History and Mission
Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan research institute dedicated to facilitating research-based, objective critiques on policy, institutions and political activity in Pakistan. PILDAT is officially registered as a non-profit organization under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 in Pakistan. It was founded in 2001 by a community of non-resident and resident Pakistanis from different fields in social development, such as IT education, healthcare and government. The organization works to monitor Parliamentary and legislative performance, as well as facilitate greater participation from different branches of civil society in formal political spaces. Their primary purpose is to strengthen legislative capacities, democratize existing institutions and forums for dialogue by conducting and disseminating publicly research on finance, economy, poverty-reduction, trade, women/youth in politics etc.
Their mission is to strengthen democracy in Pakistan. The organization publishes legislative briefs, press releases, research reports as well as, facilitates activities like forums and other participatory dialogues to engage civil society, media, Parliament and other members of society on policy reform, implementation and critique. Since 2002, PILDAT has held over 200 legislative capacity-building and issue-based briefings for Parliament and Provincial Assemblies. It has also prepared over 300 briefing/background papers, case studies and other publications on public policy and legislative issues. Beyond its communicative and research function, PILDAT also operates as a space for comparative political and parliamentary dialogue, education and innovation in hosting conferences for regional governments and study visits to other parliaments.
Funding
Funding for PILDAT activities is source from seed money by overseas Pakistanis, pilot project funding from UNDP, donors, FNS, FES, DFID, The World Bank and IRI.
Events and Activities
Its major events and programming is divided into the following streams: political research programme, public legislative forums, legislative strengthening programme for legislators and legislative staff, policy dialogue programme, democracy watch programme, political parties programme and youth leadership development programme. Some recent major events include the launch of a legislative capacity building pilot project in partnership with the UNDP, a briefing session on PRSP, a workshop on budget process, workshop on MNAs on devolution, state of democracy report, 3 part election study and young parliamentarians forum.
Publications
The organization publishes an annual review report of Parliamentary performance in Pakistan. Their website hosts an impressive archive of case studies, reports, press releases and issues-based reports on pertinent local issues such as anti-narcotics polic, civil-military relations and democracy, relations between Muslims and the world, Fata Status, centre-province relations etc.
Sources
http://www.pildat.org/about.asp
“PILDAT Workshop for Balochistan MPAs”, PILDAT Publication