Tabdeeli Awam Sey (People-Driven Change) A series of 8 Capital TV talk shows

The Foundation with a team of media experts produced an 8-episode series of talk shows: Tabdeeli Awam Se (People-Driven Change) which were telecast on Capital TV. These shows helped discuss various aspects and experiences from the Foundation’s project: Citizen Engagement for Responsive & Accountability Governance (2017-20) funded by the EU. The programmes covered topics like pro-poor planning, people’s priorities, democracy beyond elections, and citizen-state interaction through mechanisms like khuli kutcheries.

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Inputs into 11 TV shows

CERAG experiences on social accountability shared on Hum TV's popular morning show Subh Say Aagay. Live telecast on 28 August 11:15 am, repeat telecast on Saturday 29 August at 4 pm and Sunday 30 August at 6 pm. Similar appearances were made in 11 more TV shows including: Rising Pakistan, morning show hosted by Mr. Tauseeq Haider on PTV, Do Raaye, talk show hosted by Mr. Asad Rahim Khan on Dawn News, and, Geo Parliament,…

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State of the Rights of the Differently-Abled in KP: Aawaz-II Provincial Consultation & Launch of Aawaz-II’s Digital App: Equal Access

To commemorate the International Day of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Aawaz II organised a provincial consultation on the State of the Rights of the Differently-Abled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The event highlighted issues faced by the Differently-Abled and also provided opportunities to relevant government representatives to share information on steps taken for promoting the rights and welfare of citizens who are differently-abled. At the event, Aawaz II’s Digital App: Equal Access was also launched. This mobile application is a platform…

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A series of three webinars hosted by Syed Talat Hussain

The webinars were organized around the core theme of making people, budgets and grassroots issues the center of public and policy debate. Special flaps were created and webinars were duly publicized on social media platforms. This generated tremendous interest and feedback. Again this created a new niche in social media work because most of these webinars are either theoretical discussions or too divorced from serious issues. These webinars used CERAG data and integrated them into…

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Sanjhi Koshish, Sanjhi Taraqi (collective efforts for collective development) | 15 Radio Programmes & 11 Public Service Messages

With technical expertise of Uks Research Centre, the Foundation produced and broadcast 15 radio programmes projecting good practices in budget transparency and social accountability from its project: Citizen Engagement for Responsive & Accountable Governance (2017-20), funded by the EU.  The programmes had a nationwide outreach: aired on 14 FM-101 stations of Abbottabad, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Peshawar, D. I. Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Quetta (Balochistan), Karachi, Hyderabad (Sindh), Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, (Punjab), Gilgit and Islamabad.  “With the…

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Meeting with KP ACS in Peshawar: Budget Analysis & Social Accountability [P&DD Committee Room]

The Foundation presented its budget analysis and social accountability actions at a meeting chaired by KP’s Additional Chief Secretary, Mr. Shakeel Qadir Khan. Senior officers of the P&D, representatives of the SNG-II Programme, Mr. Ismail Khan, Editor-DAWN and the Foundation staff attended the meeting. The ACS was very appreciative of the Foundation’s data and analysis. He commented that the information generated by the budget analysis is relevant and timely. The social accountability experiences are also…

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Meeting with Mr. Ismail Khan, Editor, DAWN, Peshawar

The Foundation maintains consistent contact with Mr. Ismail Khan, a senior journalist and Editor-DAWN in Peshawar. He is particularly interested in the Foundation’s budget analysis, showing distribution of development funds to districts. Mr. Khan participated in the meeting with the ACS and senior officials of the P&DD in Peshawar on 22 December 2020. Discussing chronically poor districts, he pointed out that some fail to get development benefits despite strong political representation.

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Communicating the Foundation’s Budget Analysis A series of 30 texts

Key messages from the Foundation’s analysis of public budgets were communicated through a series of 30 texts developed in Urdu and English. They were sent to more than 3,000 recipients including CSO partners, government officials, public representatives, journalists, academics, activists, donors, etc., in KP and across Pakistan. The Foundation’s texts were widely appreciated. They were referred as an effective source of public information in an online training on citizen engagement organized by the Sub-National Governance Programme, which in its second phase continues to assist…

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Understanding local government in KP

Lahore/Islamabad Ten activists from Abbottabad, Haripur, Mardan, Nowshera and Peshawar along with two Foundation staff attended a training of trainers on KP’s LG system, role, structure & budget on 5-6 November 2020 in Lahore. Subsequently, on 21 November 2020, planning to share information and understanding in local communities was completed in Islamabad. Trained activists held community-level meetings in November-December 2020 so that people become more familiar with KP’s local government system.

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Meeting with the Deputy Chair-Planning Commission in Islamabad

The Foundation’s budget analysis and social accountability work was shared with Mr. Jehanzeb Khan, Deputy Chair-Planning Commission in a meeting held at his office in Islamabad. Mr. Khan showed great interest in the proposed PFC for KP and shared information on the Planning Commission’s efforts on this with provinces. The Punjab PFC was discussed, work on which was led by Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha (former Punjab Minister of Finance). It was agreed that creative thinking…

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Meeting held in Islamabad with Mr. Murtaza Solangi, Naya Dour (digital platform)

The Foundation’s experiences in budget analysis and social accountability were discussed with Mr. Murtaza Solangi. He took keen interest in them, particularly citizen efforts for improving services like education, health, etc. Mr. Solangi explained that Naya Daur will focus on public interest news. He shared that Naya Daur is keen to collaborate with organizations like the Foundation and would like to sign an MOU.

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Meeting with Mr. Salman Masood in Islamabad, journalist

Mr. Salman Masood, a well-respected journalist, who writes for the New York Times & is the Editor of The Nation was introduced to the Foundation’s budget analysis and social accountability work. He was showed interest in innovations and outreach of the Foundation’s work. Current stories from Swat were compared with those that dominated headlines earlier. Local government, its pros and cons, and its importance in increasing citizen engagement in governance was also reviewed.

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Meeting held in Islamabad with Mr. Mohyuddin Ahmed Wani, Additional Secy, Education

The Foundation’s work on social accountability and its potential in improving the delivery of quality education was discussed with Mr. Mohyuddin Ahmed Wani, Additional Secretary, Education at a meeting in his office in Islamabad on 8 December 2020. Mr. Wani was interested in the social accountability experiences, though it was agreed that citizen involvement, especially in poor areas, often focuses on material issues and not on quality of education. Mr. Wani requested for a brief…

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Meeting with Mr. Fahad Hussain in Islamabad, Editor, Dawn

The Foundation’s budget analysis and social accountability experiences were shared with Mr. Fahad Hussain, Editor, Dawn, at a meeting held on 7 December 2020 in Islamabad. Fahad showed great interest in the Foundation’s work. On the need for greater media attention to increase public debate on institutionalizing social accountability and promoting better planning and PFM, he advised that newspapers look for stories/reports that are current, valid and of public interest.

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Pyaas, a Drama (Long Play)

Stories and characters from the Foundation’s Cerag project (2017-20) were woven to create the script of a drama, Pyaas, which was telecast on ATV. It showed a poor rural family being torn apart due to lack of clean drinking water. The younger of the two brothers and his wife led community action to demand the repair of the local drinking water scheme, which was approved by the local councilor due to its broad-based public backing.…

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