The purpose of this report is to summarise and present the details of the Grassroots Policy Forums (GPFs) held in November 2020. Grassroots Policy Forums were consultative sessions held by young and women politicians from 8 mainstream political parties of Pakistan with citizens in their communities across the country, wherein they participated
with their input, feedback and recommendations regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their lives and in their local area. The citizens’ perspectives were collected to inform the policies of the political parties on managing the impact of COVID-19.
Holding GPFs all over Pakistan, was an initiative conceptualised and facilitated by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), a non-partisan, independent organisation working to strengthen and sustain democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan. The GPFs exercise was conducted as a part of the project on
Consolidating Democracy in Pakistan (CDIP) under COVID-19.
This report has been compiled by the PILDAT-CDIP project team and is based on the information gathered from the event reports. The report also captures the significance and potential success of the GPFs in Pakistan as reflected through the findings and recommendations from marginalised communities present at the forums along with the viewpoints of the young and women political leaders who organised the forums.
The organization of GPFs was also meant to serve as an example for political parties to adopt such forums as a system of
consultation with their members and workers on a range of policy issues before formulating their party position.
