Mishal Partners with NUML on Creating New Media Vocabulary on Eliminating Hidden Hunger

Mishal Partners with NUML on Creating New
Vocabulary on Eliminating Hidden Hunger.

Islamabad, PK – 7 September, 2016 - Mishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum and the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) announced partnership to create new media vocabulary to bring Hidden Hunger into public debate.

An estimated 2 billion people — over 30 percent of the world’s population suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals. “Hidden hunger” is how health experts often refer to micronutrient deficiencies because most people affected do not show the visible physical symptoms and hence may not be aware of their condition.

Pakistan has an alarmingly high level of malnutrition; 24 percent of the population in Pakistan is undernourished. The most recent estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) state that 37.5 million people in Pakistan are not receiving proper nourishment. The issue is complex and widespread, with deficiencies ranging from protein to iodine, along with other health problems due to insufficient intake of these essential nutrients.

Prof. Karamat Ali, Director ORIC NUML said, “the consequences of hidden hunger can be devastating for the future human security of the country, leading to mental impairment, poor health, low productivity and in severe cases, death. This is an important initiative, which requires all stakeholders to work together for a more secure and prosperous nation.

“Even mild to moderate deficiencies can affect a person’s well-being and development. Hidden hunger disproportionately affects infants, young children and women, preventing them from achieving their full potential in life. Unfortunately, there is not enough data available on how media is taking up this issue in Pakistan. This initiative will create new knowledge and data-sets for future media research and interventions in Pakistan, said Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan.

The joint research and media development initiatives will build the capacity of thousands of journalists and media professionals across Pakistan in the coming years. Under the Creating Shared Values initiatives, Mishal is now establishing a new partnership with various stakeholders to create and strengthen Pakistan’s national dialogue on Hidden Hunger. Mishal is working closely with the leading research and academic institutions to develop interventions to improve the human capital and industry standards through knowledge-based initiatives on hidden hunger, while providing policy guidelines to the public sector leadership.

Mishal has also earlier announced that to mainstream the concept of micronutrient deficiencies, the “AGAHI Awards 2016 will have special category on Eliminating Hidden Hunger.

This initiative is part of a memorandum of understanding signed between NUML through its Office for Research, Innovation and Commercialization and Mishal Pakistan earlier in March 2016. Part of the initiative is to build stakeholders capacity to understand and create fact-based and data-supported debate in to media discourse.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, making sure all people – especially children and the more vulnerable – have access to sufficient and nutritious food all year round. This involves promoting sustainable agricultural practices: improving the livelihoods and capacities of small scale famers, allowing equal access to land, technology and markets. It also requires international cooperation to ensure investment in infrastructure and technology to improve agricultural productivity. Zero Hunger is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Established in 2003, Mishal has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organizations, including media enterprises and global development agencies helping them develop their communication strategies and solutions for better understanding and creating synergies with their concerned stakeholders. Mishal is the country partner institute of the Center for Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum. Mishal’s research and capacity building initiatives have assisted and helped successive governments to improve Pakistan’s global ranking on competitiveness, gender gap, trade and information technology indices.

The National University of Modern Languages was established as an institute in 1970 to help people communicate and understand each other in different oriental and occidental languages, to assimilate different cultures and to act as springboard for emerging disciplines. Initially, the institute provided language training facilities to personnel of armed forces and other government services of Pakistan. It was upgraded to University on May 29, 2000. In achieving this benchmark of a fully autonomous University, it has crossed many barriers and achieved a status of a seat of learning contributing new knowledge in local and global perspective and now teaches 27 oriental and occidental languages in addition to a number of emerging disciplines. Now, the University has a vibrant and well-grounded research program, offering MS/MPhil and PhD research degrees in various disciplines.

The Office for Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) at NUML has been established to initiate, embed, support and integrate the process of research, innovation and commercialization in every department of the university. ORIC aims to protect and promote the interests of NUML and is working on long-term, sustainable planning and progress of all of its units in integration with the departments of the university.

Mishal Partners with NUML on Creating New Media Vocabulary on Eliminating Hidden Hunger

Mishal Partners with NUML on Creating New
Vocabulary on Eliminating Hidden Hunger.

Islamabad, PK – 7 September, 2016 - Mishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum and the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) announced partnership to create new media vocabulary to bring Hidden Hunger into public debate.

An estimated 2 billion people — over 30 percent of the world’s population suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals. “Hidden hunger” is how health experts often refer to micronutrient deficiencies because most people affected do not show the visible physical symptoms and hence may not be aware of their condition.

Pakistan has an alarmingly high level of malnutrition; 24 percent of the population in Pakistan is undernourished. The most recent estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) state that 37.5 million people in Pakistan are not receiving proper nourishment. The issue is complex and widespread, with deficiencies ranging from protein to iodine, along with other health problems due to insufficient intake of these essential nutrients.

Prof. Karamat Ali, Director ORIC NUML said, “the consequences of hidden hunger can be devastating for the future human security of the country, leading to mental impairment, poor health, low productivity and in severe cases, death. This is an important initiative, which requires all stakeholders to work together for a more secure and prosperous nation.

“Even mild to moderate deficiencies can affect a person’s well-being and development. Hidden hunger disproportionately affects infants, young children and women, preventing them from achieving their full potential in life. Unfortunately, there is not enough data available on how media is taking up this issue in Pakistan. This initiative will create new knowledge and data-sets for future media research and interventions in Pakistan, said Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan.

The joint research and media development initiatives will build the capacity of thousands of journalists and media professionals across Pakistan in the coming years. Under the Creating Shared Values initiatives, Mishal is now establishing a new partnership with various stakeholders to create and strengthen Pakistan’s national dialogue on Hidden Hunger. Mishal is working closely with the leading research and academic institutions to develop interventions to improve the human capital and industry standards through knowledge-based initiatives on hidden hunger, while providing policy guidelines to the public sector leadership.

Mishal has also earlier announced that to mainstream the concept of micronutrient deficiencies, the “AGAHI Awards 2016 will have special category on Eliminating Hidden Hunger.

This initiative is part of a memorandum of understanding signed between NUML through its Office for Research, Innovation and Commercialization and Mishal Pakistan earlier in March 2016. Part of the initiative is to build stakeholders capacity to understand and create fact-based and data-supported debate in to media discourse.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, making sure all people – especially children and the more vulnerable – have access to sufficient and nutritious food all year round. This involves promoting sustainable agricultural practices: improving the livelihoods and capacities of small scale famers, allowing equal access to land, technology and markets. It also requires international cooperation to ensure investment in infrastructure and technology to improve agricultural productivity. Zero Hunger is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Established in 2003, Mishal has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organizations, including media enterprises and global development agencies helping them develop their communication strategies and solutions for better understanding and creating synergies with their concerned stakeholders. Mishal is the country partner institute of the Center for Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum. Mishal’s research and capacity building initiatives have assisted and helped successive governments to improve Pakistan’s global ranking on competitiveness, gender gap, trade and information technology indices.

The National University of Modern Languages was established as an institute in 1970 to help people communicate and understand each other in different oriental and occidental languages, to assimilate different cultures and to act as springboard for emerging disciplines. Initially, the institute provided language training facilities to personnel of armed forces and other government services of Pakistan. It was upgraded to University on May 29, 2000. In achieving this benchmark of a fully autonomous University, it has crossed many barriers and achieved a status of a seat of learning contributing new knowledge in local and global perspective and now teaches 27 oriental and occidental languages in addition to a number of emerging disciplines. Now, the University has a vibrant and well-grounded research program, offering MS/MPhil and PhD research degrees in various disciplines.

The Office for Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) at NUML has been established to initiate, embed, support and integrate the process of research, innovation and commercialization in every department of the university. ORIC aims to protect and promote the interests of NUML and is working on long-term, sustainable planning and progress of all of its units in integration with the departments of the university.

DisruptEd the Way Forward for a Prosperous Pakistan

#DisruptED the Way Forward for a Prosperous Pakistan

Challenging the current ways through which the state is addressing the education emergency in the country, DisruptEd – ideas and conversations for disruptive innovation in Pakistan, organised by Alif Ailaan outlined the need for new approaches to fix the broken system. Despite 25 million children being out of school, the country has not been successful in marshaling its resources for reform or change, nor does the state or society or the polity treat education like the crisis or emergency that we claim it is.

Speaking at the closing session, Ahasan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Government of Pakistan at the DisruptEd in Islamabad today said, ours is a society characters by great disparities in income, education and opportunity. Nearly half of our country’s children are not in schools and getting them there is a herculean challenge. He further said, the role of technology and innovation in such a scenario is imperative to the way we deliver education not only to children but also to the society as a whole.  

25 million children in Pakistan remains out of school across Pakistan, of those 25 million, about six million have never, ever seen the inside of a classroom. The rest have enrolled at one point or another, only to drop out, most likely within the first three years of enrolling at the age of five. An out of school Pakistani child is more likely to be a girl than an enrolled Pakistani child, with over 15 million of the 25 million out of school kids being girls.

On the quality of education, the government data doesn’t capture quality, at any level, in any province. Our entire conception of education quality is based on the Annual Status of Education Report survey (ASER), a civil society initiative. ASER tells us that of the kids in school, only 50% at the Class 5 level can read a Class 2 level passage in Urdu or their native language (for rural Pakistan, this number increases to 55% for urban Pakistan). 

Based on the theme of disruptive innovation in education, the event highlighted that new avenues to deal with education problem must be explored and implemented to change how the crisis is perceived and addressed by the state and other stakeholders.

The one-day DisruptEd – Ideas and Conversations for Innovation in Education, a daylong multi-sessions initiative brought together leading thinkers, policy makers, civil society concerns and media professionals to discuss and debate the potential of innovation in the education sector.

Mosharaf Zaidi, Director Campaign of Alif Ailaan in his speech said, “without a ‘disruption’ to the way things are, a fundamental change that alters the very basics, there is little chance of Pakistan being able to deal with the Education crisis. None of the major problems in education low enrolment rates, poor quality, lack of accountability and the total absence of a robust discourse can be solved without bold new approach.” We need to stimulate thinking in the public, private and non-profit sectors about solutions to these problems, he added.

Pakistan faces a national education emergency but stories related to education rarely make it to the front page of newspapers or appear in prime-time slots on television. Alif Ailaan’s mission is to put the subject of education at the front and centre of public discourse in Pakistan.

The Oscar award-winning director, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy in her session highlighted the art of story telling on innovation and Disrupted education, she said immersed in an information-driven culture, innovators too must learn to tell a compelling story. 

There are many who claim that Internet bandwidth and capacity are barriers to the use of technology for improving access to education and enriching the learning experience. Others insist that content is king and that educational materials must be developed before or along with the bandwidth to deliver it. But content developers have failed so far to fully exploit the potential of 2G technology. Technology innovation can be the catalyst for change and the disruptive factor for improving the service delivery on education.

Mr. Asad Umar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s member of the national assembly of Pakistan while talking on public private partnership said that there are serious issues in terms of capacity of state and misplaced priorities of governments. One schooling system policy should be adopted to remove discriminations in education systems.

Marvi Memon, MNA of Pakistan Muslim League (N) shared her views with participants about the status of education at the grass-root level in in Sindh, she said. “Education is our prime objective, however there are a lot other issues like syllabus, teachers capacity, ghost schools and political interference, which needs to be addresses by making legislators accountable to the peoples.

Associate Professor of Lahore University of Management Sciences, Dr. Faisal Bari shared his views about the regulatory framework, he said we have made frameworks and regulations on education but the core issue remains financing free and compulsory education by the state. He said the state and society are not thinking, where we can have money to ensure quality of education.

Kasim Kasuri, Young Global Leader of World Economic Forum and CEO of Beacon House School Systems said that there are many challenges and hurdles for private sector to work in the education sector and no meaningful recommendations have been incorporated while preparing any laws to govern this sector.

A general consensus from various sessions was gathered on the need for a universal education system in the country, where the private sector can bring in the efficiencies through innovation in management, the public sector with its infrastructure and the civil society organization with their civic engagements can improve the current state of education in the country. However the critical factor remains the need for legislators to allocate more attention to education in terms of both governance and allocation of funds.

Alif Ailaan was founded to bring together and empower all those Pakistanis who want to respond to the country’s education emergency, and equip our children to succeed for themselves and for Pakistan.

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

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

The Asian Development Bank is due to approve a USD500 million budgetary support to Pakistan

The Asian Development Bank is due to approve a USD500 million budgetary support to Pakistan. According to The Express Tribune, the bank’s executive board will vote on Pakistan’s request Aug. 27.

The ADB funding forms part of the Accelerated Economic Transformation Program, approved in September 2008.

Pakistan's economy has been seriously affected by the skyrocketing international prices of oil and food. The severity of the exogenous shocks, aggravated by the uncertainties surrounding the recent political transition, has been felt on several fronts over the last fiscal year (June 2007-July 2008): the year-on-year overall domestic inflation reaching 24% from 7%; deterioration in the external accounts with current account deficit widening to 8.5% of GDP from 4.8%; depreciation of the Pakistani rupee (PRs) by 22%; foreign exchange reserves declining by more than 40% to $6 billion (about 1.5 months of imports); and unprecedented fuel, food and electricity subsidy needs, which rose four-fold to PRs408 billion ($6 billion) from their original budgeted level. Symptomatic of the declining investor confidence, the Karachi stock index dropped by more than 35% during April-July 2008, and the spreads on sovereign debt have surpassed 1,100 basis points at end-August 2008 from less than 200 basis points in early 2007. The outcome of all this has been a decline in real gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 5.8% from 7% during the previous year.

These challenges facing Pakistan have come despite steady real GDP growth of 7.3% on average per year during FY2004-FY2007. But they have also come in the context of, as well as due to, persistent fiscal, trade and investment imbalances and lack of any significant structural changes in the economy.

Pakistan now needs to transform itself in three directions:

First, it has to address the immediate distortions facing the economy, particularly in the agriculture and energy sectors. The pricing and procurement system for wheat needs to be restructured, and subsidies better targeted to benefit the poor and vulnerable. Untargeted wheat subsidies cost the Government PRs40 billion ($600 million) in fiscal year (FY) 2008. In the electricity sector, Pakistan doest not yet have an automatic tariff adjustment mechanism. The Government needs to reform the subsidy system in the sector, since it has not been able to settle the payments owed to distribution companies, which has resulted in a vicious circular debt problem and debt overhang. This needs to be addressed urgently to resolve the present energy crisis. Electricity subsidies are estimated to have cost PRs133 billion in FY2008 ($2 billion). In addition to these subsidy needs, an estimated $1.6 billion is required to partially protect the poor.

Second, Pakistan needs to strengthen financial intermediation to facilitate structural transformation. At the macro level, the Government has relied heavily on the central bank for its fiscal requirements, a practice that needs to be reversed. In parallel, the legal and regulatory framework should be strengthened to manage risks more effectively in the financial sector, promote consumer confidence, and deepen financial intermediation. 

Third, over the medium to long term, the production and trade structure of the economy needs to be transformed so Pakistan can compete more effectively in the global economy. A deeper industrial base is vital, along with a more productive agricultural sector, greater value creation in the service sector, and far greater export sophistication. To achieve this, the Government has to (i) address short-term policy and institutional distortions, (ii) identify industries where it might compete on a global scale, and (iii) attract private sector investments.

ADB has worked in the past with Pakistan alongside other development partners to support reforms and investments in all three directions. The challenges now facing the country are diverse and significant that immediate assistance is needed to address the short term constraints and to provide safety nets for the poor, while paving way for boosting Pakistan's competitiveness.

ADB was scheduled to approve the budgetary support in May 2010 but deferred the decision due to the Pakistani government’s failure to provide a comprehensive financing plan to rid the inter-corporate debt of state-run companies.

Mishal and STEP to work together on overcoming post disaster disabilities through education and economic empowerment in Pakistan.

Muhammad Atif Sheikh, President Special talent Exchange Programme for the Disabled (STEP) and Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Private Limited, at the MoU Signing Ceremony in Islamabad, Pakistan

The Special Talent Exchange Programme (STEP), the leading non-for-profit organization working on promoting disability issues in Pakistan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding today with Mishal Private Limited, the leading media capacity building institution in Pakistan. Both parties have agreed that they will jointly work for the empowerment and mainstreaming of disabled people in the society.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer, Mishal said that it is extremely important that the media is sensitized on the issues of disabilities, especially when Pakistan is fighting its war on terror. Pakistan is increasing its numbers of disabled persons on a daily basis, as we get casualties due to the terrorism acts and it is extremely important that we bring these people into mainstream through education and economic empowerment.

Mishal has brought together the leading Press Clubs and Journalist’s Associations on a common platform to build the capacity of the media to report on different verticals.

Jahangir also shared that Mishal in collaboration with various institutions will create more awareness and will produce specialized programs on talented disabled youth in Pakistan.

Amir Jahangir said that Mishal Pakistan is working on creating initiatives on inspiring a new generation for developing global citizens of the 21st century. He said that the initiative will create better understanding on what does global citizenship mean, and how can individuals, particularly youth can become responsible global citizens? What the can do youth in the community and country as global citizens?

Jahangir also said that at any age, encouraging and supporting responsible global citizenship improves multiple sectors of our societies, both social and economic. However, the large youth population found in many countries draws particular attention to the challenge of giving these youth the skills, tools or systems they may need to successfully participate as citizens, he said.

Currently, there are approximately 1.77 billion youth in a world that’s more closely connected than ever before. Youth aged 10-24 represent 30% or more of the population of many developing countries, and people under 20 years of age make up about 25% of the US population as compared to 80% in Pakistan.

Mr. Muhammad Atif Sheikh, President of STEP appreciating the efforts of Mishal Pakistan said that “a disabled person becomes more disabled when the society denies him or her, the right to participate by not providing access to the community services and establishments, he also said that media can play a vital role in mainstreaming of persons with disabilities in society”.


The MoU envisages the skill development trainings of disabled persons to improve their livelihood opportunities. Mishal through its platform will engage media entities to produce documentaries, debate programs on post disaster disabilities and carry out more awareness initiatives through multiple platforms.

Both Mishal and STEP will also work on creating research opportunities on post disaster disability and media integration through education as well. Both the organizations will also be creating more awareness on understanding rights, increasing citizen’s participation and expanding accountability. This will include workshops on how do individuals in Pakistan view their rights, roles, and responsibilities as a citizen, what are the barriers citizens face to active participation and how the media views Pakistan’s political and civil engagement and what tools would increase citizen participation in Pakistan? Initiatives on the issues concerning, citizens’ need to support their goals and aspirations and what roles citizens can play in accountability of public funds will also be highlighted.

Mishal has also identified the 10 of the greatest challenges facing the world. Identified by the Global Pulse 2010 initiative of the United States Agency for International Development, which gives a clear outlook for the areas where media needs to concentrate.

Unfortunately the capacity of the media in Pakistan is limited by its exposure to international development initiatives and lack of trainings in the media sector to address the challenges in the right perspective. Mishal has also identified the 10 greatest challenges to be the basic outline for media capacity building and to identify the best journalists and media professionals in Pakistan, who not only understands the issues but also can inspire others in the industry to set benchmarks for creating more public focus on the issues.

Mishal Pakistan was launched in 2003, as the leading media research and capacity building organization. Mishal is working on building media’s capacity to report on issues impacting the society on economic opportunities and empowerment, health and survival, education and political awareness.

Honoured as the Young Global Leader for 2010 by the World Economic Forum for his work on initiatives to improve the state of media and to integrate it with the development issues concerning Pakistan, Amir Jahangir, joined Mishal Pakistan as the CEO in April this year. The Festival of Media, Valencia ranked him among the top 10 media personalities in the world for his work on making media companies more relevant to sustainability issues.

Jahangir is also the Program Advisor to the Stanford Center of Innovation and Communication at the Stanford University, on Journalism and Media in Pakistan.