Work

Implementation Experience

Rule of Law & Criminal Justice System

1. Supporting Gender-Responsive & Trauma-Informed Policing in Punjab, USIP, 2023-2024: GRI collaborated with Musawi and Punjab Police in a USIP funded project to enhance citizen trust in the police, particularly among marginalized groups such as women and transgender individuals. The focus was on building the capacity of first responders to effectively engage with marginalized communities. GRI led the engagement with the Punjab Police and in collaboration with Musawi helped develop a framework for gender-based violence assessments for Punjab Police, trained 1,700 female police recruits and 40 transgender Victim Support Officers from across Punjab on gender-sensitive and trauma-informed policing. The program marked a significant step in promoting trauma-informed approaches within Pakistan’s criminal justice system.
2. Protecting Women’s Marriage Rights, ABA-ROLI-Musawi, 2020-2025 (Phase II – Ongoing): GRI, in partnership with Musawi in this ABA-ROLI funded project, is conducting a long-term initiative focused on safeguarding women’s marriage rights in Pakistan. The aim is to ensure women have the legal right to divorce and financial security by improving the enforcement of marriage contracts. The project is structured around three objectives: enhancing stakeholder awareness, strengthening legal and operational mechanisms to address women’s marriage rights, and providing better legal support to women and girls in Pakistan. Activities include training sessions for judges, community workshops, legal aid services, and the establishment of a network of women leaders on Muslim Family Laws.
3. UK-Pakistan Serious Crime and Law Enforcement (Upscale) Programme, Adam Smith International and Foreign, Commonwealth And Development Office, UK, 2021-2022: GRI’s team members Muhammad Ali Nekokara and Barrister Umar Khan led the programme, and secured approval from the federal government counterparts to launch the project. They designed engagement with the Federal Investigation Agency, the police leadership of Punjab, , KPK, Balochistan, ICT, GB and AJK on data sharing focusing on efficiency and quality assurance to reduce threats. The project introduced federal-provincial collaboration and performance management routines, as well as stock-takes at the provincial and national level. Compared to the baseline of 41%, the processing rate for criminal history data sharing improved to 88% through these interventions. The overall response time was reduced from 114 days to 39 days.
4. Rule of Law Programme, Adam Smith International, DFID, 2017-2021: GRI’s Advisors Muhammad Ali Nekokara (Team Lead) and Barrister Umar Khan (Roadmap Lead) led engagements as well as technical support for 5 years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Team members supported criminal justice reforms through better coordination and sharing of cross-institutional data. The project involved process-level improvements for enhanced investigation, prosecution, and trial functions. The Rule of Law Roadmap, including a gender component, was approved by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet with implementation piloted in two districts. GRI’s advisors also assisted KPK Home Department in developing an outline for the Criminal Justice Gender Roadmap of KPK.
   • Results:
     • Acquittal rate reduced from 44% to 35% in homicide and serious sexual violence cases in the select districts. The case time of criminal investigations in homicide and serious sexual violence cases was also reduced from 73 to 33 days in the select districts.
     • Operationalized the use of Sexual Offense Evidence Collection Kits in investigations of rape and sodomy cases in the province.
     • Successfully advocated for introduction of Victims Support Services and Victims Support Fund for women and children victims of violence in KPK Police and worked with local communities to build a Victims Support Network. The team also piloted victim support services in 5 districts. About 400 domestic violence victims were assisted by the victim support officers, which increased confidence of victims to report to police in 95% of the cases.
5. Rule of Law Roadmap Programme, Government of , GIZ-FCDO, 2018: GRI’s team member Muhammad Ali Nekokara in collaboration with the leadership of the criminal justice institutions of developed the rule of law roadmap which was approved by the provincial cabinet. GRI’s consultant also assisted in the design and formulation of indicators for the roadmap, including a gender component.
6. Support on Counter-terrorism Financing and Anti-money Laundering: Our team members have successfully led projects covering various aspects of counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering efforts. These include programmes providing technical assistance to federal and provincial institutions of Pakistan to plug the gaps in CFT/AML regime and improving the capacity of judges, prosecutors, and investigators in this area. In addition, Ishtiraq also has specific expertise on violent extremist prisoners and prevention of violent extremism in prisons.
7. Capacity-building of NACTA: Our members have also partnered with the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) to strengthen its capacity to achieve its mandate in different policy areas, such as the criminal justice system, countering violent extremism, rule of law and human rights. This included expertise in legal research, policymaking, and overall capacity-building of the institution.
8. Countering Violent Extremism: Our team has extensive and direct experience of working with the grave security and extremism related challenges Pakistan has confronted in the last few decades. Our team members are not only part of an International Pool of Specialist Consultants, Countering Violent Extremism Unit of Commonwealth’s Secretariat but also of the United Nations Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate.

B. Environmental Sustainability

Although its contribution to global carbon emissions is marginal, Pakistan is highly vulnerable climate change and environment-related catastrophes. As the environmental sustainability agenda gathers momentum in Pakistan, the legal architecture requires a significant overhaul to create a conducive policy environment.

Ishtiraq’s team members retain particular expertise in the areas of environmental and water law. Some of their active and past contributions include:

• Strategic/sectoral environment assessment of Indus Basin carried out as part of the SMEC International (USA) for the Ministry of Water and Power, Government of Pakistan.
• Restructuring & capacity building of Punjab’s Environmental Protection Agency for effective enforcement of environmental standards in the province.
• Execution of water perception surveys conducted in collaboration with Chatham House UK to assess divergent attitudes within South Asia on the issue of water, inter-state water-sharing and localized water management.
• Work with Punjab’s Urban Unit in the execution of Khadim-e-Punjab Saaf Pani Programto supply safe drinking water to rural and peri-urban areas of the province.
• Representation in the Special Task Force on smog constituted by the Chief Minister Punjab in 2022. 

C. Healthcare

Ishtiraq retains expertise related to both primary and secondary healthcare systems not only in Pakistan, but across the Asia-Pacific region. Some of the team members’ success includes:

• Lead in the management of primary and secondary healthcare including preventive health care across Punjab, with management of more than 150 hospitals and 3,000 primary healthcare facilities.
• Managed performance review of more 4,300 poor performing public schools that had been hand over by a provincial government to the private sector. This was in continuation of partnership with the Punjab Education Foundation, a new established Authority at that time.
• Development of the equitable immunization policies to guide $560 million COVID-19 vaccination portfolio for nearly 15 million marginalized in APAC. Ishtiraq’s team members also helped 13 countries in the APAC develop their COVID-19 National Deployment and Vaccination Plans.

D. Education

Ishtiraq’s team members have specific expertise related to the development of the education sector in Pakistan. This includes support to governments in the situational analysis of the education sector, including aspects of its financial management. The focus for this included the elementary and secondary education foundations via support to the office of the Minister for Finance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

E. Human Rights

Our team have specific expertise related to human rights and rule of law. Some of the key areas of work include:

• Development of Pakistan’s Initial State Report of the Optional Protocol of the Child Rights Convention on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
• Development of SOPs and methodology for the National Assembly of Pakistan for review of pending bills on the touchstone of fundamental human rights and ratified international conventions.
• Protecting Women’s Marriage Rights, ABA-ROLI-Musawi,  2020-2025 (Phase II – Ongoing): Ishtiraq, in partnership with Musawi in this ABA-ROLI funded project, is conducting a long-term initiative focused on safeguarding women’s marriage rights in Pakistan. The aim is to ensure women have the legal right to divorce and financial security by improving the enforcement of marriage contracts. The project is structured around three objectives: enhancing stakeholder awareness, strengthening legal and operational mechanisms to address women’s marriage rights, and providing better legal support to women and girls in Pakistan. Activities include training sessions for judges, community workshops, legal aid services, and the establishment of a network of women leaders on Muslim Family Laws.