Islamabad: The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), in collaboration with UNICEF Pakistan, convened a high-level conference titled 'Shaping Policy through Evidence: Strengthening Systems for Children in Pakistan,' bringing together senior policymakers, development practitioners, researchers, and civil society representatives to advance evidence-based policymaking for children's wellbeing. The conference underscored the urgent need to translate credible research and data into sustained policy action to address persistent challenges in education, health, nutrition, and social protection.

Delivering the keynote address, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal emphasized that a nation's true development is measured by the quality of its human capital rather than physical infrastructure alone. He noted that Pakistan's long-standing focus on physical projects has come at the cost of underinvestment in education, health, and nutrition, resulting in weak human development outcomes despite heavy infrastructure spending. Citing high stunting rates, millions of out-of-school children, and the continued presence of polio, he called for urgent, evidence-driven investments in early childhood development and population management. He urged stakeholders to bridge the 'knowing-doing gap' by converting research into action and proposed the creation of a Child Welfare Index of Pakistan to track child wellbeing and strengthen accountability at national and sub-national levels.

In his welcome remarks, PIDE Vice Chancellor Dr. Muhammad Nadeem Javaid highlighted the severity of Pakistan's human development crisis, stating that nearly 26 million children are out of school while around 40 percent suffer from stunting, with long-term consequences for health, learning, and productivity. He stressed that Pakistan's challenge is not a lack of policies or data, but weak implementation and limited uptake of evidence. Calling evidence use an institutional rather than a technical issue, he urged the embedding of research into policy design, budgeting, and delivery systems, particularly for child-focused interventions.

UNICEF Pakistan Country Representative Ms. Pernille Ironside, setting the global and national context, reaffirmed that evidence is the foundation of equitable and inclusive development, especially in a country where children's outcomes are shaped by climate change, demographic pressures, urbanization, and economic volatility. She shared that between 2018 and 2025, UNICEF Pakistan produced more than 134 evidence products across key child-related sectors, identifying effective multi-sectoral approaches while also exposing gaps in financing, coordination, and equitable service delivery. She emphasized the need to institutionalize evidence to influence policy, budgets, and large-scale implementation, reiterating UNICEF's commitment to partnering with PIDE and government institutions to ensure research leads to measurable improvements in children's lives.

Providing a social protection perspective, BISP Chairperson Ms. Rubina Khalid underscored the importance of data and evidence in designing inclusive and gender-responsive policies. She highlighted the National Socio-Economic Registry as one of Asia's largest data-driven social protection platforms, covering nearly 90 percent of the population and enabling cash transfers to millions of women-headed households. She outlined key initiatives including nutrition-sensitive conditional cash transfers, the Benazir Taleemi Wazaif programme supporting millions of schoolchildren, and the introduction of digital wallets for women beneficiaries to promote financial inclusion. She stressed that adaptive, climate-aware, and evidence-led social protection systems are essential to protect vulnerable children and families.

Following the inaugural session, a high-level panel discussion titled 'From Evidence to Action - Embedding Research in Policy and Practice,' chaired by the PIDE Vice Chancellor and moderated by UNICEF Pakistan, brought together experts from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Population Council, UNDP, IBA Karachi, UN Women, Gavi, and the World Bank. Panelists examined institutional and political barriers to evidence uptake, shared successful sectoral experiences, and discussed innovations such as digital systems and artificial intelligence for data-driven policymaking, emphasizing the need to institutionalize research use and strengthen links between evidence, budgeting, and implementation.

The conference also featured two rounds of parallel breakout sessions. The first addressed integrated systems for early childhood development and strengthening public finance for children through expenditure evidence and innovative financing mechanisms. The second focused on climate-resilient and gender-responsive social protection systems, as well as evidence-based youth skills development aligned with future labour market needs. The event concluded with a plenary session synthesizing key insights, reflections by UNICEF Pakistan, closing remarks by the Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training, and a networking segment highlighting youth participation, reaffirming a shared commitment to evidence-informed policy action for children in Pakistan.