Events

Interactive Dialogue - Nexus between Intolerance & Violent Extremism Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) organized an interactive dialogue titled; “Nexus between intolerance and violent extremism,” on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at Avari Towers, Karachi. The dialogue was the first in the series of informed and interactive dialogues on countering violent extremism (CVE) in Pakistan. The project aims to increase understanding of violent extremism related issues by government representatives and different stakeholders, and increase capacity of civil society to organize… Read More

State of the Economy and Reform Agenda Seminar & Book Launch of Growth and Inequality in Pakistan: Agenda for Reforms by Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Pakistan organized a seminar on “State of the Economy and Reform Agenda”. The aim of the seminar was to discuss the current economic state of Pakistan and highlight the reforms required to improve the same. Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha, former minister of Finance and Economic Affairs of Pakistan and Assistant Secretary General at United Nations, was… Read More

In order to share the research findings with relevant stakeholders, a dissemination seminar on Quantifying the Potential Tax Base of Cigarette Industry in Pakistan was held in Islamabad on December 6, 2019. The seminar was attended by representatives from various stakeholders including government, media, academia, BI partners and civil society organizations. The event was chaired by Mr. Javed Jabbar while other speakers included Dr. Pervez Tahir, Mr. Hamid Ateeq Sarwar (Member FBR) and Dr. Ziauddin Islam (Director, Tobacco Control Cell, Ministry of National Health Services). Read More

SPDC conducted an analysis of the changes in the rates and structure of FED on cigarettes that were introduced in the Federal Budget 2019-20. It estimated the impact of these changes on consumption of cigarettes and the revenue collected through FED and GST. In order to share the findings with relevant stakeholders, a policy dialogue was organized in Islamabad on September 5, 2019, which was chaired by FBR’s Member Policy and Inland Revenue. Other participants included representatives from Ministry of Health, Tobacco Control Cell, media and civil society organizations. Read More

Final dissemination event of the project, Economic and Social Costs of Violence against Girls and Women was held on June 15, 2019 in Islamabad. Summary report was launched in the event, which was attended by representatives from government, academia and civil society sector. Presentations on the finding were made by SPDC team, while the speakers included Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Dr Nata Duvvury (Project Lead, NUI Galway), Dr. Yamin Zaidi (Director, Center of Gender and Policy Studies) and others. Read More

A panel discussion on Pakistan’s Population Prerogative was held at Adab Festival Pakistan on February 3, 2019 at Governor’s House Karachi. The discussion was based on SPDC’s research report entitled ‘The 2017 Census of Pakistan: Analyses of Results’. The panelists included Dr. Mehtab S. Karim, Mr. Javed Jabbar and Mr. Muhammad Asif Iqbal. The session was moderate by Dr. Yasmin Kazi. The results of the 2017 Census and its implications for social and economic development were discussed in the session. Read More

Interactive Dialogue - Unemployment, Youth and Violent Extremism Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) organized an interactive dialogue titled; “Unemployment, Youth and Violent Extremism,” on January 15, 2020 at Avari Towers, Karachi. The dialogue was the second in the series of informed and interactive dialogues on countering violent extremism (CVE) in Pakistan. The project aims to increase understanding of violent extremism related issues by government representatives and different stakeholders, and increase capacity of civil society to organize and advocate for CVE and… Read More

Interactive Dialogue - Governance Failure and Violent Extremism Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) organized an interactive dialogue titled; “Governance Failure and Violent Extremism,” on March 11, 2020 at Avari Towers, Karachi. The dialogue was the second in the series of informed and interactive dialogues on countering violent extremism (CVE) in Pakistan. The project aims to increase understanding of violent extremism related issues by government representatives and different stakeholders, and increase capacity of civil society to organize and advocate for CVE and therefore… Read More

The Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) hosted a webinar on 'The Impact of Tobacco Use on Household Consumption Patterns in Pakistan' on Wednesday, August 26, 2020. Purpose of the webinar was to share the findings of recent research work of SPDC on the above mentioned topic. The study explored how reductions in tobacco expenditure affect intra-household resource allocation. The analysis has been conducted for different income groups to particularly see the impact on poor households. Wasim Saleem, Research Associate SPDC and co-author of the research, while presenting the findings… Read More

The Applied Economics Research Centre (AERC) and the Social Policy Development Centre (SPDC) jointly organized a panel discussion on ‘Policy Choices During the Economic Crisis and Beyond’. The event was held on May 23, 2023 at University of Karachi. The panelists included Mr. Muhammad Asif Iqbal, Managing Director SPDC, Mr. Khurram Hussain, journalist, Mr. Shabbar Zaidi, former Chairman FBR, and Eng. M.A. Jabbar, Vice President FPCCI. Read More

Fiscal and monetary policies are in contradiction with each other which has negative implications for achieving the macroeconomic and fiscal targets presented by the government in the Federal Budget 2023-24. The budget portrays a weak resource mobilization strategy where net revenue receipts of the federal government are not enough to cover even the interest payments. This was stated by the experts in a seminar jointly organized by the Applied Economics Research Centre (AERC) and Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) at the University of Karachi. Socail Policy and Development Centre | PRESS… Read More

Tobacconomics Regional Think Tank Partners Meeting was held on November 14-16, 2023, at the Hotel Sheraton City Center, Istanbul, Türkiye. The meeting was organized by the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) under the project "Accelerating Progress on Tobacco Taxes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," in order to build the capacity of economic and fiscal policy-focused think tanks to provide evidence-based support for effective tobacco taxes. UIC is a partner of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together the UIC think tank… Read More