About BRACE
BRACE is a not-for-profit company set up under section 42 of the Companies Act, 2017, working with communities across Pakistan through civic education, research, skills, environmental action and lawful community initiatives.
BRACE is a Pakistan-based not-for-profit company. It works with communities through civic education, research, skills development, environmental action and lawful community initiatives, so that people know their rights and responsibilities, can document what affects their lives, and can improve it themselves.
BRACE is an English word meaning support, strength and resilience. It is not an acronym. The idea behind it is simple: lasting change begins inside communities, through awareness, responsibility, cooperation and collective effort. Our tagline is Empowering Communities.
Vision and mission
Our vision is an informed, empowered, inclusive and self-reliant Pakistan, where individuals and communities have the knowledge, opportunity and capacity to improve their own lives and to contribute to national development.
Our mission is to strengthen communities through civic education, ethical and constitutional awareness, vocational training, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, research, environmental sustainability and participatory engagement, with particular attention to youth, women and marginalized people.
What BRACE is permitted to do
BRACE may act only within the three objects approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and set out in its Memorandum of Association. Everything on this website, and everything BRACE does, must fall within them.
- Empowering people. To organize and empower individuals and beneficiary populations, particularly youth, women and marginalized segments, through structured awareness, civic education and the promotion of ethical, moral and constitutional values; through vocational training, entrepreneurial incubation, financial literacy and life-skills programmes that improve employability, strengthen household income and support self-sufficiency in urban and rural settings; and by serving as a platform for participatory engagement and lawful initiatives that promote inclusive development.
- Environment and climate resilience. To design and implement environmental protection and climate resilience initiatives through inclusive, localized action, including tree plantation, waste management, clean energy promotion and sustainable urban planning; and to support water security through rainwater harvesting, water filtration and sanitation projects, and the development of green public spaces.
- Education and research. To advance research and equitable, inclusive education by developing and supporting innovative, future-focused learning models, including non-profit schools, alternative learning platforms and training centres that deliver practical, ethical and skills-based education; and to act as a think tank or advisory forum contributing to education reform.
What BRACE does not do
Our governing documents are just as clear about what BRACE is not. BRACE:
- is not a collective bargaining agent or a pressure group;
- does not act as a representative body in any court on matters outside its objects;
- does not engage in political activity of any kind;
- does not undertake the business of real estate or housing schemes, and does not deal, broker or trade in property.
Our programmes
We pursue these objects through six programmes. What each covers, and where to take part, is on Our programmes.
On the record
BRACE records what it does on Our Work: the matters it has taken up, the institutions it has approached and what they replied, with the documents behind each entry. How BRACE checks and labels what it publishes, and how anyone named can reply, is set out in Disclaimer and right of reply.
BRACE does not claim the patronage, endorsement or support of any government body, authority, institution or public figure. Where our records describe correspondence or engagement with a public institution, that is a record of correspondence and nothing more. It implies no approval, endorsement or association on that institution’s part.
Legal status
| Registered name | BRACE |
|---|---|
| Kind of company | Public company limited by guarantee, not having share capital, licensed under section 42 of the Companies Act, 2017 (an association not for profit). Its members’ liability is limited by guarantee, and its name carries neither “Limited” nor “(Guarantee) Limited”. |
| Section 42 licence | Granted by SECP on 2 July 2025, licence No. A092232 (SECP/LRD/Co42/98/2024) |
| Incorporated | 8 July 2025, CUIN 0300170 |
| Registered office | Lower Ground, Sama Arcade-3, Spring North, Phase-7, Bahria Town, Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory |
| Territory | The whole of Pakistan |
BRACE operates under its SECP-approved Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Regulations, 2024, the conditions of its licence and all applicable law.
- Its income and property are applied solely to its approved objects. No dividend or profit is paid to its members.
- If BRACE is ever wound up, any surplus assets pass to another section 42 company with similar objects, not to its members.
- BRACE does not accept foreign funding or donations except under the policy for local NGOs and NPOs receiving foreign contributions, which requires a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and clearance from the relevant authority.
Our history
BRACE began as a grassroots community initiative in Bahria Town Rawalpindi-Islamabad, started on 31 August 2023 by its founder, Mr. Tahir Nihad. What began as concern over civic services, living conditions and community accountability grew into a wider platform for awareness, education and empowerment, and in 2025 into a licensed not-for-profit company with nationwide objects.
| 31 August 2023 | The community initiative begins. |
|---|---|
| 6 October 2023 | SECP approves the name BRACE, at 5:02 PM. We observe 6 October as our Founding Day. |
| 7 October 2023 | The approved name is announced. |
| 20 November 2023 | The initiative adopts its first constitution. |
| 2 July 2025 | SECP grants BRACE a section 42 licence. |
| 8 July 2025 | BRACE is incorporated as a not-for-profit company. |
An important distinction. BRACE’s community history is older than the company. What was done before 8 July 2025 was done by the community initiative, not by the company. It is recorded as history and kept apart from the acts, records and finances of the incorporated company.
BRACE owes a great deal to the early contributors, organizers, supporters and volunteers whose work carried a local initiative to an institution with national objects.
Records of the founding initiative
The initiative grew out of efforts to improve awareness and accountability around residential developments, civic services and community welfare, and BRACE keeps its records. They include correspondence and representations addressed to public institutions, among them the National Accountability Bureau, the Rawalpindi Development Authority, the Capital Development Authority, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, the Islamabad Electric Supply Company, the Islamabad High Court and the Commissioner Rawalpindi. The subjects included electricity distribution and billing, water shortages, maintenance charges, infrastructure deficiencies, housing scheme approvals, environmental concerns, consumer protection and the obligations of developers and service providers.
The archive also holds records of community meetings, consultations and awareness activities. After incorporation, residents met in a general body meeting on 28 September 2025 and adopted resolutions on Bahria Town billing and on forming phase-wise owners’ associations. Those resolutions are the residents’ own. They are recorded as a community proceeding, not as acts of the company.
As a licensed section 42 company, BRACE’s own work is civic education, research, documentation, public awareness, participatory engagement and lawful cooperation with institutions, within its objects and the conditions of its licence.
Founders and governance
BRACE was founded by Mr. Tahir Nihad, who started the original community platform and guided it to incorporation. The three subscribers to the SECP-approved Memorandum and Articles of Association, who are also the company’s first directors, are:
- Mr. Tahir Nihad
- Mr. Abdul Aziz Ahmed
- Mr. Zahid Mahmood
BRACE is governed by its Board of Directors under its Articles of Association, applicable law and valid corporate resolutions. The company holds an annual general meeting, and its members transact business in general meeting as the Articles require. Executive and administrative responsibilities are exercised through duly authorized appointments and delegations.
Supporters and membership
BRACE welcomes everyone who shares its objects and wants to contribute to community empowerment, education, environmental protection and social development.
People who register on this website are Supporters. A General Supporter pays nothing. A Contributing Supporter gives a first-year contribution and then an annual contribution to renew; the amount is shown when you register. Supporters may take part in approved activities, volunteer, contribute resources, report concerns and follow BRACE’s work.
Supporters are not members of the company, and registering as a Supporter does not lead to membership. Membership of the company is governed by the Articles of Association and the conditions of the licence:
- an application must be seconded by an existing member and decided by the Board;
- membership rights are personal and cannot be transferred;
- no one may be admitted unless they meet the fit and proper criteria and SECP’s prior approval has been obtained.
Transparency and accountability
BRACE is committed to responsible governance, transparent administration, financial discipline and accurate recordkeeping.
- Our resources are applied to our approved objects, and our affairs are subject to the accounting, audit, reporting and governance requirements for section 42 companies.
- No remuneration or benefit is paid to members, or to their close relatives, in any way our licence prohibits.
- Financial statements, returns and other disclosures are published on Accountability once they are checked and approved.
- How to give, how a payment is checked, and how to ask for a refund: Donate and Contributions and refunds.
Our commitment
BRACE believes lasting progress begins with informed individuals, responsible communities and institutions built on knowledge, cooperation and accountability.
From a grassroots beginning in 2023 to a nationwide not-for-profit company in 2025, our purpose has not changed: to create opportunity, encourage civic responsibility, and help communities build something sturdier than what they inherited.
Questions, or want to help? Contact us.
BRACE – Empowering Communities.