Perween Rahman was born on January 22, 1957 in Dhaka, then situated in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). She belonged to a Bihari family which moved to Karachi following the civil war in East Pakistan in 1971. She obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1982 at the Dawood College of Engineering and Technology, and a postgraduate diploma in housing, building and urban planning in 1986 from the Institute of Housing Studies in Rotterdam, Netherlands. She worked at a private architecture firm before being recruited by Akhter Hameed Khan to become Joint Director of the Orangi Pilot Project in 1983, where she managed the housing and sanitation programmes. In 1988, OPP was split in four organisations, and Perween Rahman became director of OPP-RTI (Orangi Pilot Project – Research and Training Institute), managing as well programmes in education, youth training, water supply and secure housing.