Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (PARD) is one of the premier institutions of Pakistan that work for the rural development. It was established in 1957 as an autonomous organization under the administrative control of Establishment Division. It became operational in September 1959. Since then, the Academy has been actively and extensively contributing towards the achievement of its goals.
In 1997, recognizing its role in training and action research, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, declared it a ‘Centre of Excellence for Human Resource Development’. PARD has multi level and multi faceted activities. Starting right from grass root level i.e. villagers and farmers including women, the Academy actively interacts with local, provincial and federal governments, researchers, academicians and non-governmental organizations working for rural development in one way or the other. Its functions include research particularly action based research and capacity building through training. PARD has also developed valuable association with international organizations e.g. CESSD, UNESCO, UNICEF, FAO, UNCRD, APDC etc., regional organizations like AIT (Bangkok), CIRDAP (Dhaka), and a number of national organizations.