The research behind our work
Our researchers have worked on studies in learning and development, school education, adult education, economics, gender and behaviour. This includes work with IIEP-UNESCO, the University of Oxford, the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan and the Lahore University of Management Sciences, on projects led by experts from institutions such as the University of Warwick, and work funded by the Williams Institute at UCLA.
Leveraging the potential of district education managers in Pakistan
IIEP-UNESCO · Pakistan, November 2023 – June 2024
District and sub-district education officers turn education policy into practice: they support schools, monitor teachers and make sure resources reach classrooms. IIEP-UNESCO’s project “The missing middle” studies this middle tier of the education system and how it can do more to improve learning.
In Pakistan, the study assessed middle-tier capacity in five districts across Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It used a survey of 335 district officials, head teachers and teachers, 55 in-depth interviews and 10 school focus groups, and looked at five areas: structures, clarity of roles, staff capacity, learning culture and use of data. The findings were validated at a national workshop in Islamabad in April 2025.
The published report points to unclear roles, limited induction and career paths, few women in district leadership, and data that is collected but rarely used by managers for decisions.
Our role: An OPDEV researcher, Syeda Fatima, worked on this project with IIEP-UNESCO from November 2023 to June 2024, as part of UNESCO’s Girls’ Lower Secondary Education Programme (GLSEP). One aim of the programme is to help provincial and district education officials create better conditions for girls’ lower secondary education.
Carried out under the direction of Barbara Tournier and Suguru Mizunoya at IIEP-UNESCO. Study report published in 2025 by the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE), IIEP-UNESCO and the Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS). Funded by UNESCO, the What Works Hub for Global Education and UK International Aid.
Middle managers in companies face the same problems: unclear roles, little induction and data they do not use. This work informs our programmes for managers and our training needs analysis.
The “good girl” phenomenon: how gender identities, roles and expectations are learned in classrooms
University of Oxford, September 2022 – August 2023
This qualitative study looked at how the classroom, as a social space, shapes the identity of girls in single-sex schools in Lahore. Eight women in higher education reflected on their school experiences in interviews, and the data was analysed using a capabilities approach.
The study found that the labels “good girl” and “bad girl” are used to manage behaviour in class. Academic expectations, classroom power dynamics, ideas of womanhood and beauty standards combine with wider social norms to shape which identities and choices feel possible.
Reflective conversations, where people examine what they were taught to expect of themselves, are an important first step towards more confident, self-aware learners and professionals.
Our role: Independent research by Syeda Fatima, carried out at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Dr Aliya Khalid. The research had ethical approval from the University’s research ethics committee.
Labels and expectations in a learning space shape how confident people feel and whether they speak up. This research informs our teacher development, psychological safety and leadership work with women.
Gender identity and violence: the impact of legal protections under the Transgender Persons Act 2018
Lahore University of Management Sciences · Funded by the Williams Institute, UCLA, February 2022 – July 2022
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 gave transgender people in Pakistan legal recognition and protection from discrimination. This research project at the Lahore University of Management Sciences asked whether the Act has changed the lived experiences of the transgender (khawaja sira) community, particularly in facing and reporting violence.
The project was funded through the Williams Institute (UCLA) Global LGBTI Small Grants. Building trust with participants and adapting standard survey questions to local living and working arrangements were central to the method.
Our role: An OPDEV researcher, Syeda Fatima, worked on the project as a full-time research assistant at Lahore University of Management Sciences. She conducted more than 20 in-depth interviews, 5 focus groups and over 200 surveys, managed a field team of 30 researchers, and produced the literature review, the qualitative analysis and the first draft of the research report.
Research with people who have reason to distrust outsiders needs careful design, confidentiality and trust. The same skills underpin our confidential surveys, interviews and focus groups in organisations.
Political identity and foreign aid efficacy: evidence from schools
Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan · University of Warwick, July 2021 – February 2022
Many development programmes in Pakistan are delivered by NGOs, which need local partners such as school owners to agree to work with them. This field experiment asked whether an NGO’s stated political values affect how willing low-cost private school owners are to collaborate with it.
On average, revealing the NGO’s liberal motivation changed what school owners believed about its aims, but did not make them less interested in working with it. Among the small group of school owners who expressed conservative beliefs in a separate survey, however, interest dropped sharply.
Our role: An OPDEV researcher, Syeda Fatima, worked on the project as a full-time research assistant at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan in Lahore, when it was titled “Building State Capacity by Promoting Collaboration”. She managed a team of researchers who conducted more than 1,200 interviews, analysed seven data sets, and produced a literature review and a report on the preliminary findings. She is acknowledged in the paper for research support.
By Sanval Nasim and Andreas Stegmann (University of Warwick). Published as a Warwick Economics Research Paper (No. 1415) and CAGE working paper (No. 624), 2022. Supported by the CAGE Research Centre at the University of Warwick, Lahore University of Management Sciences and the Royal Economic Society.
Whether people accept a programme depends partly on who they think is behind it and what they believe its aims are. The same is true of change and training inside organisations, which is why our work starts with trust and with how messages are received.
The politics of silence and speech in times of crisis and resistance
Lahore University of Management Sciences, August 2020 – June 2021
This research asked how silence and speech are used to keep or challenge power. It built a framework of three types, compelled, strategic and constitutive, and tested it on four cases: censorship in China and in Arab governments, the COVID-19 crisis in China, and South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
It found that silence and speech can both oppress and resist. What they mean depends on the context, who holds power and how much choice people have.
Our role: Independent research by Syeda Fatima, carried out at the Lahore University of Management Sciences under the supervision of Dr Sameen A. Mohsin Ali.
Why people stay silent at work, and what it costs, is at the heart of our work on psychological safety, speaking up and communication.
The gig economy and academic content writers
Lahore University of Management Sciences, January 2020 – August 2022
A study, using primary and secondary research, of the paid academic content writing industry: the role these writers play in higher education, and how the industry affects writers, students and universities. A research paper is in preparation.
Our role: Research by Syeda Fatima, associated with the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
More people now work as freelancers, contractors and remote staff. This research informs how we assess engagement, wellbeing and integrity among people who work outside traditional teams.
Mapping Old Lahore
Lahore University of Management Sciences, September 2019 – December 2019
A primary research project mapping the lived spaces of Old Lahore, followed by an analysis of the political movements that took place in them. The project collected archival material and made it accessible to the public.
Our role: Research by Syeda Fatima, associated with the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Mapping how people use and move through spaces is close to how the ONN (Organisational Neural Network) Audit maps how people and information move through an organisation.
Research for your organisation: we carry out independent research for organisations, funders and institutions on how people learn, work and lead, from confidential studies inside a single organisation to wider research across a sector.
Contact OPDEV · ask@opdev.org · London, England (WhatsApp +44 7440 585456) · Lahore, Pakistan (WhatsApp +92 328 2888978)