Category Archives: Pakistan

Opinion: Think tanks in Pakistan

Pakistan, policy

Feb 16, 2016: This blog (co-authored with my colleague, Mome Saleem) was published on the Think Tank Initiative’s website.

Pakistan has seen considerable growth in the number of think tanks operating in the country in the last decade. The 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report counts 19 such institutions. This is a significant increase from the two or three found in the early 1990s. Despite this increase over the last two decades, it is difficult to measure the successful impact of these institutions on evidence based policy making in the federal and provincial capitals.

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On the effectiveness of foreign aid for education

Development, Education, Pakistan

July 6, 2015: I was quoted in a column on the lack of effectiveness of American aid for education in Pakistan by Nadia Naviwala. The quote is below:

“All aid funding for Pakistan continues to face one problem — it can’t circumvent the politics around education,” says Asif Saeed Memon, a doctoral candidate and research fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). “For politicians, education is about patronage in two ways. One is teaching positions and the second is school construction, which is about awarding work to their favourite contractors.”

Opinion: 4 percent challenge

Development, Economy, Education, Pakistan, policy

June 4, 2015: This column was published in Dawn’s opinion pages prior to the PML-N ministry’s third federal budget being announced.

The budget season is here. Like every year we’ll be hearing calls to increase the education budget. By now we all know that the Pakistani state — the federation as well as the provinces — spends a paltry 2pc of GDP on education.

By comparison, Bhutan spends over 5pc of its GDP on education and India 3.8pc. Countries in the West spend over 5pc while Scandinavian countries, often ranked at the top of international literacy and numeracy tables, spend in excess of 6pc.

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Presentation: Launch of the Pakistan Data Portal at SDC 2014

Data, Education, Pakistan, ,

December, 2014: At the 17th annual Sustainable Development Conference’s closing plenary I launched the Pakistan Data Portal. My team at SDPI had been working with our donors Alif Ailaan (DfID funded) on the data portal (a repository of education data in Pakistan) for the better part of the preceding year.

The PDP brought together government collected as well as privately collected data on education in Pakistan and collated them on the same platform for the first time.

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Budget analysis 2013

Economy, Pakistan, Politics

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June 12, 2013: I appeared on Capital TV with Javed Iqbal along with the PPPP’s Tanveer Ashraf Kaira to discuss the first budget released by the newly elected PML-N administration of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Minister of Finance Ishaq Dar had presented the finance bill in the national assembly on June 12th, just five days after Mr. Sharif had been sworn in as Prime Minister. The crux of my analysis was that this budget did not tell us much about what the third Sharif administration would look like over it’s full term.

 

Op-ed: The disappearing poor

Economy, Pakistan

July 29, 2012: This column was published in Dawn.

Poverty is the major challenge faced by developing economies. It represents, simultaneously, a failure on the part of the polity to improve the stock of the least fortunate amongst us as well as a considerable drag on the further expansion of the economy.

Perhaps more than any other indicator of success, poverty reduction is used to judge development policies. And the surest way of reducing poverty is rapid economic growth, despite legitimate criticism of the unequal distribution of economic growth between the wealthy and the poor. A rising tide lifts all boats, or so the argument goes. Economic growth is not by itself a panacea, but it is the integral ingredient.

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Op-ed: Summer of discontent

Pakistan, policy

May 4, 2010: This column was originally published in Dawn.

Things are about to get very rocky for the PPP-led governing coalition. That is remarkable considering the last two years have not exactly been smooth sailing.

Forget the judiciary, the media and the opposition. This summer the administration will face what may prove to be its nemesis the rolling power outrage. Continue reading Op-ed: Summer of discontent →

Op-ed: Economy, a top priority

Economy, Pakistan, Politics

April 22, 2010: This column was originally published in Dawn.

A FEW days ago, President Asif Ali Zardari affixed his signature to the 18th Amendment bill. Now that the political class of 2008 has successfully exorcised the ghosts of generals past from the constitution, perhaps the administration can focus on the two existential threats facing Pakistan jihadist militancy and economic malaise. Continue reading Op-ed: Economy, a top priority →