Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) is a policy research institute registered as a nonprofit limited company in Pakistan. Focusing on issues of poverty and inequality, governance, gender, climate and pro-poor macro-economic policy, it contributes to the national goal of social development through research, policy advice and advocacy. Established in 1995, SPDC has made significant intellectual contribution in placing issues of pro-poor growth and social development on Pakistan’s policy-making agenda. With its headquarters based in Karachi, SPDC has recently established its outreach office in Islamabad.

An independent and non-partisan research organisation, SPDC collaborates with organisations working on issues relevant to its mandate both at home and abroad. It determines its own agenda and has successfully maintained its independence. Having established its credibility, it was ranked by the University of Pennsylvania as the top research think tank of Pakistan and 22nd in Asia/Pacific for two consecutive years (2012 and 2013). Regarding financial transparency, in the Transparify Report 2015, SPDC was given the highest 5 star rating as a highly transparent organisation.

SPDC is regarded as one of the outstanding policy research organisations of Pakistan focusing on public policy analyses and social sector development and it has to its credit nearly 800 research papers, policy papers, working papers, conference papers, books and newspaper articles.

SPDC was established with the assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with a mandate to provide a focal point for social research, policy analysis and advice to the Pakistan government.