows co-hosted the meeting of concern citizens on a proposed controversial “New Murree Project”.
  • LEAD Pakistan Fellows and staff hosted several meetings of the group of concerned citizens on unplanned developments in the Margalla Hills National Park and engaged the Capital Development Authority in policy dialogue to undertake the development of a master plan for the park.
  • LEAD Pakistan Fellows are on the EIA Review Committee of federal EPA as well as provincial EPAS in Sindh and NWFP.
  • In 2003, a team of seven LEAD Fellows compiled a report on an oil spill disaster at the Arabian Sea. The report was published and released in 2005. It earned good media coverage.

News on Fellows:

LEAD Pakistan are pleased to report on the following appointments and promotions of Fellows:

  • Ms Mehjabeen Abidi-Habib (Cohort 6) was elected as the vice chair of the LEAD International Board. She is serving her second term on the Board.
  • Mr Munir Ahmed (Cohort 7) achieved the National Rural Support Program Institute of Rural Management Merit Scholarship for Postgraduate Diplomat in NGO Leadership & Management.
  • Ms Rana El Akhal (Cohort 10) was awarded an honorary PhD certificate in Economics and Business Management by Oxford College for PhD studies, Ireland.
  • Mr Raza Ahmad (Cohort 11) has been recently promoted to Capacity Development Specialist and has moved to the ADB Headquarters in Manila. Previously, he was working as Governance Specialist at the Pakistan Resident Mission (PRM) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) since late 2002.
  • Mr. Basit Khan (Cohort 5) joined MOL, and oil and gas company as their HSE manger.
  • Ms Shazia Tehmas Khan (Cohort 11) has been selected as a LEAD Mentor and Provincial Review Board (PRB) member in the Women Political School (WPS) project of UNDP, an extension of the Women Political Participation (W3P) Project. The project W3P was successful in training approximately 27,000 of the women councilors during the project period and the UNDP headquarters recognized it as one of the best practices from 59 case studies submitted by 22 country offices all over the world.
  • The Asia Chapter of Society of Wetlands Scientists (SWS) has designated Mr Ahmad Khan (Cohort 11) as its representative for Pakistan.
  • Mr Siraj Narsi (Cohort 7) has moved to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania for a period of three years as the CEO of Aga Khan Education Service.
  • Mr Usman Qazi (Cohort 8) joined UNDP Pakistan in its Emergency Response Unit and is currently looking at options for emergency shelter provision to earthquake victims.
  • Mr Tahir Rasheed (Cohort 5) has joined Sustainable Use Specialist Group-central Asia (SUSG-CA) as National Project Manager of Habitat and Species Project after serving WWF Pakistan for nine years.
  • Ms Nafisa Shah (Cohort 4) was nominated for the collective 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for remarkably administrating the District Khairpur as Nazima that according to the citation is ‘an almost exclusively male domain. She was of tremendous support to DEMO when she was Khairpur’s Nazim.