INNDEVCOM

The Press Council of Pakistan announces media capacity building initiative and media awards on Court Reporting with Mishal Pakistan under the AGAHI initiative.

2012-01-05T23:12:00.001-08:00

The Press Council of Pakistan announces media capacity building initiative and media awards on Court Reporting. with MISHAL Pakistan under the AGAHI initiative.

At a seminar held at Islamabad Bar Association on Media Ethics and Court Reporting, Mr. Shafquat M. Abbasi, Chairman Press Council of Pakistan announced the need for capacity building of the journalists reporting on court issues, especially investigative journalism.

The Press Council of Pakistan Ordinance was promulgated in 2002. The Council works for the freedom of the press and the rights of the common man. It is independent, autonomous and self-regulatory institutions, which will be, develop good media practice.

Shafquat Abbasi, Chairman Press Council Of Pakistan praised the role of media and enlightened that Media is working with integrity and pride and the press is vibrant and independent in Pakistan. He negated the concept that media is glorifying terrorism and violence and applauded the efforts of journalists reporting on terrorism and conflict.

Shafquat Abbasi proposed to start a series of short certificate programs for court and crime reporters in collaboration with Mishal Pakistan, lawyer fraternity and the Center for International Media Ethics (CIME).

Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan, media and strategic communications entity in Pakistan, offered their services to the Press Council of Pakistan in developing media’s capacity on crime and court reporting on the lines of investigative journalism. Mishal Pakistan is already working on increasing the capacity of investigative journalism and responsible reporting in Pakistan, the programme also known as AGAHI is being collaborative effort with the Press Clubs and Journalists associations across Pakistan.

Participants and speakers emphasized on the role of responsible and ethical court reporting in creating awareness among the masses and iterated that a responsible media can bring a positive change in the society. A few speakers also pointed out that the role of media owners refraining ethical reporting amid personal interests. It was emphasized that media should be free of the influence of personal liking and disliking of the owners.

Zaman Mughal, President Crime and Court Reporters Association Islamabad stated that the crime reporters vow to follow rules and regulations and it is a collaborative effort to follow ethical standards of reporting.

Syed Sultan Shah, senior member and former president of court and crime reporters association Rawalpindi discussed the major problems being faced by journalists reporting criminal court proceedings.

At the occasion the lawyers fraternity demanded for ethical court reporting and offered a helping hand to the Press Council of Pakistan in preparing a programme for the journalists.

The establishment of Press Council is a step towards strengthening the fourth pillar of the state. The Press Council of Pakistan’s mandate is to maintain high standards of fairness while addressing the public complaints against the media. The council includes: Four members by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, Four members by the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors, Four members by the professional bodies of Journalists, Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council, Chairperson or nominee of the Higher Education Commission, One member by the Leader of the House in the National Assembly, One member by the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, One mass media reductionist to be nominated by the Council, One woman to be nominated by the National Commission on Status of Women in Pakistan.

What Not To Do in 2012: an open letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan by Irfan Aamir

2012-01-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

Irfan Aamir: What not to do in 2012: Money Matters

What not to do in 2012
An open letter to Prime Minister
By Irfan Aamir

Dear Prime Minister Gillani,

There are obvious reasons to believe that you think that all your troubles will go away because of your designer looks and your dedicated rhetoric for the presidency and the military establishments and not to mention your frequent conflicting statements; rest assured they won’t.

And though it might be a bit late for you Mr. Prime Minister to be able to present a great economic report card for your government's performance - come Dec. 2012 - it is still not too late to focus on things you and your "massively" talented (and at times emotional) federal cabinet ministers ought to have focused on from day one about 4 years ago. Since the time is too limited now to identify things your cabinet can do, perhaps you may consider simply focusing on things that should not be done in 2012: Please do consider the following:

(1) Economic policy: Your team can not afford to stick to politically charged and less meaningful narratives at all times. Tell them to start talking economy before it is too late, and sir, do not restrict your visibility to award ceremonies only. Be seen around major international business forums and events, go to the World Economic Forum – Davos is pretty – show up the ASEAN summits, bring big multimillion (make that billion?) dollar deals for the country. You need to pretend that you have an economic policy and a plan that will work wonders in the year number 5. Just do it. Pretend.

(2) Monetary policy: To better understand where money comes from and where it goes and how, Mr. Prime Minister you can not afford to still not buy a book from the nearest bookstore, Idiots Guide to Understanding Monetary Policies. Surely if you will Google there is such a book waiting to be downloaded. You must understand sir that nation's wealth cannot be created by printing currency notes, digitally and physically both. And so sir, find a permanent governor for the State Bank, it might help.

(3) Banker's interest: Please Mr. Prime Minster, reign in the banking industry. In the run-up to the next general elections you can NOT allow a banking debacle should your government, currently the largest customer of the commercial banks, default by stroke of some grave conspiracy to destabilize democracy in Pakistan. Ostensibly banks have no credit or 'interest' for the local industry and absolutely nothing for the trade and commerce. For how long will the banking industry continue to bank roll the government treasury bills is something that should be made public. This cannot and should not go on indefinitely sire. Do you appreciate?

(4) Don't neglect entrepreneurship: You should not ignore this vital space. Google what your counterparts across the world are doing including friends like Turkey and USA and you will notice the direction where it is believed that the world economy, if there is light at the end of the tunnel, will be rescued by small businesses and entrepreneurships. They generate employment, they pay taxes and they never default on bank loans. You see banks don't loan them money hence no default by default. By not ignoring entrepreneurs you might just be able to spur some economic activity in the space of small to medium size companies. Surely Mr. Prime Minister you are aware that in some of the leading economies of the world, the biggest contribution comes from small to medium size industries and entrepreneurial sectors.

(5) Education: You can not ignore education in 2012 also. Even for a formality even a trivial increase in the dedicated education budget in the annual budget – which would be the last budget of your government – will help you establish some credibility and score some points. Ideally you should not support the devolution of the Higher Education Commission; again such a step will help you restore some lost reputation.

(6) Law & dis-order: You critics believe that you have no resources to ensure law and order in the country, especially in the economically central cities like Karachi. Law and order, there is a perception, is more controlled by the lawless gangs themselves, as they can freely choose to disobey and cause mayhem at their will. Another set of your critics believe that you don’t have any idea of how difficult it is to run business, specially when you have been kidnapped and being held hostage for millions for dollars ransom. Do not deny, this is a sad and stark reality, that due to threat to their lives, many leading businessmen, during your reign of power have relocated their businesses and families to safer countries. How sad, don't you think?

(7) Agriculture: You are a grower yourself Mr. Prime Minister, most probably one of the top farmer of the country. Hence you must be acutely aware of the fact that despite being an agro-based economy the average annual growth of this sector in Pakistan has rarely gone above 2 percent over the last one decade. Hence you should not be lax and roll out some heart wrenching messages and share some strategies that will enable continuity of this vital sector. Did you know that despite being a top agro country of the world, Pakistan imported food inputs worth $1.52 billion in the last financial alone? And surely you know sir that half of our farm-produce, specially the more vulnerable kind, is grown but never gets to the market place and rots away on the way. This has to stop.

(8) Information department: You cannot argue Mr. Prime Minster that right now your government and the political party that you belong to are not very high on the popularity scale; hence, in the year 2012 you can not afford to not look for a better team in the Information Ministry. If there are two things that can really help restore credibility for your government, it would be better communication and relationship management. You must also ponder since when has it become OK for a sitting minister to resign 'on air' and in the presence of the Prime Minster as well as the rest of your cabinet members? You must appoint a suave individual looking after the information portfolio for the country and not just the image management of a handful of your party office bearers.

(9) Performance paradigm: Please do not forget to brief your many spokespersons to not defend their dismal performance in office. People at large and media in particular are keeping a close eye and perhaps the only thing that can set your government free, is the truth. Use it more often during 2012.

(10) Health on nation: With your vast wisdom you should surely know Mr. Prime Minster that if you don’t look after someone's health for too long they die. And dead people are no longer able to pay taxes and play their vital role in nation development. The miniscule amount the Government of Pakistan spends on health as compared to what you spend on Wars (Terror etc) is beyond embarrassing. Especially when you consider that more than a 100,000 people in Pakistan, mostly women, children and the poor, die each year due to preventable ailments. Do not forget to increase the health budget, it will make you popular.

(11) Institutions & regulators: Mr. Prime Minister, you should know that on the global indices of institutional performance Pakistan's position has been on a constant decline, some believe we are moving fast, but shockingly in the opposite direction. Please take all the institutions, some sensitive regulators as well to task during 2012. You should be seen as a hard task master in the year, you should show your deep concern for the rot that is setting in and show-business sir is a good business.

(12) Foreign relations: Last but not the least please do not stay alien to this concept, relationships with other countries helps, it was established about a 1,000 years ago. If Pakistan had good friends across the globe, including the Friends of Pakistan kind, you would have known by now. So beyond losing on the economic front on the popularity front one has reasons to believe that even on the international social scene you are not on the hot invite list. Do some networking, get invited.

Happy new year to you and your family.
Your humble tax payer.

The writer is a Karachi-based

communication consultant.

he can be reached at: irfan.aamir@gmail.com

ajjano's photostream

2011-12-30T11:45:00.001-08:00

ajjano's photostream on Flickr.

Agahi to implement the Nokia-UNESCO Mobile Learning initiative to deliver quality education to teachers

AGAHI to implement the Nokia-UNESCO Mobile Learning initiative for Education Development

2011-12-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

AGAHI

AGAHI to implement the Nokia-UNESCO Mobile Learning initiative for Education Development

AGAHI, Nokia Pakistan and UNESCO collaborate to launch Mobile Learning for Teacher’s in Pakistan using Nokia Education Delivery App to facilitate teacher training via mobile phones.

AGAHI, Nokia Pakistan and UNESCO launched the project “Mobile Learning Project for Teacher’s Professional Development” today as formal collaboration in the presence of senior government officials, Nokia representatives and UNESCO representatives. As part of this program, UNESCO and Nokia are joining hands, where Nokia is providing its mobile phones and its application “Nokia Education Delivery (NED) for UNESCO’s project on ‘use of ICT for professional development of public school teachers’ in remote areas.

Since 2011 NED has turned into an open source solution to improve livelihoods, and in order to support such mobile learning innovations to be filled with life in Pakistan, The project will be implemented by AGAHI, a UNESCO partner and a non-profit foundation working in the area of communication and media policy design.

Nokia developed NED to allow using a mobile phone to access and download videos and other educational materials from a constantly updated education library. Operating in hundreds of schools and having reached millions of students in the Philippines, Tanzania, Chile and Colombia, Nokia Education Delivery has been shown to improve study results and increase retention among students.

This collaboration is part of the agreement signed last year between UNESCO and Nokia at international level to promote the use of mobile technologies to further the objectives of “Education for All”. As part of this agreement Nokia is developing applications and new Mobile technologies offering access to information and enrich learning environments at global level.

In Pakistan, through the project “Mobile Learning for Teachers” Nokia’s Education Delivery application will help UNESCO to enable the delivery of high- quality educational materials to teachers who lack training and resources though mobile phones giving an opportunity to teachers to train themselves on the same level as professionally competent teachers.

UNESCO Director, Kozue Kai Nagata
with Nokia Manager for Solutions

Speaking about the project, UNESCO Director, Kozue Kai Nagata said, “In 21st century Public- private partnerships are enjoying growing attention and support as a new and sustainable modality for development. We are confident to collaborate with Nokia to provide us with the best platform to train public school teachers. Nokia Education Delivery is fit to match our need of delivering quality training to a large number of public school teachers across Pakistan through the project named “Mobile Learning for Teachers”.

Amir Jahangir, President AGAHI
at the launch of Mobile Learning
for Education Development.

Amir Jahangir, President AGAHI and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, shared his views on the launch that “Pakistan is a knowledge starved country, where universal education has its own challenges. To meet the target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on education, Pakistan needs to address its education challenges through innovation and technology which can reach to a larger population with cost effective solutions”.

Speaking about the launch of NED program, Ulrike Vott Nokia Sustainability Manager for Middle East said, “Nokia Education Delivery facilitates education in a fun and interactive way. In addition to the NED software, Nokia offers program implementation support for the benefit of Pakistan’s education landscape.” The Nokia Education Delivery software system has two modules. The first module is installed on a Nokia mobile phone and contains a browse able catalog of educational videos. The second module is installed on the computer of the education administrator. It manages the organization’s mobile video library, so that videos can be added, deleted and updated. It also provides information on the usage of different videos.”

This unique pilot project for Pakistan has been initiated by UNESCO and AGAHI aims at using Mobile phones as medium for training teachers, where the teachers in remote areas will be equipped with devices, SIMs, a software solution and high quality educational content. The course for training and capacity building will be developed into video files and will be transmitted step by step according to curriculum on the phones provided to teachers. Over the course of the training period, teachers will be tested via SMS on regular basis and as an incentive, those who will score highest in tests will receive free mobile top ups. At the end of the course, test scores of all teachers will be aggregated and the passing teachers will be awarded certificate in the final workshop.

Money Matters, The News: Population, Poverty and Pakistan

2011-11-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

Money Matters

Population, poverty and Pakistan

By Irfan Aamir

Beyond the squabbling political elite and a noisy television media, there are much more serious issues having widespread consequences that should be at the forefront of Pakistan’s governance. Regrettably, they are not. Subjects like population and poverty–both fairly unmanaged in Pakistan– are the real issues though they stand a tad away from politics and the daily dose of comic relief courtesy the leading political-actors and the many television channels.

Pakistan’s predicaments with militancy, fragility of economy and natural disasters such as floods of 2010 and 2011 are often discussed and also make headlines even outside the country. But the reality beyond these realities is that there is an even greater threat that gets very little air-time and that this is the sheer numbers of people in Pakistan.

According to official figures the projected population for 2015 is 191 million, up from the current figure of approx 170 million, making Pakistan the sixth most populous nation on earth. By 2050, the population of Pakistan is expected to climb to fourth place in the world, only after China, India and the United States. More people means that the country will require more resources, more food and water, more energy and more jobs. More attention and earnestness from the would-be concerned-for-poor-people political leaders of the country would be required as well.

This is some seriously bad news for a country with its uneventful and unending past and present struggles to provide its people with adequate food, healthcare or education. Malnutrition rates are high and ominously climbing which are often linked to 50 percent of infant and child deaths; there is one doctor – of unknown credentials – for every 1,183 people.

Pakistan’s literacy rate stands at 57 percent which, despite official exaggerations, is amongst the lowest in the world. In the space of allocated budget as a percent of the GDP for education, Pakistan is ranked at 142 on 163 country index; countries like Maldives, Botswana and Djibouti are ranked in top 10.

While the politicos in Pakistan – who allegedly have sleepless nights thinking about ‘gharib awam’ (poor people) – may continue with their unending disagreements on electoral politics, alliances and daily TV display of contempt for each other, analyst believe that Pakistan might be running out of time.

Instability around the borders, unmanageable law and order situation in the leading economic hubs of Pakistan have and will continue to impact the economic activities in the country, presenting a very instable and grim outlook about the place and people to the outside world. Pakistan is becoming an address ‘to stay away from’ rather than ‘do business with’. In the absence of sane and sensible governance which is more practical and less rhetorical, economic failures and dearth of trust in government policies will continue to drain essential domestic and foreign investments in vital sectors. Experts believe that there is increasing evidence that investment in education, health and women’s empowerment coupled with slower population growth can contribute hugely towards poverty reduction. Do Pakistan’s leaders believe the same? Apparently not!

World Population Day - July 11th

On July 11– the World Population Day – the Prime Minister said in a message that it was very important to plan and balance population growth with the country’s resources, equitably and prudently. Interestingly, this is pretty much the same statement which is shared and released by the top seat of governance, year after year. It doesn’t matter if a democratically elected person occupies the seat or an appointee of a dictatorial regime is the incumbent, the lip service remains unchanged. What is said ‘officially’ each year might be enhanced in terms of content by the speech writers in Islamabad, what is done about this challenge is pretty well known and that is NOTHING.

Missing economic activity and the momentum coupled with increasing population continue to strain the resources as well as negatively impact the job market in Pakistan. Experts at leading international economic development institutions believe that even with the best managers at the helm, equipped with all the right resources would require years if not decades to set the path right. Pakistan’s institutions continue to plummet on the indexes of performance and transparency and the able managers continue to be disregarded and sidelined to make way for necessary political appointees of unknown credentials.

Experts believe that poverty, food prices and hunger are inextricably linked: ‘poverty causes hunger and while not every poor person is hungry, almost all hungry people are poor.’ Millions in Pakistan languish with daily hunger and malnourishment because they simply cannot afford to buy sufficiently nutritious food or be able to have adequate resources to grow enough food on their own. What is the state of Pakistan planning for the rapidly increasing number of poor and hungry people in the country is a question which is generally answered with very vague answers.

Leaders can continue to discuss the subject of poverty within the corridors of power, at plush hotels and in grand conferences across the world. After all it is the same issue, urgency of which prompted the leaders to recognise it as Millennium Development Goal No. 1. That was over 11 years ago in 2000. So much for leadership!

The writer is a Karachi-based communication consultant.

Irfan Aamir can be reached at: irfan.aamir@gmail.com

Money Matters: Understanding visibility economics

2011-11-07T05:34:00.000-08:00

Money Matters

Understanding visibility economics

Monday, November 07, 2011, Zil Hajj 10, 1432 A.H

By Irfan Aamir

When the Harvard University Professor Michael Porter stands up to speak, those fortunate to be around him have no choice but to listen and listen to him very carefully. Professor Porter after all is one of the very few distinguished academics -- in the history of the prestigious institution -- who has been bestowed the title of Harvard University Professor. The professorship recognises “individuals of distinction, working on the frontiers of knowledge and in such a way as to cross the conventional boundaries of the specialties”. Professor Michael Porter, author of 18 books and award winning articles for publications like Harvard Business Review, is the most cited author in business and economics and his work has re-defined the thinking about strategy, competitiveness and economic development.

Perhaps rightfully, he is called the father of the modern strategy field with his ideas being taught in virtually every business school in the world.

Together with his two very able co-founders, Professor Michael Porter founded and also chairs the AllWorld Network (AWN) based out of Boston, USA. The AWN was established in 2007 by Deirdre Coyle, Anne Habiby and Michael Porter at Harvard Business School after many years of promoting entrepreneurship in the developed and developing worlds.

The network has a mission to find and scale all the growth entrepreneurs of the emerging world, creating the largest information system and network of growth entrepreneurs. The AWN ranks fast growing private companies and puts them on the world map, drawing the market to them in new capital and opportunities, what the network calls Visibility Economics TM. The founders believe that the emerging world does not suffer from a capability deficit; it suffers from a visibility deficit. Without visibility, companies can’t get to the scale or prosper, believe advocate Professor Porter and the co-founders of the AWN.

The widespread economic vulnerabilities in the North and South and the ever increasing gap between the unemployed and employed continue to mount societal challenges, especially for struggling economies, making them even more vulnerable to internal and external threats.

Founders of the network believe that governments are constrained by budget deficits and the corporate sector is contracting due to recession.

Therefore, they will not be able to create additional jobs for an increasing population in developing countries. Economic growth and employment will be driven by private small and medium enterprises.

AWN has the vision of scaling these enterprises by creating a network from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Turkey, South Africa and other countries to interact and exchange business opportunities that enable them to grow. One way this is achieved is through a prestigious Entrepreneurship Summit at Harvard University, which is attended by the top entrepreneurs of privately-held, progressively growing companies from different countries and regions.

AWN’s concept of Visibility Economics TM is rooted in a collective belief that there is plenty of entrepreneurship excellence in developing countries. The challenge, Professor Porter’s team believes is that the world is not aware of its existence. By putting these high-performing growth enterprises on the global radar screen, the network believes it can help them attract capital, talent and customers. The fact that the criteria of AWN Pakistan Fast Growth 25 companies is the same as INC.500 -- the most prestigious ranking of private companies in the world -- gives confidence that Pakistan 25 is a world standard growth enterprise.

AllWorld Pakistan 25 Winners and Partners
with Pakistan Minister for Finance and
U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter

Pakistan is not known for entrepreneurship due to the constant media coverage of the many security challenges that the country faces. Pakistan 25 broke the AWN record in October 2010, with the largest number of applications in the shortest period of time, highest average revenue per company and growth rate of winning companies at an impressive 81 percent compared to the network’s other countries’ average of 41 percent. This is a clear signal that despite all odds, entrepreneurship and innovation is thriving in Pakistan. The 25 represented only a segment of a large body of entrepreneurs rearing to go and make inroads into the regional and international business space.

AWN has expanded Pakistan 25 to Pakistan Fast Growth 100 which they believe will be a true representation of the diverse economic landscape and its members, the future business ambassadors of Pakistan. The Pakistan 100 applicants will also have the opportunity to compete for Arabia 500, the premier pan-regional ranking of the fast growing private companies. Pakistan Fast Growth 100 entrepreneurs, according to the network, have been invited by the Turkish Prime Minister to Istanbul to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit-- just the kind of visibility that was needed for Pakistan’s private enterprises, believe analysts.

Such is the frequency of not so positive news around uncertain and at times chaotic state of internal affairs of Pakistan that a distant view of the situation evokes nothing but disapproving perceptions. The higher growth rate of Pakistan 25 compared to those in Middle East, Asia and South Africa shows that Pakistan, despite the mounting challenges is still open for business and offers immense investment opportunities to those who are willing to take the long-term view.

The writer is a Karachi-based
communication consultant.

Irfan Aamir can be reached at:
irfan.aamir@gmail.com

Competitiveness: Competitiveness Support Fund and World Economic Forum to develop a New Sustainable Competitiveness Framework in Pakistan

2011-11-02T02:55:00.000-07:00

Competitiveness: Competitiveness Support Fund and World Economic Forum to develop a New Sustainable Competitiveness Framework in Pakistan

Competitiveness Support Fund and World Economic Forum to develop a New Sustainable Competitiveness Framework in Pakistan

CSF and World Economic Forum to develop a New Sustainable Competitiveness Framework in Pakistan

As the world marks 7 billion population count, Pakistan will become the 5^th most populace country with 314 million people in 2050 from the current 177 million. Pakistan must prioritize its economic resource for a sustainable growth and economic development, Shahab Khawaja

To measure the impact of sustainability on economic competitiveness, the World Economic Forum and its partner organization in Pakistan, the Competitiveness Support Fund will be working together in developing a new analytical framework – the Sustainable Competitiveness Index (SCI). The SCI takes a long-term approach to highlight factors that could represent vulnerabilities to national competitiveness and productivity in the future.

The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) established to reposition Pakistan’s Economy on global competitive footing.

Shahab Khawaja, Chief Executive Officer of CSF said, “through its flagship Global Competitiveness Report, World Economic Forum has over the course of the last three decades studied and measured the drivers of national competitiveness, including a wide range of factors such as governance, infrastructure, education, innovation and proper functioning of markets. To supplement this traditional analysis, the new index accounts for elements required to make competitiveness sustainable over the longer run, in economic, social and environmental terms”.

With this new methodology, Pakistan can actually lose 3 to 9 positions on its current position from 118 on the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, Shahab Khawaja added.

The recent events in the last few years have indicated that Pakistan needs to put more focus on its sustainable development efforts, according to analysts, the SCI is extremely important for Pakistan, as it will provide the Government of Pakistan an overview on its long-term sustainable development initiatives.

According to CSF, poor institutional water and disaster management capacity in Pakistan are key indicators which will be addressed by the SCI as its sub-indices focuses on the access to improved drinking water, forest cover change and water stress index.

The SCI maintains almost all of the elements already captured by the Forum’s existing competitiveness work, which are important for both short and longer term objectives, but it also integrates a number of additional concepts, including social cohesion, environmental policy, resources efficiency, management of renewable resources and environmental degradation.

With the goal of contributing to the discourse about the drivers of sustainable competitiveness, and also of encouraging feedback at this early stage that can serve as input for refining and further developing the concept, CSF in cooperation with WEF decided to release the preliminary results of this evolving work in the latest edition of the Global Competitiveness Report 2011.

The SCI currently covers 100 countries, and an analysis of how the results of the Index differs from those of the traditional competitiveness ranking provides a sense of which countries are not only competitive now, but are also preparing well for their future competitiveness.

Sustainable competitiveness is a nascent area of research, and the Forum’s initial work has shown that much of the data measuring the key concepts is not yet available. It will take a multi-year effort to properly capture the concept of sustainable competitiveness through reliable indicators that can be gathered for a large number of countries.

To ensure that this issue is approached in a comprehensive way, the World Economic Forum has created a high-level Advisory Board on Sustainability and Competitiveness to provide guidance and input into the process. The Advisory Board members are drawn from the Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils, representing leaders from government, business, academia and civil society.

The Competitiveness Support Fund is the partner institute in Pakistan for the Global Competitiveness Network of the World Economic Forum. As the partner institute, CSF conducts the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey in Pakistan, a survey implemented globally in over 142 countries worldwide. The results of the Executive Opinion Survey are presented each year in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report.

To promote competitiveness in Pakistan, CSF disseminates the results of the Global Competitiveness Report and the rankings of Pakistan in order to identify areas where competitiveness can be improved. It also encourages dialogue and debate on competitiveness on Pakistan’s business, government and academic forums.

Global Dignity and the Young Global Leaders

2011-11-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

John Hope Bryant: Global Dignity and You

Global Dignity and You

Posted: 10/31/11 06:43 PM ET

Imagine what the world be like -- what would have happened in the global economic crisis, if everyone practiced one simple global golden rule -- dignity for all.

Beyond basic competence and honesty, if every leader believed in and stood behind only one ethic -- Ubuntu.

Ubuntu, which comes from mother South Africa, roughly translates "I am me, because you are you."

What would have happened is simple -- there would have been no global economic crisis.

You see, in order for this global economic crisis to be real, to effect us in the way that it has, there must first have been an obsessive focus on the "me" rather than the "we."

An individualized focus on "what do I get," rather than "what do I have to give."

A personal focus on "getting paid or getting rich," rather than say "building wealth."

These are subtle differences, but differences that in the end make all the difference in the world.

In this crisis, most of us (if we are honest) treated individuals and even clients like transactions rather than relationships. So no wonder things turned out so crappy.

All of these concepts I cover in some depth in Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), but a powerful universal truth like this, just like love, is best described in action.

On October 20th members of the Forum of Young Global Leaders, and other inspired leaders from 50-plus countries around the world, all came together to do precisely that -- and we called it Global Dignity Day 2011.

Global Dignity Day, which is the primary action initiative of the Global Dignity NGO, started out as nothing more than an idea inspired by three friends and then members of the Forum of Young Global Leaders (HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Professor Pekka Himenan of Finland, and myself).

The question was: How can we inspire the world, and world leaders, to think and to lead "differently."

How can we inspire a new commitment to a unifying sense of spirit, and maybe even a spirituality, without getting bogged down in differences around religion?

At a time when the world doesn't seem to agree on much, we believed that nearly 7 billion people on the planet could agree on one thing -- they all wanted more dignity. That bet seems to be working.

On October 20th, leaders from countries around the world -- from South Africa to South America, to South Central (Los Angeles, California), and from Southern Turkey to the South of France and beyond -- all came together, standing for one thing -- our dignity. In so doing, they were also helping the world to highlight our fascinating similarities, instead of our rather bland and uninteresting differences.

As leaders since the beginning of time have continuously all pointed out -- we are all in this together.

This was the powerful message delivered during the first ever Global Dignity Forum in Helsinki, Finland on October 19th, produced by our friend and brother Professor Pekka Himanen, and featuring the likes of HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, along with Nobel Laureates Archbishop-Emeritus Desmond Tutu and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, as well as Pekka and myself. And it was fantastic seeing a stadium-size facility filled with leaders cheering "dignity for all," and not simply a popular sports game, or worse, the mindless debasing of our humanity that seems to draw crowds far too often these days.

This was a global message further amplified by our Global Dignity country and city chairs from around the world, including Ms. Christina Lopes (Brazil); Ms. Jennifer Corriero (Canada); Prof. Pekka Himanen (Finland); Mr. Christopher Logan (Hong Kong); Mr. Malvinder Singh (India); Ms. Veronica Colondam (Indonesia); Mr. Silverius Unggul (Indonesia); Mr. Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui (Mexico); Mr. Ganhuyag Ch. Hutagt (Mongolia); Mr. Erik Charas (Mozambique); Ms. Osayi Alile Oruene (Nigeria); HKH Crown Prince Haakon (Norway); Mr. Jacek Olechowski (Poland); Ms. Penny Low (Singapore); Ms. Phuti Malabie (South Africa); Mr. Murat Sarayli (Turkey); Amir Jahangir (Pakistan) and myself (U.S.), amongst many others.

And then there was the song. That SONG. That Global Dignity song, produced by Dave Stewart and performed by Nadirah X, released on October 20th, 2011, and now shared with and around the world as a free-global download.

Wow, is the only descriptor of how this song moves and inspires in the same breath, in the same universal language, all around the world.

One of my mentors and life inspirations, the icon Quincy Jones, once told me that music was probably the original language.

That every song was rooted in 12 core musical notes.

That people relate to and are inspired by music, when nothing else seems to work, and even when they do not understand the root language.

The music, moves the human spirit towards unification.

Music saves us from ourselves, and dignity makes us more of ourselves.

I think I will just end the same way I started here, in mother South Africa, singing... "Ubuntu -- I am me, because you are you."

Days like October 20th, 2011, restore my hope in society, faith in our shared humanity, and belief in our future, through the eyes of our children.

Onward and with hope.

John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of "Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass)," and a Member of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for President Barack Obama. Mr. Bryant is a co-founder of Global Dignity with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland. Global Dignity is affiliated with the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the World Economic Forum.

Follow John Hope Bryant on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnhopebryant

Courtesy:

Poverty and promises

2011-10-31T02:39:00.000-07:00

Money Matters

Poverty and promises
By Irfan Aamir

When leaders deceive but not lead the way they ought to and when they make promises they don’t intend to fulfill, very bad things happen. Street rage driven by hunger and economic injustice is the catalyst of many modern day revolutions and urban movements. They are not caused by social media or cell phones alone as the establishments across the world have come to believe.

What is more unjust than the injustice itself is the omnipresent economic injustice and inequality across North and the South. Intensity of emotions is peaking and the mood of the crowd on the streets throughout the world has become ominous to say the least. Discontent with the elected leaderships of democratic societies is loud and rowdy and the 2nd decade of the 21 century appears set to be written in the annals of history as an era when the global economic system, built on the principles of the free enterprise collapsed, and political leaderships, driven rhetoric, failed their people like never before.

At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, which was ostensibly an across the board commitment to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and outline a series of time-bound targets with a deadline of 2015 that were to later become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In 2000, the US and its many well meaning Arab and non Arab allies -- which pretty much covers the entire ‘civilized world’ -- were yet to discover the cache of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. Iraq had not been invaded for the 2nd time to rid it of evil leaders and the most expensive War on Terror (WOT) was yet to go on air for another year and a few months. Little had happened in the space of MDGs when things got hotter around the WMDs, followed by crude oil hikes and social chaos in the Arabian Peninsula. Understandably, global concerns for poverty eradication were replaced with fears of national security and uncertain times around things more urgent and alarming than things more important and critical.

If human life is invaluable then those lives that are lost each day due to preventable diseases, poverty and hunger are way more unfortunate than those lost as a consequence of wars and terrorism. The former is more regrettable perhaps as it also highlights the love of modern man for war and his disregard for human misery. Wars are expensive and bread is still cheap, but poverty, the trigger of extremism, perhaps is the most expensive of all things to manage. It is unfortunate and ironic that trillions for wars are easily available and none by comparison for poverty eradication.

MDGs

The targets set out by the largest gathering of world leaders outlined urgent and immediate efforts and 8 fundamental goals were outlined. The goals in order of priority are/were, End Hunger and Extreme Poverty, Universal Education, Gender Equality, Child Health, Maternal Health, Combat HIV/AIDs and Global Partnership.

The ever committed and well meaning leaders realised in the year 2000 that their long held belief that economic injustice and poverty “is an unfortunate but unalterable state of affairs” is quite wrong. They also realised that the world had become progressive, prosperous and technologically advanced to address improvement of economies and reducing hunger. What they have done in this space since and as they find themselves around the corner from 2015 can be easily described in one word, nothing.

The world congress of leaders also realised that every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves, but also noted with regret (in the year 2000) that many children in the world (then and now) grow up without this chance because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school. “A sustainable end to the world poverty as we know it; as well as the path to peace and security requires that citizens in every country are empowered to make positive choices and provide for themselves and their families” further felt the global leadership.

It is apparent that come the deadline for the Global MDGs in 2015, many if not all the nations who committed to these targets in the year 2000 will find themselves scrambling for answers and reasons for their combined failure to achieve the goals. If the leaders have disappointed the people, media in general and the civil society groups have also done the same by staying away from the most fundamental issues and focusing on trivia and political entertainment.

At the home front, the economy might be bankrupt but the leadership in Pakistan, rulers and the non rulers, delusional as it may be is still up to brims with misplaced confidence, lack of vision and driven more by concocted recipes of rhetorical expressions. From primary health to primary education, the shambolic state of institutions in Pakistan has moved in one direction and that is DOWN the rankings in all the global indexes of performance and competitiveness. These are not very happy times for those who are led continuously into believing that the next regime will be a better one. Leaders can be oblivious, but those being led are NOT. Not anymore.

“One of the darkest characteristics of poverty is that it seems to prey on the vulnerable and defenseless.” – www.endpoverty2015.org

The writer is a Karachi-based communication consultant.
Irfan can be reached at his email: irfan.aamir@gmail.com

Ask a Leader at the India Economic Summit: Your Link to Leadership

2011-10-31T02:19:00.000-07:00

Ask a Leader at the India Economic Summit: Your Link to Leadership

Ask a Leader at the India Economic Summit: Your Link to Leadership

Have your voice heard and your questions answered at this year’s India Economic Summit in Mumbai
World Economic Forum opens Ask a Leader project on YouTube and Facebook
Deadline to submit questions is 9 November 2011
World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit will take place on 12-14 November in Mumbai
More information about the Summit available at http://www.weforum.org/india

Geneva, Switzerland, 31 October 2011 – With one of the youngest demographics in the world, India needs its next generation’s voice to be heard, and the leaders of tomorrow need access to the leaders of today. The World Economic Forum is once again opening a meeting and making its participants available to the public by calling you to “Ask a Leader” at its annual India Economic Summit, which will take place for the first time in Mumbai from 12 to 14 November. The deadline for submitting questions in text or video format is 9 November 2011.

"What would you ask a world leader?” You are invited to upload or post a question in text or video to the World Economic Forum’s Facebook page at wef.ch/facebook or Ask a Leader YouTube channel at youtube.com/Davos.

Join the Ask a Leader project and have your voice and your community’s voice heard on issues related to this year’s Summit theme, Linking Leadership with Livelihood. During the three-day gathering, the World Economic Forum will put a selection of the best submitted questions to world leaders and regional experts at the Social Media Corner, giving the public direct access to the most powerful and influential people in the world. Video responses will be uploaded to the Forum’s Ask a Leader YouTube channel, where you can watch participants’ video blog their answers, share their ideas and explain their visions for a better India.

Watch the video appeal produced in collaboration with NDTV.

2011-10-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

The flood has affected around 5.4 million people, primarily in Sindh and Balochistan provinces. Of these, 1.8 million have been displaced.

The funding will be provided by the Canadian International Development Agency to support initiatives of the World Food Program, World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Canadian non-governmental organizations.

Courtesy Devex by Eliza Villarino

AGAHI: Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on...

2011-10-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

AGAHI: Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on...:

Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on “Investigative Journalism on Anti-Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorist Organizations”

Journalists trained for investigative journalism and responsible reporting.

Peshawar Press Club along with Khyber Union of Journalists and Mishal Pakistan, a strategic communication policy design social enterprise in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics, Zigron Training, Center for Investigative Journalists in Bosnia-Sarajevo, FaithMatters conducted a workshop on Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting at the Peshawar Press Club. The workshop was attended by more than 50 press club members.

The initiative, known as Agahi covered areas such as; Investigative Journalism, Media Ethics, Anti-Money-Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding, Journalism and Society, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and the Millennium Development Goals, Reporting in Terrorism and Conflict, Social Media and Safety Training.

Talking to the gathering of the members of the media, Mr. Saif ul Islam Saifi, President of the Peshawar Press Club, expressed his gratitude for creating an opportunity for the journalists and emphasized the need for more training and assured his support from the press club for improving the state of media in Peshawar. He said, “there is a need to upgrade the skills of the journalists on new media tools such as social media and crowd sourcing journalism”. He further said that, “the Peshawar Press Club works for the capacity building and skill development of its members by organizing different professional courses”.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

On a skype video link David Brewer-based out of London and founder ofmedia-helping-media organization, emphasized on applying the public interest test to journalists, which discussed the role of governments and charity organizations in pursuing the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs). He stressed that journalists must read the MDGs with same skepticism that they treat every other beat. Mr. Brewer is one of the pioneers in media development. He has been the founding managing director of BBC News Online Service and the CNN.com.

Shaukat Khattak, senior journalist and chairman of the capacity building committee of the Peshawar Press Club, also expressed that the Peshawar Press Club realizes the importance of promoting journalism that covers the political and the socio-economic system. He encouraged the need of training provided to the journalists for a better outcome.

Puruesh Chaudhary, Ambassador to Pakistan onMedia Ethics on behalf of the Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) emphasized on the formulation of a unified ethics policy for the entire journalistic community to be adopted, implemented and adhered to counter special interest groups and sensationalism. The session dealt with the problems being faced by journalists, which also underscored the need for a joint code of conduct for reporters and cameramen.

Ali Hazrat Bacha, Senior Vice President of the Khyber Union of Journalists raised issues such as lack of training, non-supportive management, unavailability of basic resources, pressure groups, wages and the absence of a unified code of conduct. Ali Hazrat Bacha, Senior Vice President of the Khyber Union of Journalists raised similar concerns and stressed over the lack of resources and support from stakeholders on investigative journalism.

Mishal Pakistan Chief Executive Officer, AmirJahangir in his closing remarks announced two scholarships in collaboration with the Peshawar Press Club who wish to enroll for the Masters Programme in Mass Communication, Journalism or Media Studies at any public sector universities or any other degree awarding institution in Peshawar and other parts of KPK. The Peshawar Press Club will help Mishal in identifying the most deserving candidate for this scholarship.

AGAHI

Agahi, aims to utilize institutionalized, sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalistic standards through training to increasing responsible, balanced reporting and investigative journalism. The initiative is being carried in collaboration with the Press Clubs in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, Baluchistan and Azad Kashmir; In these series of interactions with the stakeholders a special Journalism Awards is being created to identify the most respectful and responsible journalists in investigative journalism.

Mishal has an MoU with the Peshawar Press Club to performs due role in promoting educational, literary, cultural and sports activities in the society. With the emergence of new conflict zones in the region, efforts have being made to convert Peshawar press club into a modern media complex, equipped with technological gadgets and professional kits to ensure unhindered flow of information to the world.

Before the establishment of Peshawar Press Club some 45 years ago, the journalists used to sit and attend press conferences in a single room allocated in famous Deans Hotel. It was in 2001, when the first-ever separate building for the Peshawar Press Club was constructed. Apart from being a cultural and welfare oriented body of the journalists, the Peshawar Press Club is also known as a symbol of democracy and freedom of press, as all the political parties, civil society organizations are provided equal opportunities to present their view points on any issue to the world.

Mishal, launched in 2003, has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organizations in the region to develop their communication strategy and solutions for better understand and creating synergies between different entities.

Mishal has been at the forefront of communications solutions and is actively pursuing to improve the state of media and journalism in Pakistan.

Taking this initiative to the next level Mishal has been actively pursuing to build the capacity of the media in creating better understanding the issues in global perspective.

The team behind Mishal has been developing, creating and managing media entities and content for the last 20 years at various platforms.

Mishal has undertaken the task to build the capacity of the Press Clubs and Associations in Pakistan by creating a knowledge-sharing learning platform for the media and journalists across Pakistan. The initiative will build the capacity through interactive workshops, conferences, collaborative thinking and media and journalism awards for the professionals in the field of journalism and media.

AGAHI: Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on...

2011-10-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

AGAHI: Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on...: Journalists trained for investigative journalism and responsible reporting. Peshawar Press Club along with Khyber Union of Journalists an...

Mishal Pakistan and Tribal Union of Journalists to Highlight the Social Face of FATA through the AGAHI Initiative

2011-10-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

Mishal Pakistan and Tribal Union of Journalists to Highlight the Social Face of FATA through the AGAHI Initiative

AGAHI in collaboration with the TUJ aims to identify and build capacity of the journalists on social issues and economic opportunities encouraging diversity and pluralism of the Media in FATA and FR.

TUJ and Mishal Officials with CIME Ambassador to Pakistan at the Tribal Union of Journalists FATA Office in Peshawar, KPK, Pakistan

Mishal Pakistan to launch AGAHI in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Frontier Regions (FR). A meeting between Mishal and the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ) was held at TUJ’s Head office in Peshawar. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two entities on capacity building and training initiatives for the journalists in FATA and FR.

The Tribal Union of Journalists is the representative body of the journalists from the FATA and the FR.; comprising of seven Tribal Agencies (Mohmand Agency, Bajaur Agency, NorthWaziristan, South Waziristan, Khyber Agency, Orakzai Agency and Kurram Agency) and its adjacent Six Frontier Regions (FR Peshawar, FR Bannu, FR Dera Ismail Khan, FR Kohat, FR Lakki Marwat and FR Tank). More than 250 journalists are registered members of TUJ working with local, national and international media. The Tribal Union of Journalists is the first-ever journalistic body in the history of FATA. The members of TUJ realize the importance of promoting journalism that covers the political system and the much-needed socio-economic sector.

Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ)

The collaboration between Mishal and TUJ will help both organizations to identify the elements contributing to the disconnect with the mainstream news agenda and the gaps within the reporting structure by building the capacity of the journalists from FATA and FR on investigative journalism, media ethics, conflict and hazard reporting, interfaith and anti-money laundering.

Tribal Union of Journalists President, Safdar Hayat Khan Dawar with CEO Mishal, Amir Jahangir

The President of the expressed the need for training on socio-economic issues for the journalists without being exposed to life-endangering threats and extended the union’s cooperation towards Mishal’s Media Development Initiative. He said that the Tribal Union of Journalists is the only body in FATA that has struggled for the protection of the journalists in an area where Press Laws do not exist.

The journalists from FATA and the Frontier Regions have been feeding the global news grid over the last decade by reporting on war on terror, as a result of which the Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, Amir Jahangir believes that in the process the social face of FATA has been lost. He explained to TUJ that the journalists should immediately start contributing on issues that cover the social and economic dimensions of their respective agencies and regions and for this purpose Mishal intends to contribute in terms of providing the knowledge platform. Jahangir a strategic communication and media professional was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for his initiatives on improving the state of media in Pakistan.

Mishal Pakistan is a strategic communications company established in 2003. It has undertaken the Media Development Initiative in

Mishal Pakistan

Pakistan encouraging diversity and pluralisticcontent development facilitating the journalists through knowledge-sharing platforms in understanding issues in global perspective. Tobolster best practices and to promote original journalism which highlights a socially responsiblemedia; Mishal has memorandum of understanding with the press clubs and journalist associations. There are over a hundred press clubs in the country, which gives Mishal the capacity of over 30,000 journalists across Pakistan.

AGAHI, a programme recently launched by Mishal Pakistan, is increasing the capacity of Investigative and Responsible Journalism in the country. This programme aims to use institutionalized sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalisticstandards. The programme works in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics, Faith Matters, Center for Investigative Journalists in Bosnia-Sarajevo, Naya Jeevan and Zigron Training. The programme has successfully created a debate amongst the journalists from Multan, Karachi, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Mirpur-AJK on media ethics, interfaith, anti-money laundering and the importance of investigative journalism.

The signing ceremony was also attended by the Center for International Media Ethics Ambassador to Pakistan, Puruesh Chaudhary and by other members of TUJ from the tribal belt, which included North Waziristan and Bajaur Agency.

Global Dignity Day 2011

2011-10-20T10:38:00.001-07:00

Global Dignity Day 2011, a set on Flickr.

Global Dignity Day being celebrated in Pakistan. Almost 32,000 children took part in celebrating Dignity for themselves and for people around them.

Via Flickr:
Global Dignity Day being celebrated in Pakistan. Almost 32,000 children took part in celebrating Dignity for themselves and for people around them

Aid to Conflict-torn Countries can be Counterproductive - Wendy Chamberlain, Former US Ambassador to Pakistan

2011-10-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Providing aid to conflict-torn countries may be counterproductive, a former U.S. aid official and now head of a U.S.-based think tank has argued. This is because donors tend to spend the bulk of their aid budget on securing the safety of their development and humanitarian workers in those countries.

Other challenges include rampant corruption in recipient governments and lack of local capacity to implement, oversee and maintain foreign-funded development projects, Wendy Chamberlain said, according to The National. Chamberlain served as regional head of the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region in 2002 and 2004.

“Development aid can actually be counterproductive if you don’t have a number of building blocks already in place. Security is, of course one of them, but also the basic capacity of the people on the ground,” adds Chamberlain, who now heads the Middle East Institute think tank. “There has to be enough rule of law that aid is not subject to gross corruption. There has to be some ability for local government to build upon the systems — if you build a road, it gets repaired.”

Courtesy Devex, Ivy Mungcal

More EU, Dutch Aid for Pakistani Flood Victims

2011-10-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

The European Union and Netherlands have increased their aid for flood victims in Pakistan.

For the second year in a row, Pakistan is devastated by flooding. The most recent has affected 5.4 million people.

The European Commission announced Oct. 17 that it will provide an additional €6.5 million ($8.9 million) in humanitarian assistance to the South Asian country, bringing the total EU flood aid for Pakistan this year to €104.5 million.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands has made another donation of €4 million also for Pakistani flood victims. It earlier contributed €400,000 to the International Red Cross for a similar cause.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Oct. 14 that it had to use money from existing programs to fund the fresh donation as all the 2011 budget for emergency assistance had been spent due partly to the famine in the Horn of Africa.

Courtesy: Devex - Eliza Villarino

a Global Disorder

2011-10-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

A global disorder

By Irfan Aamir

One needs to have a deep understanding of Pakistan’s current political and economic direction, which despite the looming global economic and public debt crises still appears driven more by rhetoric and random decision making rather than planning and policy. However, one may not have to undertake a deep study to understand this impasse as most numbers are disappointing and challenges appear ominously skewed against Pakistan’s economic and political managers. How dismally Pakistan has performed on many global performance indexes across the various categories of governance can be easily browsed, though it may be hard to digest.

Pakistan’s political and economic news still read no different than they did 8 years ago, with monetary deficit, dearth of foreign investment and a looming power crisis as the main highlights. Past governments as well as the one today have stood committed to address all these challenges, which is exactly what the current incumbents have been saying since they took power almost 4 years ago. Government’s domestic debt, despite the recent rather generous slash in discount rate, still looks like a fallacy about to fall and bubble ready to burst. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governors may come or go, but the government will continue to borrow by printing currency at the rate of a billion dollars per month and keep handing out monetary policies with 2 months shelve-lives, if not less. Such is the adolescent treatment to things that require serious responsibility and a much higher maturity level.

On the international economic scene ‘things’ don’t look so great either, in fact they haven’t looked this grim in the recorded history of human economics. As some economists and thinkers are putting it, the only thing that looks certain is more uncertainty. “Un-known unknowns” as the former US Defence Secretary would probably love to brand this imbroglio. The inevitability of an uncertain but evident change in global economic order is kicking some serious clouds of doubts and fears, making the entire system jitterier and lacking positive sentiments.

When the global finance managers and economic leaders were able to deliver some recovery in late 2009-10, ostensibly by pressing their governments to pump in trillions of dollars and euros for interventions and bankrolling the multibillion dollar corporations in the West, many thought that the global economic crisis had been contained. Recent developments, nevertheless, indicate that ‘financial market volatility’ is here to stay for the foreseeable future. What is becoming more apparent is that the recent short-term macroeconomic or regulatory policy initiatives in a number of economies across the world, especially the West, have failed to provide the desired confidence while the planners appear sans any plans for a long-term economic growth. Is it time to scramble?

Recently released Global Agenda Survey 2011 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) only confirms the varied fears and doubts everyone has about the current unending economic uncertainty. Global Agenda Council members were asked to identify ‘the’ most important international trends and how they would impact the global economy, society and environment in the next 12-18 months. The presentation, which identifies 20 trends that can and will impact the way people do business, how societies co-exist and what the Global Agenda Council members have to say about the trends can assuredly trigger some nerves and it is about time that they did.
Of the trends highlighted in the WEF Global Agenda Survey 2011, analysts believe many are already at work at home in Pakistan.

Public Debt Crisis and Weakening Job Market are ranked as the ‘most important’ global trends and challenges. As bizarre as the relevance may appear, in case of Pakistan both these trends are not only visible but look fairly unmanageable at this point. A country which borrows more than it has the capacity to earn or service, and is facing a mounting debt crisis that it is scrambling to service with no donors or Friends of Pakistan around reaching for their cheque books. What is even more serious is that the economy is not producing jobs either. By the admission of the Planning Commission itself, Pakistan needs to produce 1.5 million jobs each year consistently for the next few years. The economy, however, is producing only 0.3 million by government’s own estimates.

Some other rather disturbing trends and challenges for the next 18 months listed high on the top ten in the Global Agenda Survey 2011 are Economic Inequality and Social Unrest, crucial areas where Pakistan has demonstrated a lower level of excellence consistently. What is as annoying is that the state in which Pakistan and its economy is today isn’t the doing of ‘enemy nations’ but mostly of those civilian leaders who allegedly want to work for the people and those military leaders who were politically elected to decide the fate of our country. Promises and unending rhetoric is the most consistent thing about a very inconsistently managed country and its leaders. The question is, how long can they continue to befool or mislead?

The writer is a Karachi-based communication consultant.

irfan.aamir@gmail.com

With the courtesy of Money Matters, The News International

President Zardari Pledges to Disaster Prevention

2011-10-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

With his country still reeling from the effects of massive floods that inundated Pakistan for two consecutive years, President Asif Ali Zadari has pledged to become a “champion of the process of disaster risk reduction.”

President Zadari made this commitment during a meeting with U.N. Disaster Risk Reduction Chief Margareta Wahlstrom, during which the president also pledged to scale up efforts to improve Pakistan’s early warning system.

“Pakistan wants to be safe, resilient and able to respond to any type of disaster. We want to take ownership of disaster risk reduction and to empower our people to be able to respond to the risks and threats posed by natural hazards,” Zadari said.

The Pakistani president’s remarks come as an international organization warn it is unlikely for governments to meet the commitment they made to ensure the world’s safety from natural hazards and reduce overall disaster losses by 2015.

The Hygo Framework for Action is a 10-year plan adopted by U.N. member states at the World Disaster Reduction Conference in 2005.

Citing poor implementation of the plan, the international non-governmental organization Oxfam urged governments to step up their efforts to meet the HFA’s goals of improving people’s resilience to natural disasters, the Tribune reports. In particular, Oxfam urged the Pakistani government and its partners to address the growing crisis in the country and invest in efforts to prevent similar situations in the future.

“Everyone is aware of how disasters have taken their toll in Pakistan and how they are continuing to put people at the brink of desperation. Until we start preparing for these events and develop a system, the vicious circle of suffering will continue to affect millions of people,” Neva Khan, Oxfam’s director for Pakistan, said.

Courtesy Devex and Ivy Mungcal

UN Officials Reiterate Call for Comprehensive Disaster Management, Say Floods in Pakistan, Other Asian Countries 'Predictable'

2011-10-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

Two high-ranking U.N. officials reiterated the call for governments to focus on comprehensive disaster management and preparedness to save lives and livelihoods. The call was made in the wake of the devastating floods that hit Pakistan for the second year running and as floodwaters likewise wreak havoc in other Asian countries.

As she was set to depart for a three-day visit to flood-hit Pakistan, U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction chief Margareta Wahlström said Pakistan’s flood risk can be predicted by modelling systems. She noted that this year’s flooding, just like last year’s devastating floods, have been concentrated in rural areas that lack early warning systems and preparedness measures.

Wahlström called on the different actors involved to implement a ”quantum leap in disaster risk reduction in Pakistan.”

International aid agencies have earlier criticized the Pakistani government for failing to install adequate prevention measures despite last year’s disaster. As a result, floods have caused massive destruction in Pakistan anew, affecting some 7 million people and killing 400, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

More than a month after the floods hit the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, the floodwaters have receded, but flood victims continue to live in makeshift shelters and are at risk of hunger and diseases despite the efforts of humanitarian agencies to provide emergency assistance. Sluggish donor response has been blamed.

But Pakistan’s problem is hardly isolated. Wahlström noted the floods that recently devastated other Asian countries, including the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Cambodia, are annual events brought about by the monsoon rains from June to September each year. Therefore, these floods are “signposted long before their arrival,” she said.

“If you know what to expect then adequate preparedness measures should pay off and save lives, homes and livelihood,” Wahlström added

Vladimir Sakharov, the environmental services section chief of the U.N. Environment Program/U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Emergency Partnership, concurred.

According to Sakharov, the international community spends “a huge amount of money in response to natural disasters, instead of concentrating on a comprehensive risk management and preparedness.”

For Sakharov, governments can better address the situation by installing disaster preparedness measures such as boosting emergency preparedness training, developing early warning systems, and improving placement and structure of basic infrastructure so that they are not vulnerable to natural hazards.

Grim Outlook for U.S. Foreign Aid

2011-10-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Grim Outlook for U.S. Foreign Aid Grim Outlook for U.S. Foreign Aid

Posted on Tuesday, October 4, 2011

by James M. Lindsay

American soldiers carry relief supplies for families affected by a typhoon in the Philippines. (Romeo Ranoco/courtesy Reuters)

The New York Times has a front-page story today on how U.S. foreign aid programs face major budget cuts. Why the Times chose today to run the story is anyone’s guess. The gloomy budgetary picture for foreign aid has been obvious for months. So while the story doesn’t break any news, it comes with nice charts. And as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Three big points. First, foreign aid spending today is higher when measured in real (or inflation-adjusted) dollars than it was during much of the 1980s and 1990s. That is because foreign aid budgets were slashed under Bill Clinton and grew substantially under George W. Bush. (Yes, a Republican president was good for foreign aid, a Democratic one not so much.)

U.S. Foreign Aid Since 1977, in Billions

Second, foreign aid has fallen as a share of the federal budget over the last three decades. So while spending on foreign aid has grown in absolute terms it has declined in relative terms.

Third, the White House will be lucky to hold foreign aid spending flat in 2012. Even the Democratically controlled Senate wants to cut its request.

The looming cuts to the foreign aid budget will prompt a lot of hand wringing, much of it justified. We will see a spate of op-eds extolling the strategic benefits of foreign aid, and the White House will likely ask military officials to help make the case for foreign aid as a way to prevent problems and take pressure off the military.

This outcry won’t have much effect, for a reason apparent in the story the Times article tells about Representative Kay Granger (R-TX), Chair of the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, which oversees the foreign aid budget:

She recalled a State Department envoy’s informing her of $250 million in relief to Pakistan after last year’s devastating floods. “I said I think that’s bad policy and bad politics,” she said in an interview at her office on Capitol Hill. “What are you going to say to people in the United States who are having flooding?”

In short, for voters, problems around here trump problems over there. So the U.S. Government will end up doing less with less.

Republished with the courtesy of the Council on Foreign Relations. View the original article.

War on error: Economic development: how?

2011-10-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

War on error: Economic development: how?:

Economic development: how?

Even if one were to Google there are hardly any, actually no known examples neither of a country making stable economic progress while lacking good infrastructure nor in the presence of poorly functioning state institutions. Some analysts including a majority of TV media anchors may continue to believe and advocate that the world powers are uniting to render Pakistan a ‘failed state’; the real circumstances responsible for the country’s fast dilapidating economic fortunes are actually domestically skewed.

When a country’s economy is languishing with critically disgraceful ranks on the global indexes of competitiveness, there is much to analyze and criticize, especially by the media who has a galore of scandals to cover every day, review poorly performing organizations and has a non-stop stream of not-so-good news on the national economic horizon available.

Efficiency and standards of things as fundamental as infrastructure and government-owned and managed corporations and institutions are ebbing beyond acceptable limits of failure. When a country is unable to address its issues as fundamental as primary education and healthcare as in the case of Pakistan, there are reasons for raised eyebrows and frowns and not to mention the prophecies of a doomed and hopeless future.

According to the leading think-tanks and global economic development institutions, including the World Economic Forum of Davos fame and Competitive Support Fund of Islamabad origins, on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) Pakistan, out of 142 countries, is seriously lagging in several categories. Currently Pakistan is ranked at 107th in the category of institutions which amply highlights years and decades of poor planning, political and non-political nepotism and interventions. What it shockingly also highlights is the blatant absence of any corrective action. Once followed and emulated by the countries of Far East, today’s institutions of Pakistan have come a long distance, but unfortunately in the opposite direction it seems.

Ranked 115th in the space of national infrastructure also comes as a rude shock, again. For over all these decades one was given the impression that all the political leaderships spent the exchequer money responsibly on one extraordinary national development plan or the other. The people elected, the heavily mandated and even the last decade of powerful political government of military rulers allegedly spent thousands of billions if not more building the ‘necessary infrastructure for national development’ as they kept the hopes of the nation up.

The reality again is rather grim. Where the country stands today, still leaves a very long journey to be covered, a tedious and laborious trudge almost. A devastating realization can also be that while the work-scope has mounted the right teams are not running the right institutions leading to a more worrisome and shaky future outlook. Echelons of governance have failed to entice the more capable workforce and have to make do with those that perhaps have lower chances of getting gainfully employed elsewhere with a job security and ‘fringe benefits’ they seek. Sensible and more capable individuals have and will continue to be keener on leaving the country as trends have shown and those who can’t go aboard look for careers in more stable multinationals rather than government-managed organizations.

Other areas where Pakistan has been identified as a country which needs to pay grave and urgent attention include primary health and education. Pakistan currently stands at the 121th position out of 142 countries. Regrettably, both these areas that are identified as the fundamental pillars of competitiveness assessment continue to receive fewer resources in each budget in comparison to mounting military spending and bank payments. Indeed making the entire narrative sorely dismal for Pakistan and its economic growth potential.

The pillars on which the global competitiveness ranking are measured are: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health, primary and secondary education and training, goods and labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.

Pakistan stands at the lowest level, probably not even at the acceptable level of national growth. Considering the vast opportunities that keep coming its way and its geo- political significance, Pakistan’s performance by many is considered dismal and for all the right reasons. If such is the status in the most basic categories, less should be said at this point on how the country is performing in other areas of competitiveness.

There is hardly a news story on the national TV which goes without admonishing the political leadership for poor governance. Economic policies are criticized and at times horrific possible scenarios of social unrest and mayhem are vociferously shared. Such is the degree of passion with the new found ‘freedom to express’ that even things less researched are callously shared while more grave issues are overlooked routinely. Masud Alam, a senior journalist based in Islamabad, put it well when he said: “Pakistani media is increasingly getting better at being the story than covering one.”

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN

2011-09-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN

The first International Media Ethics Day observed in Pakistan by the Karachi Press Club in collaboration with the Center forInternational Media Ethics (CIME) and Mishal Pakistan. The Day has been created by CIME to engage the media community throughout the world to have an open dialogue on media ethics.

The aim of the Media Ethics Day is to mobilize the journalism community and provide journalists around the world with an opportunity to discuss media ethics issues, examine case studies, and participate in role-plays and debates related to the various ethical dilemmas they might expect to face on the job.

AamirLatif, President Karachi Union of Journalist stressed on the need to highlight the ethical challenges faced by the Pakistani Journalists and sees this day as an opportunity for the journalists to work together to make their own judgments and identify their own strategies.

CIME aims to prepare and infuse journalists with the energy and support they need to make their own ethical decisions in reporting and negotiating with anyone or anything that might be trying to obstruct their own sound decision-making. The International Media Ethics Day events are especially important because local organisations volunteer to do it for local people and CIME provides support and expertise to help them said Suzanne Harris, Associate for the Center for International Media Ethics.

PurueshChaudhary, CIME Ambassador to Pakistan and the Director Content for MishalPakistan underscored the need for a joint code of conduct to agree upon basic guidelines for reporters and cameramen and encouraged the journalist community to take on a proactive role in defining ethical practices through the choices and decisions made at work on a daily basis.

The Center for International Media Ethics and Mishal Pakistan believe that it is essential for the local journalists to collaborate with one another on a national level, to express their opinions and become actively involved in enforcing ethical media practices. Mishal Pakistan, a strategic communication policy design social enterprise in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics is observing the International Media Ethics Day at the Karachi Press Club as part of the Agahi Initiative. Agahi, aims to utilize institutionalized, sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalistic standards through training to increasing responsible, balanced reporting and investigative journalism.

Senior journalist Amir Zia said that a reporter while reporting on a terrorist attack should keep in mind not to glamorize militancy. He said that the western media served as a yardstick, and during the 9/11 attack, the bodies of people were not shown on television, and the privacy of the victims was respected. However in Pakistan, reporters and photographers barged into emergency wards when doctors were struggling with their patients.

Mishal Pakistan Chief Executive Officer, Amir Jahangir on the occasion said that, media in Pakistan is passing through a transition, it is accumulating a lot of information, making Pakistan an information society, however the synthesis of information into knowledge has still to be evolved. Initiatives like this would lead to better understanding of communication challenges, especially in terms of Dignity, Journalism and Leadership.

The objective of the Center for International Media Ethics’ International Media Ethics Day is to mobilize the journalism community and provide media professionals with the opportunity to partake in local workshops. By participating in discussions conducted in their own language, local journalists can feel more comfortable and more enabled to talk about such a complex subject as the ethics of their profession. The center’s driving emphasis is that journalists together have the power to formulate and enforce a tacit code of ethics as a status quo of their profession.

The event was attended by leading journalists from print and electronic media along with representatives of media entities and civil society organizations.

KASHMIR PRESS CLUB TO COLLABORATE ON ISSUES OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE THROUGH INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM WITH AGAHI

2011-08-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

JOURNALISTS TRAINED FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AND RESPONSIBLE REPORTING

Mishal Pakistan, a strategic communication policy design social enterprise in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics, Zigron Training, Center for Investigative Journalists in Bosnia-Sarajevo, Naya Jeevan conducted a workshop on Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting in Kashmir Press Club in Mirpur Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The initiative, known as Agahi covered areas such as; Investigative Journalism and Ethics, Anti-Money-Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding, Journalism and Society “Millennium Development Goals’’, Reporting in Terrorism and Conflict, Social Media and Safety Training. The initiative was launched in Multan Press Club on August 22^nd 2011.

Syed Abid Ali Shah,
President, Kashmir Press Club, Mirpur - AJK

Talking to the gathering of the members of the media, Syed Abid Hussain Shah, President of the Kashmir Press Club, Mirpur expressed his gratitude for creating an opportunity for the journalists and emphasised the need for for more training and assured his support from the press club for improving the state of media in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. There is a need to upgrade the skills of the journalists on new media tools such as social media and crowd sourcing journalism, he further added.

Mishal Pakistan and Kashmir Press Club, signed a memorandum of understanding on capacity building and training initiatives. The initiative aims to empower the journalist community by creating learning platforms through interactive workshops, seminars and courses in specific sectors.

Puruesh Chaudhary,
CIME Ambassador to Pakistan and
Director Content MISHAL and AGAHI

On the session, Puruesh Chaudhary, Ambassador to Pakistan on Media Ethics on behalf of the Center for International Media Ethics emphasized on the formulation of a unified ethics policy for the entire journalistic community to be adopted, implemented and adhered to counter special interest groups and sensationalism. The session dealt with the problems being faced by journalists, which also underscored the need for a joint code of conduct for reporters and cameramen. Journalists in Mirpur proactively discussed issues such as lack of training, non-supportive management, unavailability of basic resources, pressure groups, wages and the absence of a unified code of conduct.

The trainers highlighted socio-economic disparities which included gender/social discrimination, access to clean drinking water, environment, health and education that continue to impact the community and stressed on how investigations into such areas can reflect the changing needs and priorities.

There was a special session on safety for journalists on how to journalists can also acquire the knowledge of life saving, as journalists are usually the first people to reach a place of accident or an act of terrorism.

Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan

Mishal Pakistan Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Amir Jahangir in his closing remarks announced two scholarships in collaboration with the Kashmir Press Club who wish to enroll for the Masters Programme in Mass Communication, Journalism or Media Studies at any public sector universities or any other degree awarding institution in Azad Jammu Kashmir and other parts of Pakistan. The Kashmir Press Club will help Mishal in identifying the most deserving candidate for this scholarship.

Agahi, aims to utilize institutionalized, sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalistic standards through training to increasing responsible, balanced reporting and investigative journalism. The initiative is being carried in collaboration with the Press Clubs in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Azad Kashmir; In these series of interactions with the stakeholders a special Journalism Awards is being created to identify the most respectful and responsible journalists in investigative journalism.

The workshop was attended by more than 50 press club members. The Kashmir Press Club was founded in 1978 and has more than 70 full time members and almost 100 affiliated members.

Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

2011-08-24T10:04:00.001-07:00

AGAHI, a set on Flickr.

Pictures from Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

2011-08-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

AGAHI to address the gaps in media ethics and reporting on investigative journalism on terrorism financing, socio-economic issues, new media, anti-money laundering and safety training

Mishal Pakistan, a strategic communication policy design social enterprise in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics, Zigron Training, Center for Investigative Journalists in Bosnia-Sarajevo, Naya Jeevan launched “Agahi’’, an initiative which will increase the capacity of Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting at the Multan Press Club.

The programme covered areas such as; Investigative Journalism and Ethics, Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding, Journalism and Society “Millennium Development Goals’’, Reporting in Terrorism and Conflict, Social Media, Journalism and Safety Training. The sessions were designed to be interactive with the audience to improve the understanding related to investigative journalism and responsible reporting.

Agahi, aims to utilize institutionalized, sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalistic standards through training to increasing responsible, balanced reporting and investigative journalism said Puruesh Chaudhary, CIME Ambassador to Pakistan and the Chief Strategy Officer to the project.

The session in Multan underscored the need for a joint code of conduct to agree upon basic guidelines for reporters and cameramen. Journalists proactively discussed the issues they face as the threats remain real. Journalists not only fear for their own safety but for the safety of their families and relatives as well. The basic problems highlighted were lack of training, non-supportive managements, little or no backup by editorial teams, unavailability of basic resources, pressure groups (criminal and commercial), and absence of a unified code of conduct.

Mishal Pakistan and Multan Press Club, signed a memorandum of understanding on capacity building and training initiatives earlier this year. The MoU envisages empowering the media by capacity building initiatives for the members of the Multan Press Club by creating learning platform through interactive workshops, seminars and courses in specific sectors.

The initiative is being carried in collaboration with the Press Clubs in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir; in the series of interactions with the stakeholders a special Journalism Awards is being created to identify the most respectful and responsible journalists in investigative journalism said Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer Mishal Pakistan.

Teresa Allen, representative for CIME joining the Multan Press Club journalists from California via video conference stressed on the need for continuous educational programmes for journalists in the field and the formulation of an Ethics Policy for the entire journalistic community.

Osama Bin Javaid, News Editor with DAWNNEWS highlighted that every day social issues that impact the community should be part of the news content. He further identified that the millennium development goals (MDGs) as the best tool that flags significance content development to Pakistan. The journalists discussed best practices for issues such as gender/social discrimination, health, education etc. The MDGs provide areas and in those areas specific entities to be investigated.

Asaf Akhtar, an expert in financial sector specializing in frauds and anti-money laundering gave firsthand knowledge on Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding techniques and methodologies while giving references to the abduction of Daniel Pearl, the cases of transactions through non-banking channels such hundi and the case of NICL.

The session on Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting dealt with the problem being faced by journalists in far-flung conflict areas that are not major cities and where the dynamics of investigation and threats are different. Pakistan remains the most dangerous place on earth for journalists. Dr. Kamran Akmal, representing Naya Jeevan a not-for-profit organization facilitating micro-healthcare instruments encouraged journalists to take precautionary measures while covering incidents and briefed them about basic life support.

The Agahi initiative plans to engage the journalists from other parts of the country as well and it will build the capacity of the press clubs and its members to undertake initiatives on investigative journalism for responsible reporting in Pakistan.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY TO BE CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN

2011-08-15T05:21:00.001-07:00

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY TO BE CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN, a photo by ajjano on Flickr.

Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics to mobilize the journalism community on September 23rd, 2011

The Center for International Media Ethics - CIME, a non-profit organization with staff members operating across several continents teams up with Mishal Pakistan, a leading strategic communication social enterprise, specializing in media and communication for policy design in a bid to bring together a network of journalists and students in Pakistan to provide training, discussion and expertise in the ethics of their profession.

“The Pakistani media industry, since its deregulation in the year 2002, has expanded exponentially. While the media has come a long way, from a singular national media outlet, to a vibrant and proactive community of news channels and print media, it is still far behind in the implementation of a media ethics protocol. Special interests and above all, sensationalism continue to compromise objectivity, especially in the electronic media. Such trends can be countered, most effectively, with better training of journalists and a wider campaign to promote ethics in journalism. – said Melisande Middleton, founder of the Center for International Media Ethics

The aim of Media Ethics Day is to mobilize the journalism community and provide journalists around the world with an opportunity to discuss media ethics issues, examine case studies, and participate in role-plays and debates related to the various ethical dilemmas they might expect to face on the job.

The Center for International Media Ethics - CIME has appointed Mishal’s Director Content, Puruesh Chaudhary as its Ambassador to Pakistan on Media Ethics. “CIME and Mishal will work on indigenous platforms that will serve the journalistic community, policy-makers and students to participate and share opinions that will strengthen the understanding of ethical dilemmas facing the media industry”, said Puruesh Chaudhary, CIME Ambassador to Pakistan.

Through this partnership, both CIME and Mishal Pakistan intend to promote respect for truth, accuracy and privacy by engaging relevant stakeholders to create dialogue on ethical practices through training programmes on quality reporting that results in educating the public. The two organizations would drive the emphasis that journalists together have the power to formulate a tacit code of ethics as a status quo of their profession, which is evolved and observed, mutually by the community, the regulatory authority and relevant stakeholders.

A recent web-based survey launched by CIME, reflects on how media professionals themselves see their position at work, ethical standards of media in their country and the need for improvement of ethical standards among journalists and media professionals. A significant number of respondents from Pakistan and Bangladesh indicated that it is difficult to follow ethical rules due to lack of awareness regarding the code of ethics established by respective employers.

CIME encourages journalists to take on a proactive role in defining ethical practices through the choices and decisions made at work on a daily basis. This partnership between CIME and Mishal will urge journalists to work together to make their own judgments and identify their own strategies.

CIME has already hosted its Forum three years in a row, to provide panel discussion sessions for a group of selected journalists on the topic of ethics. This provides a framework for media professionals to share strategies on local ethical dilemmas that come up in their work. CIME hosts the annual CIME Forum in developing and emerging economies where journalists cannot normally afford ethics training, with the goal of improving the overall journalism ethics standards in each given country.

Mishal, launched in 2003, has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organizations in the region to develop their communication strategy and solutions for better understanding and creating synergies between different members of the information ecosystem. Mishal has been at the forefront of creating a knowledge-based ecosystem and is actively pursuing to improve the state of media and journalism in Pakistan.

The team behind Mishal has been developing, creating and managing media entities and content for the last 20 years at various platforms. Taking this initiative to the next level Mishal has been actively pursuing to build the capacity of the media in creating better understanding the issues in global perspective.

Mishal has undertaken the task to build the capacity of the Press Clubs and Associations in Pakistan by creating a knowledge-sharing learning platform for the media and journalists across Pakistan. The initiative will build the capacity through interactive workshops, conferences, collaborative-thinking and media and journalism awards for the professionals in the field of journalism and media.

Apply for Pakistan Fast Growth 100!

2011-06-02T02:01:00.000-07:00

Apply for Pakistan Fast Growth 100!

Are you an entrepreneur whose business is growing fast? Can you benefit from increased exposure to potential investors, business partners, customers and suppliers?

After the successful launch in January of Pakistan 25, which broke AllWorld record of highest growth of 8 countries in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, AllWorld Network andProfessor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School, are launching the first ever Pakistan 100, a ranking of the most dynamic and fast growing private companies. Hear from Pakistan 25 Winners.

Winners of Pakistan 25 recognized by Minister for Finance, Revenue,
Economic Affairs and Statistics and the US Ambassador to Pakistan

The Pakistan 100 will be published nationally and globally, giving visibility to companies and highlighting the entrepreneurial success stories in Pakistan. As a Pakistan 100 applicant, you will be automatically entered into the regional Asia 500 and the Arabia 500.

There are no costs involved, the deadline to apply is June 30, 2011.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY to the Pakistan 100.

WHAT IS IN IT FOR COMPANIES?

Differentiate your company by gaining local and international media attention.
The winners are invited to attend the AllWorld Summit at Harvard University inOctober with fast-growing companies from around the world.
The winners will be showcased and be part of the Arabia 500 and Asia 500.

QUALIFYING CRITERIA TO BE A TOP GLOBAL ENTREPRENEUR
You must be:

A private company not owned by a public company or government
Have 10 or more full-time employees in 2010.
Have a minimum 3-year operating history and revenue (USD) of at least $100,000 in 2008 and $500,000 in 2010. Smaller and younger companies can apply to be recognized as Companies to Watch.
Provide audited statements or an audit letter to confirm your company’s revenues.

If you have any questions about the program please contact: Malik Ahmad Jalal – Director of Pakistan Fast Growth 25 l 100 at ajalal@allworldlive.com or Dereje Bereta, Director of Fast Growth Rankings at dbereta@allworldlive.com.

To Learn more about our partners visit MISHAL,TiE- Islamabad,P@SHA,Ladies Fund,The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Innovation Journalism in the Muslim World

2011-05-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Prof. Anwar Nasim, Adviser Science, COMSTECH (OIC) is interviewed on video by Puruesh Chaudhary, Chief Executive at Foxtrot Consultants and Director Content Mishal Pakistan

There are quite a few countries advanced in research on biochemistry, bio-physics and genetic engineering; this research also enables these countries to develop expertise in bio-manipulations, this however calls for building awareness and pursuing consensus. In an interview with Mishal Pakistan's Director Content Puruesh Chaudhary; Dr. Anwer Nasim, Advisor to the Committee of Science and Technology of the OIC, also a founding member of the Federation of Asian Bio-technology Association explains to role of Innovation Journalism in the Muslim World.

Speaker Presentation: Puruesh Chaudhary

Puruesh Chaudhary’s passion entails creativity and inception of new ideas and enjoys working with innovative and forward thinking minds. She has over 7 years of experience in media and communications pertaining to key functional areas covering research and content development. She has been a professional broadcast news editor and has worked in leading news channels in Pakistan; both in Urdu and English where she has been designing and developing content for news, current affairs and other special assignments.

Her forte is to enable the concepts of knowledge collaboration & information sharing by developing strategic content and outreach communication techniques that have an impact on the socio-economic developmental models. She contributes on matters of energy, food security, water, national security and media’s role in covering issues impacting globalization.

Puruesh has been delivering lectures on media’s role in economic development at the World bank, Harvard University, U.S. State Department’s Special Initiative on Tech@State. Along with other platforms in Pakistan.

After a successful career in the media industry, Chaudhary identified gaps in the content being generated and its impact on the realities of the society. Puruesh Chaudhary launched a new venture in 2010, Foxtrot Consultants with the intention of building capacity of the stakeholders on different verticals that create news on daily basis. She is managing and developing content on issue-based initiatives in Pakistan, that have an economic and socio-political impact with a possibility of resulting in either internal or external conflicts.

Chaudhary’s role as the Director Content and Editor-in-Chief for Mishal, requires her to develop conceptual terms on key development indicators and functional areas that covers research and development, which facilitates monitoring and evaluation with multiple contingencies. Her objective to formulate, implement and evaluate Strategic Content and Outreach Communications is through assessing internal and external situations.

She has an indepth understanding of the social, political, economic and technological unaddressed challenges, which could be the means of enticing radicalization in the society. Chaudhary believes that if these challenges are not dealt with will potentially add more nuisances to global unrest and pose grave threats for societal co-existence in the coming years.

Prior to being a part of the “Media Development Initiative” by shaping the future of Journalism, Chaudhary was working in Samaa TV, heading the forward planning. She was responsible for generating and implementing original thoughts and concepts related to news and programming while integrating the channel’s initiatives. She enabled the channel to create content on international indicators for economic growth and sustainable development issues; bringing global perspective.

In December 2006, Chaudhary joined DawnNews as a professional broadcast journalist/editor. Her position required her to generate and edit content, create rundowns, manage packages and produce regular Live bulletins for the station.

During her short tenure at the Coca Cola Export Corporation, she was handling the corporation’s public affairs, CSR-activities and their European edition. Within the automotive industry; she worked with Porsche’s Management in setting up their Operations in Lahore and Karachi.

Puruesh Chaudhary is one of the youngest Alumnae of the National Defense University with Special Focus on National Security Policy and Media

Quiz | Say NO - UNiTE

2011-04-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

Quiz | Say NO - UNiTE

INNDEVCOM

The Press Council of Pakistan announces media capacity building initiative and media awards on Court Reporting with Mishal Pakistan under the AGAHI initiative.

What Not To Do in 2012: an open letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan by Irfan Aamir

ajjano's photostream

AGAHI to implement the Nokia-UNESCO Mobile Learning initiative for Education Development

Money Matters, The News: Population, Poverty and Pakistan

Money Matters: Understanding visibility economics

Competitiveness: Competitiveness Support Fund and World Economic Forum to develop a New Sustainable Competitiveness Framework in Pakistan

Competitiveness Support Fund and World Economic Forum to develop a New Sustainable Competitiveness Framework in Pakistan

Global Dignity and the Young Global Leaders

Global Dignity and You

Poverty and promises

Ask a Leader at the India Economic Summit: Your Link to Leadership

Canada Funds New Aid Initiatives for Pakistan Flood Victims

AGAHI: Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on...

Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on “Investigative Journalism on Anti-Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorist Organizations”

AGAHI: Peshawar Press Club and AGAHI conducts workshop on...

Mishal Pakistan and Tribal Union of Journalists to Highlight the Social Face of FATA through the AGAHI Initiative

Global Dignity Day 2011

Aid to Conflict-torn Countries can be Counterproductive - Wendy Chamberlain, Former US Ambassador to Pakistan

Aid to Conflict-torn Countries can be Counterproductive - Wendy Chamberlain, Former US Ambassador to Pakistan (2001)

More EU, Dutch Aid for Pakistani Flood Victims

More EU, Dutch Aid for Pakistani Flood Victims

a Global Disorder

President Zardari Pledges to Disaster Prevention

President Zardari Pledges to Champion Disaster Prevention

UN Officials Reiterate Call for Comprehensive Disaster Management, Say Floods in Pakistan, Other Asian Countries 'Predictable'

UN Officials Reiterate Call for Comprehensive Disaster Management, Say Floods in Pakistan, Other Asian Countries 'Predictable'

Grim Outlook for U.S. Foreign Aid

War on error: Economic development: how?

Economic development: how?

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN

KASHMIR PRESS CLUB TO COLLABORATE ON ISSUES OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE THROUGH INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM WITH AGAHI

Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY TO BE CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN

Apply for Pakistan Fast Growth 100!

Innovation Journalism in the Muslim World

Prof. Anwar Nasim, Adviser Science, COMSTECH (OIC) is interviewed on video by Puruesh Chaudhary, Chief Executive at Foxtrot Consultants and Director Content Mishal Pakistan

Speaker Presentation: Puruesh Chaudhary

Quiz | Say NO - UNiTE