LEAD - Leadership for Environment and Development

LEAD was established with the support of Rockefeller Foundation in the wake of United Nations Convention on Environment and Development (Rio Conference) in 1992. The organization was headquartered in London with 10 member programmes around the world. The aim was to bring to life the message of Rio Declaration: to ensure that sustainable development is integrated in the development culture and practice.

LEAD Pakistan was started as a member programme of LEAD International. In 1995, it was registered in Pakistan as a not-for-profit organization under the Societies Registration Act XXI, 1880. LEAD’s Flagship Leadership Development Programme (LDP) was started in 1996 which is an innovative capacity building initiative designed with the purpose of providing knowledge, awareness, skills, exposure and linkages to leaders of tomorrow and integrating sustainable development concerns with their professional work. Till date, a strong community of more than 200 LEAD fellows is making the difference at national and international levels.

LEAD Pakistan underwent reconfiguration in 2004 to start implementation of development projects. The main focus initially was to build capacity of mid career professionals and build their leadership skills to bring about a meaningful change at institutional and community levels. For implementation and sustainability of development interventions, networks of organizations were formed. Research was carried out and disseminated to inform the stakeholders and increase the impact of interventions. LEAD Pakistan has continued to build its portfolio by planning and delivering interventions in different development areas and sectors especially education, health, livelihood, food & agriculture, environment, forestry, water, energy, water and climate change etc.

Currently, LEAD is positioning itself as a think tank and is increasingly incorporating learning, knowledge management and public policy engagement activities in the design and implementation of projects. The policy level interventions is meant to enrich the development vision of the government through evidence based research and sensitization of the policy and law makers on emerging local and global development needs. In this connection, three new initiatives have been taken in 2015 - Pakistan 2047, Tracking SDGs and Sustainable Cities. These are strategic steps with ambitious agenda and are aimed at shaping the development framework of the government of Pakistan as per global trends and requirements.

This year, LEAD Pakistan completed twenty years of Leadership. It takes pride in being the largest network based organisation in Pakistan with close linkages and presence - regionally and globally.

With a history of successful delivery of more than 180 development initiatives, we look forward to producing greater developmental impact through sophistication in design and implementation of projects and interventions.