National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) was established in July, 2001 as a federal statutory body. It is a fast-track initiative to improve social sector outcomes at the grass-roots. The goal of the Commission is to fill the implementation gaps and improve public sector delivery mechanisms to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) through:

Universal Primary Education (UPE)
Adult Literacy / Gender Empowerment Program
Reducing Population Growth Rate
Improving Infant & Maternal Mortality
Capacity Building at Grassroots

With a ranking of 144 on the UNDP’s Human Development Index, out of a total of 178 countries, Pakistan faces enormous challenges at the beginning of the new millennium. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of healthcare facilities and a continuously soaring population have for long hampered the scope of generating improved social sector outcomes for the millions of Pakistanis living at the grassroots. Attempts made in the past to address these issues have often been marred by the lack of political will, economic & political instability and inadequate capacity of the implementing agencies which further exasperated the already dismal state of human development in the country. A Task Force on Human Development was established in June 2001. It was designed to find innovative solutions to improve and fill implementation gaps in social service delivery at the grassroots in the sector of Education, Health and Poverty Alleviation.

Extensive research carried out by eminent social scientists under this project suggested the dire need for building capacities of all the stakeholders involved in the process of social service delivery while encouraging active community participation to ensure sustainability of development interventions at the grassroots. To ensure the effective implementation of these recommendations the President, under his patronage laid the foundations for a national level development agency. The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) which came into being in July 2002 as an autonomous federal body was mandated with the role of orchestrating Human Development efforts in Pakistan.

Based on a holistic development model, NCHD aims at enlarging the scale and scope of the efforts made by the government in ensuring the effective provision of social services. It perceives human development as a process of enlarging choices, building capacities and encouraging participation of communities at the grass roots. To ensure this, NCHD is directed towards supporting government line departments, civil society organizations and the local communities in the sectors of education, basic health care and income generating activities at the grassroots.

NCHD identifies, and consequently presents innovative and cost effective solutions to fill implementation gaps, building the capacities of the involved agencies and stakeholders to effectively address the issues hampering the process. Through extensive training programs and capacity building workshops which cater to all the stakeholders involved in the process, NCHD helps ensure a lasting impact. These capacity building exercises are targeted towards Government Line departments, community based organizations and the community.

Guiding principles of the National Commission for Human Development

Human development in Pakistan requires a movement for social transformation. NCHD believes in the importance of community ownership in all its projects where decision rights are provided to all stakeholders. This approach to poverty alleviation is multi-sectoral, therefore at NCHD we are taking an integrated approach focusing on the needs of people at the grassroots.


Our solution: Incubation - an Innovative Approach

Dismal human development indicators imply that the Pakistan needs a new approach to development. Incubation of government and non-government delivery systems is a novel concept in human development. It is derived from the business world where a business incubator nurtures businesses through the initial phases of development. The ultimate objective is to help bridge the implementation gap between strategy and delivery by establishing a nationwide network of Human Development Support Units (HDSU) to operate under the aegis of the NCHD. Acting as incubators, the HDSUs will build the capacity and competencies of government line departments, and NGOs working in the social sectors at the district level by imparting skills to promote communication, coordination and knowledge sharing.