Poverty Action Lab (PAL), at Forman Christian College (FCC) is a research and action center for alleviating poverty through equality and whole-person education. PAL promotes research and dialogue on poverty and inequality in Pakistan, South Asia and the Global South emphasizing its connections with the social, cultural, political, and economic inequalities.

The Lab has an action-oriented and solution-driven approach towards research, teaching, and service-learning to counter generational poverty. We are engaged in research focused on finding sustainable solutions for poverty alleviation through grassroots development and launching an awareness campaign to highlight the relationship between marginalization and generational poverty in Pakistan.

To establish a research and action center that will work with marginalized communities to generate solutions for alleviating poverty through equality and whole-person education.

Our mission is to produce solution-oriented research and innovative intervention programs to empower marginalized individuals, groups and communities to escape poverty through capacity building and grassroots development. The lab also aims at raising awareness on the nexus of poverty and inequality and to imbue a culture of service and civic engagement.

  • United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia
  • Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC)

The research repository at PAL will provide existing research on poverty, inequality, poverty alleviation and similar areas in Pakistan and South Asia. This repository will be a ready resource to all FCCU faculty and students interested on this topic.

Themes of Poverty

  1. Generational poverty
  2. Situational poverty
  3. Rural poverty
  4. Grassroots development
  5. Inequality

Civic and community engagement

  1. Community participation
  2. Community-based development
  3. Citizen engagement

Service learning

  1. Debt bondage
  2. Bonded labor
  3. Child labor
  4. Labor rights

Human capital and skills

  1. Alternative skills
  2. Skill development
  3. Self-employment

The repository is also arranged by published papers, books, etc for the convenience of the reader.

  • Published paper
  • Working paper
  • Project reports
  • Project proposals
  • Briefs
  • Policy papers
  • Books

Material for the repository is in the process of being added to this website.

Klaske Cheema Project

In 2001-2002, the local administrators and teachers started a school-community partnership initiative in the village of Klaske Cheema near Gujranwala. The Klaske Cheema Project is a mixed methodology case study that looks at the role of education in changing lives of residents, especially female. It analyses changes at the individual, family and community level. The research also looks at how a partnership between the local teachers/school administrators and the community led to a successful initiative that resulted in a) increased male and female school enrolment, b) the improvement in the overall quality of education, c) and the establishment of a science college in the community.

Brick Kilns Project

The Brick Kilns Project focuses on understanding the nature of debt bondage, its determinants and causes in the brick kiln sector of Pakistan. This pilot project that will look at the role of social support, skills training and psychological support in making brick kiln workers self reliant and empowered individuals, capable of bringing a positive change in their lives and escaping the debt bondage system. The experiences gained and lessons learned in the project will be used to design a larger program. The findings of the study will also be presented in an international academic conference and later published in an academic journal. A seminar will be organized in the Forman Christian College and the findings of the study will be presented to the participants.