The Muttahida
Qaumi Movement (MQM) is in the process of revamping its structure and
revising its constitution which would soon be revealed, said senior
party leader Farooq Sattar on Monday.

“Like the civil
society, political parties should also engage in self-assessment and
continue the pursuit of democratisation within their ranks,” he said
while speaking as a chief guest at the launch of a book titled “Action
Research and Organisational Capacity Building: Journeys of Change in
Southern Think-Tanks” held by the Sustainable Development Policy
Institute (SDPI).

Commenting on the need for
evidence-based knowledge and its management, he acknowledged the role of
civil society in policy-making in Pakistan and said that political
parties should follow suit and continue the process of democratisation
within their structures.

In this regard, he announced
that the MQM was also in the process of revamping its structure and
would soon be coming out with a revised constitution.

According
to the research coordinator for SDPI, the book analysed and discussed
the organisational capacity building of think-tanks from five countries
in the Global South including: Groupo Faro (Equador), Institute of
Economic Affairs (Ghana), Institute of Policy Analysis and Research
(Rwanda), Social Policy and Development Centre (Pakistan), Centre for
Poverty Analysis (Sri Lanka) and the SDPI (Pakistan).

She
explained that unlike theoretical research action, research was more
inclusive of stakeholders and was therefore more participatory. “Action
research is a self-reflective process,” she observed.

An
associate research fellow at the SDPI, Asif Saeed Memon, while giving a
presentation about his findings highlighted four elements in
organisational capacity building — knowledge management, capacity
building of staff, mentoring of junior researchers and resilience and
institutional stability.

He said the policy landscape in
Pakistan was still immature and was undergoing a process of evolution
where the stakeholders, such as academia, think-tanks and media needed
to take stock of their respective roles. While practical research was
important to address issues of public relevance one should not discount
the importance of theoretical research. According to him, there also
existed a ‘North-South’ geographical divide in terms of policy research
culture in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Dr Jaffer Ahmed of the
Pakistan Area Study Centre of Karachi University observed that both
institutional and individual capacity building was important in the
culture of a research organisation.

He also highlighted
the importance of other factors for think-tanks, including financial
stability, existing political environment and the external influences
under which they operate.

Principal economist at the
Social Policy and Development Centre, Asif Iqbal, said there was a need
to promote collaborative research and promote an environment of
collective learning.