NRDF - National Research & Development Foundation, Peshawar

The NRDF has pioneered the Ulama and Development model which aims to involve the triangle of religious institutions of Madaris, Mosques and Ulama in the development process in the Pakistan. It uses these institutions as vehicle to reach out to local communities and mobilize their resources for planning and implementation of projects.

It has been successfully tested out the model in all the four provinces in diverse setting. The model was found successful beyond expectations. The innovative work has explored new dimensions to the community development in Pakistan and has laid down a strong foundation for more comprehensive and specialized efforts. The model has established its utility as a useful, socially acceptable and cost effective way of working with local communities in various sectors and set ups. It has also proved that the traditional religious institutions can be effectively utilize to organize communities, mobilize local resources, raise awareness and facilitate actions to solve the day-to-day problems. Furthermore, it has been found of high value and a viable way to mitigate the severity and intensity of Taliban phenomena in the region, promoting religious harmony and building an open, peaceful and moderate society.

Since initiating work on the concept, NRDF carried out seven different pilot projects for testing out the model. Under these projects orientation workshops, seminars, meetings and capacity building workshops were organized with both female and male Ulama, NGO’s nominees and other civil society organizations. Research work was conducted to highlight women rights, importance of female education, human rights, environmental rehabilitating, promoting religious tolerance, peace, changes in the syllabi of Madaris, good governance and addressing the issue of population growth. The research information was disseminated to variety of groups at community, government and NGO levels. Surveys of religious Madaris in some district s were also carried out. Training courses for prayers leaders of mosques and teachers of were also organized. The British Council, Peshawar was involved to organize English Language Courses for them while utilizing the services of female expatriate teachers. 3-day exposure visits for the representatives of religious institutions were arranged to Islamabad in order to facilitate their linkages with international agencies including faith based organization. Furthermore, peace conferences were organized in various parts of the province and the expatriate journalists were facilitated to carry out their professional responsibilities in remote parts of the province bordering Afghanistan after September 11. In addition, discussion forums were arranged to voice policy level reforms in the Madaris and religious sector. The results of all these activities show a high degree of its success, which is evident from the overwhelming acceptance it has received from Ulama, local communities, international organizations, government agencies and NGO’s. The local communities and Ulama made significant contributions to cooperate with NRDF.