In the country’s ecosystem of intellectual development, training thoughtful, policy-oriented individuals is not a short-term educational project but a foundational strategy for cultivating soft power and reinforcing the knowledge base of governance. The first session of the “Taraz” series (Comprehensive Model for Training Think Tanks) aims to revisit existing institutional experiences and initiate a strategic dialogue around designing a native model for cultivating deep-thinking professionals.
This session analyzed and compared two prominent experiences: that of Hekmat Institute for Policy and Strategic and Governance & Policy Think Tank.
Despite structural differences, both institutions strive to answer a fundamental question: How can we nurture individuals who are both deep thinkers and effective in practice?
From informal discussion circles at Hekmat to structured workshops at Sharif, from gradual personal growth models to structured professional development paths, from recruiting young talent to designing competency-based systems—both institutions have attempted to strike a balance among the complex triad of intellectual identity, practical skills, and institutional sustainability.
However, challenges such as lack of policy-level support, financial dependence on projects, and the absence of a cohesive intellectual ecosystem continue to be significant obstacles on the path to institutionalizing the training of thoughtful policy professionals.
To read more, click here
