Since 1977, IDRC has supportedPakistani researchers’ efforts toimprove health care, education,

and farming practices, and find lastingsolutions to economic and environ-mental problems. Research in theHindu Kush-Himalayas, for example,identified solutions, such as hybrid off-season corn, that conserve soil andwater while increasing family incomes.Other research has focused on peace-building and women’s experience ofdiscrimination and violence.

IDRC has facilitated key efforts toreduce poverty, such as the developmentof a community-based monitoringsystem that can track the impact ofgovernment efforts to reduce poverty.In another example, research by LEADPakistan has brought hope to TehsilBalakot, a rural area that was devastatedby the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Localorganizations gained a better under-standing of residents’ needs andreceived the training needed to helpthem rebuild or replace lost livelihoods.

Since the mid-2000s, IDRC researchpartners have also introduced the Internet to hundreds of isolated north-ern villages, bringing online trainingopportunities along with health andagricultural information.

Local-language computing

A now widely celebrated effort toinclude poorer parts of Asia in the“Information Age” began in 2002 with a modest initiative to create digital fontsin Pakistan’s national language, Urdu.With computers and the Internet dominated by English, local-languagecomputer programs produced by

IDRC-supported research teams areenabling many Asians to read and publish content on the Internet in thelanguages they speak. Researchers atPakistan’s National University for Computing and Emerging Sciences arecoordinating the 10-country program.In another effort to narrow the digitaldivide, the Sustainable DevelopmentPolicy Institute in Pakistan is measuring– and seeking to bridge – the gap thatexists between men and women, andgirls and boys, in accessing computersin rural areas.

Environmental economics

For the past decade, IDRC has helped to build the South Asian Network forDevelopment and Environmental Economics. The network specializes in applied research that makes the connections between economic and

environmental problems and solutions.Path-breaking research in Pakistanincludes a study showing how the recreational value of natural resources(such as parkland) can generate fundsfor their preservation.

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IDRC support is helping:

� Urdu speakers access computersand the Internet

� Citizens obtain education and health care

� Tuberculosis patients stop smoking

� Communities combat “honour”crimes against women

� Policymakers understand the eco-nomics of environmental problems

Total IDRC support 66 activities worth CA$21 million since 1977

Research on mountain agriculture has increased yields in the Hindu Kush.

IDRCI N T E R N AT I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T R E S E A R C H C E N T R E

IDRC in Pakistan

Some current activitiesHere is a sample of the research that IDRCsupports in Pakistan. A program tostrengthen independent think tanks in SouthAsia has also been launched.

� Greater access to educationFunding: $1,200,000Duration: 2010–2013Grantee: Virtual University of Pakistan

Information and communication technolo-gies can increase access to education andthus give poor rural residents a chance tolearn a profession or job-related skills.Researchers are identifying the technology,standards, performance indicators, andteaching methods that will improve thequality of distance education in Asia andhelp it reach its full potential.

� Gathering evidence on e-healthFunding: $2 422 652Duration: 2007–2010Research partners: University of Calgary,Canada and Aga Khan University, Pakistan

Researchers in eight Southeast and SouthAsian countries, including Pakistan, areexamining issues and practices related to e-health, which involves the use of informa-tion and communication technologies todeliver health care. In assessing the cost,appropriateness, and usefulness of varioustechnologies, they hope to find ways todeliver health services more efficiently, andto prepare for disasters and pandemics.

� A peace audit of partitionsFunding for Pakistan: $100 700Duration: 2009–2011Research partner: South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Hong Kong

A partition-based peace settlement may haltimmediate violence but give rise to endemicviolence, as the root cause of the grievance –a lack of democracy rather than ethnicity –remains unresolved. Six decades after the1947 India–Pakistan partition, researchers in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, andSri Lanka are bringing people’s voices intothe discussion as they help to fill knowledgegaps on the consequences of partition.

� Targeting tobacco and tuberculosisFunding: $417 000Duration: 2008–2011Research partners: Association for SocialDevelopment, Pakistan and University of Leeds, UK

In many developing countries where smoking is prevalent, tuberculosis is also amajor problem. Smokers are at increased risk of contracting TB, and tobacco useaggravates the disease. Researchers in Pakistan and Britain have teamed up todevelop and test an integrated approach totobacco dependence and TB control thataims to reduce smoking among TB patientsin Pakistan.

� Combatting “honour” crimes Funding: $145 600Duration: 2009–2010Research partner: MASUM, India

Researchers are investigating the legal andsocial aspects of “honour” crimes committedagainst women in India and Pakistan, and in South Asian communities in Britain andCanada. The ultimate goal is to devise strategies that will help protect women’shuman right to live a life without fear.

February 2009

Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is one of the world’s leading institutions in the generation and application ofnew knowledge to meet the challenges of international development. For nearly 40 years, IDRC has worked in close collaboration withresearchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies.

International Development Research CentrePO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1G 3H9 www.idrc.ca

1. Health $2 839 652 • 2 activities

2. Local language computing$2 700 000 • 1 activity

3. Education$1 335 100 • 2 activities

4. Women’s rights$600 000 • 3 activities

5. Peace studies$552 000 • 2 activities

6. Disaster preparedness$102 000 • 2 activities

Some activities are regional in scope.

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Current IDRC support12 activities worth CA$8.1 million

For more information visit the Regional Office for South Asia andChina website:www.idrc.ca/saro/.Subscribe to the IDRC Bulletin:www.idrc.ca/idrcbulletin/

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The boundaries and names shown on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by IDRC.