Student Traineeship Programme & MoU Signing

Centre for Business and Society (CBS) at LUMS, in partnership with the Punjab Women Protection Authority (PWPA), launched an immersive four-week Policy Traineeship Programme from August - September 2025, as part of their shared commitment to advancing women’s social and economic empowerment in Pakistan.

This traineeship provided mentorship, exposure, and tangible policy engagement opportunities for LUMS students interested in public service, advocacy, and gender equity. The traineeship was designed as a bridge between academic knowledge and policy practice, ensuring that student learning translated into meaningful institutional outputs.

The Closing Ceremony held on September 26, 2025 in the Suleman Dawood School of Business-LUMS, marked the culmination of four-weeks of collaborative research, preparation of survivor-centric mechanisms and hands-on policy engagement, highlighting the power of academia–policy partnerships in addressing pressing societal challenges.

The programme and closing ceremony celebrated not only the dedication of the trainees but also the shared vision of CBS-LUMS and PWPA: building stronger, survivor-centered institutions in Punjab.

Dr. Adeel Zafar (Dean, Suleman Dawood School of Business at LUMS) and Kalsoom Saqib (Director General, Punjab Women Protection Authority) signed an MoU marking the beginning of a longer-term partnership between CBS and PWPA, to furthering evidence-based policy, digital innovation, and capacity-building in the protection and empowerment of women.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Misbah Tanveer (Director, CBS) and Kalsoom Saqib (DG, PWPA) emphasized how this collaboration represents a model of research for public service, bridging the gap between academic insight and policy implementation.

The trainees onboarded from the Suleman Dawood School of Business and Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law at LUMS, presented their deliverables at the Closing Ceremony, in a group presentation. The deliverables of the programme included (i) Preparation of a Policy Report, (ii) Development of a “Digital Case Management System”, (iii) Development of a Survivor-Centric Website and (iv) Podcasts with the survivors.

With this first cohort’s achievements, the CBS-LUMS and PWPA traineeship sets the foundation for scaling up future initiatives. By embedding young researchers within public institutions, the programme demonstrates how cross-sector partnerships can generate tangible, sustainable reforms in governance and social protection.