ALIGHT

Alight (formerly the American Refugee Committee) is a global humanitarian organization with more than 45 years of experience supporting displaced and marginalized communities to access quality education and build meaningful futures. Founded in Chicago in 1979, Alight has consistently worked in some of the world’s most complex crisis and development contexts, partnering directly with communities and governments to design education solutions that are inclusive, scalable, and sustainable.

Alight began its work in Pakistan by responding to major humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters. For more than two decades, the organization has been at the forefront of emergency response, serving as one of the first responders during the 2005 earthquake, Cyclone Yemyin in 2007, and the 2010-2011 floods, and subsequent large-scale crises. As community needs evolved, Alight expanded its work beyond emergency response to address long-term development challenges across the country.

Since 2002, Alight has operated in Pakistan under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Pakistan, building a 23-year track record of delivering high-impact humanitarian and development programs. Today, Alight is among the leading international humanitarian organizations working across all provinces and administrative regions of Pakistan, with programs spanning education, skills development, healthcare, nutrition, WASH, protection, climate action, and emergency response.

A defining focus of Alight’s development work in Pakistan has been improving access to education for out-of-school children, particularly in underserved and hard-to-reach communities. Between 2018 and 2021, in partnership with Education Above All (EAA) and the Government of Pakistan, Alight implemented one of the country’s largest Out-of-School Children (OOSC) initiatives, successfully enrolling and retaining over 1.1 million children across 56 districts, with 46% girls.

Alight applies a human-centered approach across all its programs, placing the voices, choices, and leadership of affected communities at the heart of its work. Solutions are co-created with communities and adapted to local realities, ensuring relevance, dignity, and sustainability. Nearly 90% of Alight’s workforce in Pakistan comes from the communities it serves, reflecting the organization’s commitment to empathy, inclusion, and shared purpose.