Qualifications
M.Sc (Social Anthropology) at the Department of Anthropology , UCL, University of London, some courses taken at the School of Oriental and African Studies
MA in English literature at the Department of English , B Z University Multan..
Experience
Current Position: Development Consultant
As a free-lance development consultant, I am providing consultancy services to some leading national and international development sector organizations. My current clients include Save the Children (UK) and Asia Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists. I am also the lead author of the State of the Parliament Report, the first report of its kind in the country, being prepared by the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) and the International Federation of Electoral Systems.
Project Director, Supporting Democratic Development in Pakistan (SDDP), 2003-2004
· The Network is Pakistan’s largest consumer protection organization and a leading civil society NGO. It undertook Supporting Democratic Development in Pakistan (SDDP) project, with support from The Asia Foundation and the USAID. Under the SDDP project, The Network carried out research and publication of 14 high quality issue papers in a reader-friendly format and organized a number of seminars and workshops.
Pogramme Officer, Research and Communication, Trust for Voluntary Organizations (TVO), 2001-2003
· TVO is Pakistan’s largest indigenous donor organization. As Programme Officer (R&C), I was responsible for implementing and supervising research and communication initiatives at the organization.
Senior Correspondent, Herald, Dawn Group of Newspapers, 1994-2000
· As monthly Herald correspondent based in Lahore, wrote investigative reports, comments and cover stories on political and social issues of national significance. Development was one of my main interests and I wrote extensively on issues of labour, environment, health, child rights and gender.
Freelance Journalist, 1991-1993
· As a freelance journalist based in Multan, contributed features, news reports and comments to some of country’s leading publications including The Friday Times, The News, The Frontier Post and Herald.
Other Professional Undertakings
- Consultant , Save the Children, UK
- Consultant, The World Conservation Union (IUCN)
- Consultant, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
- Consultant, Sungi Development Organization
- Taught Development Communication at the Greenwich University, Islamabad
- Supervised Master’s dissertations of Communication Department, Fatima Jinnah University, Rawalpindi
- Served as a resource person in a number of national and international seminars and workshops
Publications
- The Unholy War: Religious Militancy and Sectarianism in Pakistan, The Network Publications, 2004
- The Silent Revolution, World Conservation Union (IUCN), 2004
- Green and Growing, World Conservation Union (IUCN), 2004
- More than two hundred newspaper and magazine articles on political, social and development issues
Honours and Awards
Member International Advisory, Freskorpset, Norway
Chairperson, Pakistan Forum of Environmental Journalists (FEJP), 1997-2000
International Green Pen Award 99, awarded for excellence in development journalism by Asia Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists and Commonwealth Environmental Journalists Association (CEJA) at the 11th Congress of AFEJ and 2nd Congress of CEJA at Comilla, Bangladesh
Chevening Award in 1999 provided me with the opportunity to undertake post-graduate studies in Social Anthropology in the United Kingdom
Declared Best Debater of the College at Government College, Multan
Role of Honour from Government College, Multan
Chief Editor of the University Magazine at BZ University, Multan
Overview of Development and Communication Experience
Journalism/Media Advocacy
· Started my journalistic career as a freelance journalist in 1992, joining monthly Herald, a publication of The Dawn Group two years later. Contributed more than two hundred reports, comment articles, special reports and cover stories. As a journalist, specialized in development journalism and was twice elected Chair of the Forum of Environmental Journalists, Pakistan as well as Assistant Secretary General of Asia Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists. This position enabled me to work closely with the national and regional development organizations and media associations. I developed my expertise in media advocacy and worked to bridge the distance between media and development communities.
· Helped a number of development organizations carry out their media advocacy plans. These organizations include IUCN, WWF and Sungi Foundation.
· Between 1996 and 1999, worked closely with IUCN head office in carrying out a number of media related activities.
· In 1999, alongside Communication Director of the WWF, organized countrywide film festival aimed at sensitizing people on the issues of environment.
· In 2001, helped Sungi carry out its media advocacy plan and prepared press kits on a number of advocacy initiatives of the Sungi Foundation.
South-South Exchange Porgramme
· I was part of APFEJ team that prepared the proposal and negotiated with the Freskorpset, Norway for an Asia-wide programme of exchange of media professionals. Later I also supervised exchange of two media professionals between Pakistan and Nepal. Pursuant to this involvement, I was put on the international advisory of Freskorpset and was invited to the International Advisory meeting of the organization in Oslo in August, 2004.
Preparation of Advocacy Products
Print Publications
· At TVO, a series of illustrated, easy to understand publications, both in Urdu and English, were produced, designed, printed and circulated under my supervision. The publications, aimed at health education, were based on need assessment carried out with involvement of partner Community Based Organizations. (CBOs).
· As Project Director SDDP at The Network for Consumer Protection, supervised preparation of scripts, editing, pre-print processing and printing of 14 high quality publications.
Videos
· At the Trust for Voluntary Organization, supervised preparation of two sets of videos.
One set was aimed at health education of common rural people who have no access to print health education material. TVO uses these videos for its health education programme.
· The other set of videos, documented successes of five EC funded projects which were identified as innovative. Supervised preparation of the script, shooting on location and finalization of these videos.
Radio Programmes
· As part of SDDP project, The Network started a weekly radio programme called People’s Power under my supervision. The progamme aired on FM99, an Islamabad based radio channel, has continued even after the end of the project period. Distinguished experts, and members from the civil society are invited to participate in these live tele-interactive programmes, while listeners are invited to express their views and pose questions to the panelists. The programme has gained such popularity with the listeners that radio station has re-broadcast a number of progrmmes to cater to the public demand.
Preparation of Communication Strategy
Save the Children UK, Sudhar-ITA Alliance
· In 2004, prepared the Communication Strategy for Sudhaar-ITA Alliance for the project Addressing Child Labour through Quality Education for All (ACL- QEFA). The project is funded by US Department of Labour and Save the Children (UK). The exercise involved extensive participatory research for situation analysis, development of communication strategy and the management plan. I am also advising the alliance on implementation of the communication strategy.
Documentation
TVO’s Ten Year Report
· Prepared the Ten Year Report of the organization that looks at the achievements made by the organization during the first decade of its existence.
US-DOL Project, Save the Children, UK
· Documented and reviewed progress against macro-outputs of SCF-UK’s project Addressing Child Labour through Quality Education for All (ACL-QEFA) funded by US Department of Labour and implemented by Sudhar-ITA Alliance. The exercise was carried out to prepare for the mid-term review of the project.
Impact Assessment
· Conducted eight impact assessment case studies of environmental rehabilitation projects carried out by IUCN with support from European Union under ERNP (Environmental Rehabilitation in NWFP and Punjab) Programme. The studies were based on participatory research and apart from other things looked at the projects’ achievements in community mobilization and participatory communication. The IUCN printed the studies as two separate publications, Silent Revolution and Green and Growing.
Academic Engagement
Preparation of Syllabus and Teaching
· Prepared the syllabus for a course in Development Communication for M.A. in Development Studies at he Greenwich University, Islamabad Campus and taught the course for two years at the University.
Supervision of Communication Research
· Serving as External Supervisor to post-graduate students of Communication Department at the Fatima Jinnah Women University. So far guided and supervised seven Master’s dissertations of these students with diverse research interests.