Qasim Ali Shah

🟣 In Pakistan, women remain underrepresented in political leadership. Women make up nearly half the population, yet political spaces remain largely male-dominated. While parliamentary quotas have increased their presence in parliament, their influence within party leadership and decision-making remains limited. It is often constrained by structural barriers and party dynamics. Addressing this challenge, our network member @SDPIPakistan is making efforts to shift the landscape. Through the project “Advancing Gender-Equitable Politics in Pakistan,” SDPI is working to strengthen women’s voice and influence in political decision-making. The project generates evidence on barriers to women’s leadership, advances media advocacy for gender-inclusive reforms, and convenes key stakeholders to build momentum for change. This is part of the Challenge Fund for Evidence Use, implemented with the Institute of Development Studies. The initiative supports Global South teams to lead evidence-to-action strategies and directly connect research with policy and practice. Six teams across Africa, Asia, and Latin America are advancing gender-equity outcomes through locally grounded, adaptive approaches, placing Southern leadership at the center of change. Stay tuned to learn more about other projects in the coming weeks! Learn more about the full initiative here: 🔗 tinyurl.com/SV-CHFND Project participants: Qasim Shah, Khansa Naeem, Abdullah Khalid, Rabia Tabassum

🎥 🟣 What does it take to turn evidence into action for gender equality in the Global South? Southern Voice, in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies and support from the Gates Foundation, has supported innovative collaborations connecting research directly to policy and to practice. This became our Challenge Fund for Evidence Use initiative. In the span of 12 months, teams across Pakistan, Indonesia, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Uruguay have designed and implemented adaptive evidence-to-action strategies to improve gender equity outcomes. Such strategies are tailored specifically to their local realities and needs, highlighting the importance of local, context-specific Southern knowledge. The initiative brought together researchers and evidence users from our member institutions @EthosInnovacion @SDPIPakistan @cips_id @GRADEPeru @IPAR_ThinkTank @BELAB_Bissau @FARO_org We placed Southern leadership right at the center of research and decision-making. In this video, participants share some insights from the initiative and reflect on the projects they led in their respective contexts. Over the coming weeks, we will also be spotlighting each project individually, so you can learn all about closing the evidence to action gap - the Global South way. Read more on the Challenge Fund initiative here: 🔗 southernvoice.org/challenge-…