From Beneficiaries to Decision-Makers: 
How WELD Is Shifting Pakistan's Economic Leadership

 

By Dr. Asghar Zaidi | Rector, KSBL & Aijaz Haq | Head of Executive Education, KSBL

 

The Women’s Economic and Financial Leadership Development (WELD) programme, jointed developed by UNDP Pakistan and Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL), is built on a simple belief: women must not only have a place in boardrooms, where they have the skills and opportunities to contribute, but also play a meaningful role in decision-making.

For decades, boardrooms in Pakistan have treated women as recipients of policy rather than shapers of it. The decisions that move the economy are still made with few women in the room.

“In my first field assignment, I remember sitting in a meeting of about 60 to 70 people, and I was the only woman there,” recalls Ms. Zara Zahid, Deputy Secretary (Budget) at the Finance Department, Government of Sindh. “When you are the only different person in the room, everyone notices.”

The Women's Economic and Financial Leadership Development (WELD) programme, jointly developed by UNDP Pakistan and the Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL), is built on a different premise: Changing Pakistan's economy means equipping women not just to enter those rooms, but to steer the policies made there.

Each WELD programme runs over three days and covers three areas: economic and financial fluency, leadership, and communication and negotiation. Participants work through a macroeconomic simulation, global case studies, role play, and structured reflection rather than lectures, guided by KSBL's Character and Good Manners (CGM) values. The curriculum came out of a needs assessment, including focus groups, surveys, and interviews. Two cohorts have graduated the programme already, including a national cohort of 55 women leaders from all four provinces in August 2025, and a Sindh Chapter of 44 women from the Government of Sindh and women-led enterprises in April 2026.

Six months on, three tangible impacts are visible.

I. A shift in capabilities

Participants leave having made real economic decisions, not just having heard about them. “Even participants without an economics background had to make economic decisions around increasing expenditure or adjusting the interest rate, and saw the resulting implications on growth and inflation,” recalled Ms. Naila Dar, Deputy Chief at the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, describing the programme's macroeconomic simulation. In the Sindh Chapter, Senior Superintendent of Police, Shahla Qureshi, tied it to governance: “This course hugely helps women in decision-making roles, particularly at the policymaking level.”

II. A character-driven leadership practice

WELD pairs technical rigour with character, and that pairing is what stays. “One of the most powerful realizations for me was that emotional intelligence and morality are not a weakness. It can actually be a leadership strength,” reflects Ms. Sara Shafaq, Senior Product Manager at Bank Alfalah Limited. “Real leadership begins when you are able to influence the decisions being made at the table.”

Months on, Ms. Dar is applying what she practised in the negotiation and communication exercises: “How to differ or disagree while maintaining decorum; these are the skills I am practising.” WELD treats character as a leadership trait alongside professional competency, not simply a soft, ‘nice-to-have’ quality.

III. Organizing into peer networks

The most lasting benefit comes after the programme ends. “The diversity of participants created a space where we could learn from each other,” said Ms. Dar. “When women are present in leadership positions, they also become mentors for younger professionals.” The cohort organized itself into a peer network that is still active. “A lot of us are still in touch,” said Ms. Zahid. “If any problem arises, we reach out to each other.” For women who are often the only woman in the room at work, the cohort is something to fall back on—a group WELD brought together that its members now grow on their own.

From programme to model

WELD is now expanding. After the Sindh Chapter, delivered with the Planning and Development Department, Government of Sindh, the programme has moved to Punjab. Focus group discussions are underway in Lahore and Bahawalpur, and a cohort of 60 young women will convene in September 2026. Every chapter follows the same sequence: diagnostics first, delivery second, and building the programme around what women actually face, not what policy assumes they need.

What WELD offers women in leadership comes out of the CGM philosophy: Character is the foundation performance is built on, not a trade-off against it, and it can be taught and practised. The value that carries the most weight here is truthfulness, or the willingness to say the difficult thing in the room where it counts, held together by sabr, which is understood as steadfastness in pursuit of excellence rather than tolerance of poor treatment. 

Pakistan's economic and political pressures fall unevenly on women leaders who carry them alongside exclusion from informal networks and disproportionate scrutiny. Sustaining a career through that requires character and competence, and a network that opens doors rather than one that only offers sympathy.

That conviction runs through everything WELD does: developing women leaders is not a social programme that sits alongside economic policy, but an essential part of building a stronger and more representative economy.

Ninety-nine women have graduated WELD; two chapters complete, a third running. The shift from beneficiaries to decision-makers has clearly begun. A seat at the table, as participants point out, is only the beginning; the real work is shaping the policies themselves.