About Us

Mission

The Centre for Public Policy and Governance (CPPG) aspires to promote and disseminate teaching and research on public policy that centre stage citizen welfare, distributive justice and participative development, humane governance and consultative and transparent policy process in Pakistan. Though its teachings, CPPG aims to dispense a new generation of politically adept and well-rounded individuals into governmental as well as non-governmental and private sector organizations.

History

The CPPG was established in 2007, when Public Policy was considered a neglected and undeveloped program in Pakistan’s academic setting and policy framework, and there was a growing realization that Pakistan needed an institution that offered education, training and research in Public Policy and Governance. This challenge was accepted by the then F.C. College Rector, Dr. Peter H. Armacost, who invited Dr. Saeed Shafqat and together, they conceived and then established the Centre. In 2009, CPPG launched its program to cater to mid-career professionals particularly public servants. In 2014, an program was launched for young graduates who wanted to pursue policy oriented research. In 2017, the CPPG established its, which is dedicated to pursuing research and academic collaboration on China-Pakistan US relations in the region in the context of a changing world order. More recently in 2019, CPPG launched a program to foster serious scholarship in the public policy domain.

Goal and Objectives

The Centre aims to nurture a new generation of Pakistani scholars and policy analysts and envisions contributing towards training and skill development of public officials, journalists, and non-profit and business managers. CPPG aims to produce quality research, set a research agenda and design degree programs to attract scholars, experts, professionals and potential participants from the states of Greater South Asia (Central Asia, Gulf region and South Asia). Further, it aims to serve as a forum to facilitate dialogue among academic, business, policy making and research communities.

WHO WE ARE

CPPG is designed to combine the functions of teaching, training and research through its Masters and Doctoral degree programs in Public Policy. By interweaving these functions, CPPG acts as an academic institution and a policy think tank that provides technical and conceptual skills, policy analysis and formulation, in a broad spectrum of Public Policy and Governance areas including Governance, Democracy and Institution Building; Environment, Demography, and Urban Change; and Peace Building and Conflict Management.

Our Achievements

Published 13 Monographs & 8 Position Papers

Conducted 2 International Conferences & 12 Research Projects

Held 50+ Policy Dialogues & 150+ Seminars

Graduated 31 MPhils & 81 Executive MA

What We Do

To fulfil its objectives, the Centre actively pursues its activities:

As an academic institution, it imparts quality education based on an innovative curriculum designed with domestic needs in mind.
As a policy think tank, it conducts applied and evidence-based research to inform the policy process. In addition, it organizes academic conferences, seminars, workshops and short term skill-oriented trainings for advocacy, awareness raising and capacity building on public policy issues.

Message from Rector

Message From Our Leadership

The Centre for Public Policy and Governance was established in 2007, the year 2020 marking thirteen years since its inception. Over the years, CPPG has made significant accomplishments in research, teaching, training and advocacy in the areas of governance, civil service reform, demography, urban policy, citizens engagement, youth, electoral democracy, energy, and conflict resolution & peace building, to mention a few. More recently, we have been pursuing research on the rise of China and its impact both on South Asia’s socioeconomic and political dimensions and other global players such as the United States. Three research publications have already resulted from our China Cell.

Building on our initial achievements, the Centre is currently pursuing the following goals:

– Firstly, we continue to encourage and promote a culture of research that feeds into policy processes at the local, provincial and federal levels of government. We will continue to raise awareness on social issues among citizens, and elected public and non-elected public officials. Our effort is to expand the listening capacity of decision makers, in order to achieve tangible results in terms of improved governance, data-driven policy making and effective delivery of services for citizens.

– Secondly, the CPPG will continue to solicit and bid for projects in the broad domain of Social Sciences and Public Policy so that it contributes towards enhancing policy outcomes while promoting citizen ownership of these policies.

– Thirdly, We plan to initiate short courses and certifications in specific policy areas and research techniques. Simultaneously, we seek to expand merit based scholarships and financial aid for our students. To this end, we aim to create an Endowment Fund and will welcome any suggestions to achieve this goal.

– Given the launch of our Executive Masters in 2009, our MPhil program in 2014, the CPPG now has three postgraduate degrees, the PhD in Public Policy introduced in 2019 as our latest endeavor. The objective is that the CPPG can get recognition as a Centre of Excellence in research, teaching and training nationally, across the region and globally.

Dr. Saeed Shafqat Professor & Founding Director
Centre for Public Policy & Governance,
Forman Christian College (A Chartered University)