Techlets Pakistan recognized as the Champion to Eliminating Hidden Hunger from Pakistan.

Techlets Pakistan recognized as the Champion to Eliminating Hidden Hunger from Pakistan.

21.1% population in Pakistan is undernourished, while 32% of children are malnourished. An estimated 2 billion people — over 30 percent of the world’s population suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals.

Islamabad, PK 26 May 2017 – The flagship program to build policy consensus and advocacy initiative Eliminating Hidden Hunger has recognized Techlets Pakistan as the key knowledge partner for Pakistan. The initiative led by Mishal Pakistan, a country partner institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum recognized here today. 

CEO Techlets, Ahsan Tahir receiving the Champion to Eliminate Hidden Hunger

 from Nida Karim, Program Specialist Eliminating Hidden Hunger, Mishal Pakistan    

Techlets has been awarded the honour of being the “Champion to Eliminate Hidden Hunger” in recognition and support for creating the Nutrition-Specific Information Management System (MIS). The MIS not only provides a learning and knowledge platform for the legislators, policy makers and media but also updates the data in real time. 

On the occasion, Ahsan Tahir, Chief Executive Officer of Techlets, said “this is a humble contribution from Techlets to serve and ensure a prosperous future of Pakistan. We are proud to be part of this initiative for being instrumental in conducting evidence backed data analysis & visualization (http://eliminatinghiddenhunger.com/index.php/infographic/) of the malnutrition landscape in Pakistan”. He further said, “this initiative is part of Techlets's effort to raise awareness about complex subjects such as malnutrition. We hope this tool can serve the policy makers in knowledge-based decision making”. 

Nida Karim, Program Specialist Eliminating Hidden Hunger at Mishal Pakistan said, “this effort from Techlets will not only help policy makers to understand the dynamics of malnutrition in Pakistan better, but would also allow accountability mechanisms for media and the citizens to ask right questions from public representative and service delivery organizations”.

The initiative by Mishal Pakistan has launched the program to improve the narrative building on Nutrition by engaging various stakeholders including press clubs, journalism associations, policy making institutes and academia across Pakistan. 

Through this initiative “Eliminating Hidden Hunger”, Mishal will build the capacity of more than 120 journalists and editors, while also engaging more than 60 parliamentarians and members of the federal and provincial standing committees on food security, health and agriculture etc. The initiative is supported by various development agencies and private sector organizations. The initiative is creating a master class of key opinion leaders in the country on nutrition and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) goal 2.

An estimated 2 billion people — over 30 percent of the world’s population suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals. “Hidden hunger” is how health experts often refer to micronutrient deficiencies because most people affected do not show the visible physical symptoms and hence may not be aware of their condition. Hidden Hunger’s effects can be devastating, leading to mental impairment, poor health, low productivity, and even death. Its adverse effects on child health and survival are particularly acute, especially within the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from conception to the age of two, resulting in serious physical and cognitive consequences.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, making sure all people – especially children and the more vulnerable – have access to sufficient and nutritious food all year round. Zero Hunger is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Please visit Pakistan’s first infographic on “Eliminating Hidden Hunger” information and data at: http://eliminatinghiddenhunger.com/index.php/infographic/

Mishal Launches Smart Fellowship Program on Eliminating Hidden Hunger and Malnutrition for Journalists in Sindh.

The program on Eliminating Hidden Hunger and Malnutrition to build media’s capacity to improve accountability mechanisms for Nutrition related development and public spending. 

23 May 2017 – Karachi, PK – Mishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum has launched a media development initiative to build the capacity of the journalists reporting on Nutrition in Sindh. The Fellowship program is focusing on enhancing media’s role to act as public watchdog on policy makers. The initiative, Eliminating Hidden Hunger is working with more than 1200 health journalists across SIndh to improve public perception, opinion and datasets on Nutrition and other related issues contributing to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.  

Mishal is already working with the Sindh Assembly and its relevant standing committee on Health for “Smart Policy Making”. The cooperation has delivered a high level training initiative for the parliamentarians in Sindh, where the parliamentarians shared their views on the importance of media’s role to shape public policy according to people’s needs and requirements.

Dr. Sohrab Sarki, Chairman Standing Committee on Health of the Sindh Assembly said, “We see media as one of the most important players in the Smart Policy making framework, whereby media reflects the grass root realities of citizen’s needs, while making the policy makers accountable to the public for transparency and efficiency. Media is a crucial partner in knowledge creation and influencing the collective consciousness of the society. We need to bring media on board for Smart Policy making.

Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, said, “The current state of health in Pakistan is alarming. About 46.8 million people in Pakistan are malnourished. Through this initiative we are prioritizing development agendas by ensuring policy making through data and real time feedback through media. The program on Eliminating Hidden Hunger and Malnutrition will improve service delivery to the citizens and contribute further to improving Pakistan’s competitiveness on global footing, while improving accountability through media.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian High Commission (Australian Aid) reached out to Mishal, earlier this year, to partner and launch a nationwide program to create knowledge resources on Nutrition challenges in Pakistan. The program will address the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Goal No. 2 ‘Zero Hunger’”.

Nida Karim, Program Specialist Eliminating Hidden Hunger at Mishal Pakistan, said, “The program focuses on increasing the capacity of media on Sustainable Development Goal no. 2 and enhance media’s role to be more proactive on public scrutiny of the policy makers on issues related to food security, improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture practices. Through this initiative Mishal is also launching a nutrition specific information management system for the journalists and policy makers.”

Mishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum, is closely working with the Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Health. The initiative by Mishal has launched the program to improve the narrative building on Nutrition by engaging various stakeholders including press clubs, journalism associations, policy making institutes and academia across Pakistan.

Mishal is also working with the National University of Modern Languages on research projects to create new vocabulary on Nutrition related issues in the leading languages being spoken in the country. Mishal through its flagship media development program, “AGAHI Awards”, has introduced multiple new categories on Nutrition, to encourage more public debate to be brought by media on this issue.

An estimated 2 billion people — over 30 percent of the world’s population suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals. “Hidden hunger” is how health experts often refer to micronutrient deficiencies because most people affected do not show the visible physical symptoms and hence may not be aware of their condition. Hidden Hunger’s effects can be devastating, leading to mental impairment, poor health, low productivity, and even death. Its adverse effects on child health and survival are particularly acute, especially within the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from conception to the age of two, resulting in serious physical and cognitive consequences.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, making sure all people – especially children and the more vulnerable – have access to sufficient and nutritious food all year round. Zero Hunger is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Please visit Pakistan’s first infographic on “Eliminating Hidden Hunger” information and data at:

http://eliminatinghiddenhunger.com/index.php/infographic/

Sindh Parliamentarians to Work with Mishal Pakistan for Smart Policy Making on Eliminating Hidden Hunger and Nutrition Awareness.

Sindh Parliamentarians to Work with Mishal Pakistan for Smart Policy Making on Eliminating Hidden Hunger and Nutrition Awareness.

The key focus is to capacitate policy makers for a more harmonized mechanism to ensure service delivery to the citizens. The initiative would also facilitate the knowledge flow among key stakeholders to “Eliminate Hidden Hunger and Nutrition Challenges” in Sindh.

Mishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Health held a special session to capacitate the Sindh Parliamentarians for smart policy making on eliminating hidden hunger and nutrition awareness. The session was held at the Sindh Assembly and attended by the committee members, representatives from the World Food Program, UNICEF, members of academician and senior journalists.

Dr. Sohrab Khan Sarki, Chairman Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Health Sindh, during his remarks said “Adequate food and nutrition is every citizen’s right. Given Sindh’s Health statistics, mainly children and women suffer from malnutrition which in severe cases has resulted in deaths as well. He further added “Sindh’s provincial government has already taken an initiative for the Protection and Promotion of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Act; however, Mishal Pakistan along with Australian High Commission has started a much-needed dialogue on nutrition and eliminating hidden hunger at provincial and district levels”.

Mr. Sikandar Ali Mandhro, Minister for Health, Government of Sindh said, “we welcome the intervention by Mishal to work with Government of Sindh, the key focus of this initiative should be to capacitate policy makers and the parliamentarians, so a more harmonized debate and policy making can be ensured for service delivery to the citizens. The initiative would also facilitate the knowledge flow among key stakeholders to “Eliminate Hidden Hunger”.

Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, while briefing the members of Sindh parliament said, “We have launched the Smart Policy Making initiative to ensure policy making through data and real time feedback through media. This would not only help the parliamentarians to improve service delivery to the citizens but would also contribute in improving Pakistan’s competitiveness on global footing, while creating accountability through media.

Rabia Dadabhoy, Director Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education in her message said that, “through this initiative, we are jointly generating new insights on Sindh to ensure efforts in the fight against hidden hunger and nutrition challenges”.

Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Chairman Department of Mass Communication, International Islamic University, Islamabad while presenting the case for nutrition and health communication said, “Pakistan has an alarmingly high level of malnutrition; 24 percent of the population in Pakistan is undernourished. The most recent estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) state that 37.5 million people in Pakistan are not receiving proper nourishment. The issue is complex and widespread, with deficiencies ranging from protein to iodine, along with other health problems due to insufficient intake of these essential nutrients, we must generate public debate around this on war footings through media interventions and legislative measures”.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian High Commission (Australian Aid) has reached out to Mishal to partner and launch a nationwide program to create knowledge resources on Nutrition challenges in Pakistan. The program will address the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Goal No. 2 ‘Zero Hunger’”.

The initiative by Mishal has launched the program to improve the narrative building on Nutrition by engaging various stakeholders including press clubs, journalism associations, policy making institutes and academia across Pakistan. 

An estimated 2 billion people — over 30 percent of the world’s population suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals. “Hidden hunger” is how health experts often refer to micronutrient deficiencies because most people affected do not show the visible physical symptoms and hence may not be aware of their condition. Hidden Hunger’s effects can be devastating, leading to mental impairment, poor health, low productivity, and even death. Its adverse effects on child health and survival are particularly acute, especially within the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from conception to the age of two, resulting in serious physical and cognitive consequences.

This collaboration has come into two different phases i.e. Initially in the shape of support for AGAHI Awards, where the Australian Aid is supporting the Journalism Awards in the categories of Eliminating Hidden Hunger, Agriculture and the Food, Water and Energy Security Nexus.”

The second phase of the collaboration between the Australian Aid and Mishal is to build the capacity of journalists and field reporters to create a better understanding on nutrition related challenges, while at the same time it will capacitate the parliamentarians and policy makers to debate suggest and approve Nutrition focused policies for a productive workforce of the future. The initiative is working across Pakistan with focal areas in provincial and federal capitals in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, AJK and the Federal Capital, Islamabad.

Through this initiative “Eliminating Hidden Hunger”, Mishal will build the capacity of more than 120 journalists and editors, while also engaging more than 60 parliamentarians and members of the federal and provincial standing committees on Food Security, Health and Agriculture etc. The initiative is supported by various development agencies and private sector organizations. The initiative is creating a master class of key opinion leaders in the country on nutrition and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) goal 2.

Mishal is also working with the National University of Modern Languages on research projects to create new vocabulary on Nutrition related issues in the leading languages being spoken in the country. Mishal through its flagship media development program, “AGAHI Awards”, has introduced multiple new categories on Nutrition, to encourage more public debate to be brought by media on this issue.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, making sure all people – especially children and the more vulnerable – have access to sufficient and nutritious food all year round. Zero Hunger is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Please visit Pakistan’s first infographic on “Eliminating Hidden Hunger” information and data at: http://eliminatinghiddenhunger.com/index.php/infographic/

Crossover to bring more than USD 20 Million per Year worth of jobs to Pakistan.

Global Technology Company Crossover Had a Successful Hiring Tournament in Karachi.

06 May 2017 – Karachi, PK / Austin, TX, USA – The global technology company Crossover ran a successful hiring tournament in Karachi, looking to hire the best talent from Pakistan. More than 300 programmers in Dot Net and Java technology applied in a highly competitive competition.

Crossover hires through a gaming tournament approach, where programmers have to go through a multiple round competition based on technical knowledge and a solution approach. The competition lasted for more than eight hours; the winners would be offered job contracts with an annual salary of USD 100,000 per person.

In his message to the participants, Andy Tryba, Chief Executive Officer, Crossover said "We're planning to run more tournaments across Pakistan, based on performance of this tournament, we're planning to hire over 200 senior software architects in Pakistan and bring an additional $20 million per annum worth of employment to Pakistan’s economy this year." He further said, "I'm a big believer of Pakistani talent. Earlier this year, Crossover hired eight senior software architects in Lahore. Now it's Karachi's turn, I believe we had even better results here. Our journey in Pakistan may continue with Islamabad”.

The full day event was made out of multiple rounds, highly gamified and competitive process that finishes with a technical interview and on the spot job offer. At first round candidates were asked to be tested with their basic skills with a multiple choice test. The concept has been tested in Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Romania, Poland and Ukraine before bringing it to Pakistan.

The second half of the tournament was focused on project assignments and coding challenges, the top candidates who passed these rounds were invited to the interviews. Technical interview winners were offered full time / remote jobs offer paying worth $100K/Year.

The event was jointly organized by Crossover and Mishal Pakistan, the country partner institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network, World Economic Forum.

Earlier, in March 2017, Crossover organized a similar competition in collaboration with the Punjab Information Technology Board, for Java and Ruby programmers. Eight programmers were hired with an average salary of USD 100,000, creating jobs of worth USD 800,000 in a single day from Pakistan.

Crossover (also known as Crossover for Work) not only connects companies to the best talent from around the world, but also provides a seamless end-to-end solution for remote team management. Crossover connects talent from around the globe with companies who are looking to hire only the best. Crossover has more than 2200+ people from 98 different countries working full time (40 hrs/wk) for its clients. Crossover is headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA. It operates 100% remotely. So Crossover’s global talent network is located across nearly 100 countries, working from any location where they can be most effective.