The Institute for Development Studies and Practices (IDSP) is a Pakistani national institution that offers open learning spaces to nurture and develop individuals and communities. IDSP aims to change power structures by demystifying education and development, and generating value-based partnerships and practices at all levels. The purpose of IDSP’s interventions are to reduce and eventually end the exclusion of the majority of young people from mainstream education and livelihood opportunities in Pakistan. More than 60 percent of Pakistan’s population is between 15 and 35 years of age, and almost 80 percent of them are excluded from meaningful education and livelihood opportunities. IDSP opens learning spaces for this population, to empower them to respond to the challenges of education, livelihood, peace, and pluralism.
In Balochistan, Pakistan’s poorest province, 98 percent of students do not complete primary school. IDSP offers basic education, and training in literacy, human rights, and community organizing.
Quratul Ain Bakhteari aims to help young Pakistanis become educated, contribute to their communities, and live a purposeful life.
Develop a cadre of effective development thinkers, planners, and practitioners at the grassroots level, who will launch organizations and enterprises, or pursue careers in government and civil society, achieving real development in Pakistan.
Collective Impact of Graduates Graduates organize communities, manage development projects, and mentor new students.
Founding Director IDSP - Pakistan, Institute for Development Studies and Practices
Quratul Ain Bakhteari grew up in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Karachi after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. She earned a bachelor’s degree and worked providing basic health care and education to refugees from Bangladesh. Later, she earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. and established 2,000 government girls’ primary schools in rural Balochistan, resulting in the enrollment of 200,000 girls—a record in Pakistan’s history. Frustrated with a lack of efficacy in internationally sponsored development projects, she developed the blueprint for Institute for Development Studies and Practices and launched it in 1999 with support from The Asia Foundation. IDSP offers basic education and training in literacy, human rights, and community organizing.
One of my first childhood memories is of a never-ending sea of small yellow rooms, sprawling across a desert with not a single tree. Many people wore the same kind…
