Government offices related to these schemes were visited to establish contacts and obtain existing records. All three schemes are nominally active but effectively dormant. Key informant interviews of scheme officials and other concerned government officialswere conducted. Some networking has been initiated with academics and NGOs working in this area. Interviews with and field observations in a number of areas of operation of each of the schemes have also been carried out.

Preliminary fieldwork was conducted in rural localities in Hyderabad, Sanghar and Badin districts in Sindh, and Lahore, Kasur and Okara districts in Punjab. Secondary data from the population census is being processed and compiled, particularly on irregular settlements in Karachi.

A day-long workshop was organized on 29 August 2008 to share preliminary review and fieldwork findings with selected researchers and activists. The workshop was well-attended by 25 experts including former government officials, as well as a number of local organizations that work in the relevant area of interest. The workshop participants will serve as a sounding board to the researchers in the course of their work.

The workshop was originally planned to include the Ahmedabad project partners who are working in the same area, but they could not participate due to visa constraints. However, they plan to visit to Karachi as part of the collaborative research arrangements, when the local team will brief them on the main points of the workshop and arrange visits and meetings for them.