Pattan was established in the wake of the 1992 disastrous floods, to reduce the susceptibility of riverine communities to intermittent destructive flooding through community based development work.

The lessons learnt during this work enabled Pattan to realize that the community development work at local level alone does not address the underlying causes of vulnerabilities of the riverine communities. Hence, harnessing the unleashed social and political potential of the marginalised riverine people became an integral part of Pattan’s work. This enables them to become an essential part of the decision-making processes that impact their lives.

Since then, Pattan has been addressing governance and democracy deficiencies through research and awareness raising, social mobilisation and capacity building of society’s marginalised.

Pattan has helped found some of the leading civil society networks in Pakistan and is a member of global and regional networks on disaster, governance and democracy.

Pattan is a registered not-for-profit organization and currently working with hundreds of communities, associations and social movements across Pakistan.