All Stakeholders Need to Join Hands to Improve Quality of Life in Pakistan.

All Stakeholders Need to Join Hands to Improve Quality of Life in Pakistan.

Future socio-economic well being can only be ensured if business entities, government institutions, media and communities work towards creating shared values.

Islamabad, PK – 14 March 2015 - Creating value for the citizens by engaging communities in the process of business, transparency and accountability was discussed today at a roundtable dialogue at Marriott Hotel in Islamabad organized by AGAHI. The roundtable discussion on how organizations can create value for their stakeholders focused on the future of corporate social responsibility and public relations in Pakistan. The dialogue brought together the journalists’ community and the corporate sector to explore the scope of Creating Shared Value (CSV) in promoting socio-cultural norms, protection of socio-geographic environment and ethic-driven business practices, sharing government responsibilities, and ensuring transparency in managerial practices in Pakistan. The speakers and the participants shared the challenges their organizations faced ensuring the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Public Relations (PR) vision while meeting the profit bottom line.

Puruesh Chaudhary, Founder & President AGAHI, said that the dynamics within which the businesses are operating in are evolving at an incredible pace; drivers of change being innovation and technology. The philosophy that is re-determining the functions of communications for socio-economic and improvements in human condition is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders. She further added that, “creating shared value as a separate category for the Agahi Awards - Beyond 2015 is a reason to highlight journalistic efforts for assembling information and knowledge on corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, dignity, interfaith, and media ethics.” 

All profitable businesses are conducted in an environment, which impacts the entire value chain processes, caring for customers and other stakeholders is a good business practice, said Waheed Hamid, Director Communications at Fauji Fertilizers Company Limited (FFC). He further said, collaboration between public and private businesses could do wonders for the community. Public Relations is no more a relationship enhancement exercise, it is more of an understanding of others point of view and realigning business strategy for mutual gains for not only the businesses but also for the society they operate in. 

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), is also called referred to as corporate conscience, corporate citizenship or sustainable responsible business. This is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a self-regulatory mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards and international norms.

Creating shared value (CSV) is a business concept first introduced by Prof. Michael E. Porter, a leading authority on competitive strategy and head of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, and Mark R. Kramer, Kennedy School at Harvard University and co-founder of FSG.

"The future prosperity for society lies in creating common shared values for all stakeholders collectively, businesses and government need to cater and ensure socio-economic dividends for their respective communities and clientele", said Amir Jahangir, Young Global Leader World Economic Forum.

Senior strategic communication expert, Hina Akhtar said that, many see CSR as a PR tool but if you look at it from a broader perspective, CSR is a commitment to operate as a responsible business entity, whereas a business’s primary objective is to gain financial profits, a responsible organization measures its success beyond these financial gains.

Colonel (R) Waheed Hamid, Director Communications Fauji Fertilizers Company (LTD), Hina Akhtar, Chief Executive Officer, Gold String Communications, Imran Sheikh, Educationist, Executive Vice President JS Bank, Dr. Ansir Ali Rajput Educationist and Amir Jahangir, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum shared their views the benefits and challenges of engaging communities and other stakeholders for good business practices. A large number of business and economic journalists also attended the round table discussion.


AGAHI is a not for profit organization established in Islamabad in 2011 under the Society Registration Act 1860. Its primary function is to create non-paid communication strategies, content intelligence structures, development collateral and tools for diverse sectors and organizations. AGAHI encourages and advises individuals and institutions in pursuing and supporting initiatives to improve the state of development in Pakistan. It works on developmental frameworks facilitating information and knowledge sharing platforms on understanding challenges in global perspective. Its research work mainly focuses on national and international security, ICT, competitiveness, human capital development, and governance. AGAHI in association with several leading national and international partners focuses on creating shared spaces for interactive learning, collaborative thinking, and knowledge sharing. AGAHI is at the forefront of devising foresight research and future scenarios work in Pakistan.

This year AGAHI, celebrates AGAHI AWARDS – Beyond 2015 by recognizing best reporting practices on categories such as: Business & Economy (Competitiveness), Creating Shared Value, Disaster and Catastrophe, Education, Gender, Health, Youth Empowerment, Human Rights, Infotainment, Innovation Journalism, Judiciary, Millennium Development Goals, Journalism for Peace, Photo Journalism, Entrepreneurship, Sports, Energy, Water, Agriculture, Environment, Foreign Policy, Foresight and Futures. businesses are operating in are evolving at an incredible pace; drivers of change being innovation and technology. The philosophy that is re-determining the functions of communications for socio-economic and improvements in human condition is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders. She further added that, “creating shared value as a separate category for the Agahi Awards - Beyond 2015 is a reason to highlight journalistic efforts for assembling information and knowledge on corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, dignity, interfaith, and media ethics.”

AGAHI Awards for Journalism Excellence to be held in Pakistan.

AGAHI Awards for Journalism Excellence to be held in Pakistan.

The AGAHI Awards, Pakistan's most prestigious journalism awards, have opened submissions for journalists across the country. Journalists can submit their best work in print, television, radio and blogs through the Agahi Awards' website, www.agahiawards.com. With Awards to be held on 15 April 2015, the deadline for submission of articles, news reports has been announced as 22 March 2015.

The Agahi Awards, launched in 2012, has received an overwhelming response by the journalist community, development organizations and support from international media development and representative organizations. The platform for appreciating quality journalism was created by Mishal Pakistan and AGAHI represented by Amir Jahangir, Young Global Leader (YGL) and Puruesh Chaudhary, Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum.

This year the AGAHI Awards – Beyond 2015 will be creating appreciation for journalists reporting on Pakistan’s development challenges, especially in the context of the Global Beyond 2015 initiatives for socio-economic empowerment for improving the human conditions, said Puruesh Chaudhary, President AGAHI and Co-Founder AGAHI Awards.

“The awards are a way of recognizing journalists for their efforts and contributions towards Pakistan’s young media industry”, said Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan and Co-Founder of Agahi Awards. Furthermore he said, “the Pakistani media industry in its short duration has played an important role in developing public and stakeholder opinion”. “Through a transparent judging system awards create a space for qualitative and ethical journalism to be acknowledged in Pakistan”, said Jahangir.

More than 1500 journalists submitted their work in the AGAHI Awards 2013, which were almost 100 more than the awards debut in 2012. This year with more than 30 categories, the Awards aims to create content diversity in media by introducing journalistic genres, which impacts the society at large. With a large number of categories the journalists will compete on qualitative and ethical journalism standards. The categories for this year's awards include: Agriculture, Business & Economy, Competitiveness, Creating Shared Value, Crime, Dignity, Disaster and Catastrophe, Education, Energy, Water & Food Security, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Extremism & Terrorism, Foreign Policy, Governance, Health, Human Rights, Information Communication Technology, Infotainment, Innovation, Interfaith, Journalism for Peace, Judiciary, Media Ethics, Millennium Development Goals, Photojournalism, Post-2015 Development Agenda, Right to Information, Social Entrepreneurship, Sports, and Youth Empowerment with several other subcategories. Agahi Awards - Beyond 2015 has one of the most respected, reputable and globally recognized Jury Panel, which will assess the performance of journalists on a content evaluation criteria developed by AGAHI in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics (CIME).

The Agahi Awards are the most sought after journalism awards in Pakistan, which are held in collaboration with leading press clubs, local, and international media development institutions, regulatory authorities, civil society organizations, private sector and other stakeholders. The awards have identified some of the most brilliant and professional journalists in the industry. The Agahi Awards winners have gradually progressed in their profession; where some have either reached a decision-making or leadership position in the industry or have received academic and scholarly excellence for “Shaping the Future of Journalism”.