Rizwan Haider

Team

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.