Equal Citizenship

Documenting and Promoting Local Narratives of Tolerance and Inclusion in Central and South Punjab with company E – (September 2022 – August 2024)

IRC conducted 6 civic education and peacebuilding workshops with 150 participants from Lahore and Multan. 60 participants from these workshops were then selected for the 3 additional, week-long intensive workshops on advanced filmmaking, security knowledge, ethnographic understanding, and other tangible skills to build individual and community capacity. These 60 selected participants created 18 documentary films to showcase Sufi shrines and the vitality of Sufi culture as an active deterrent to extremist ideologies. Films were reflective of participants’ experiences, their local communities, the Sufi tradition in Pakistan, and interfaith harmony.

Human Rights Advocacy Using Video and Interactive Theatre – NED 2020 – 2023

The Interactive Resource Centre (IRC) has been collaborating with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) for over a decade. As part of this collaboration, the NED supports the IRC in training young people and civil society activists in community-based documentary filmmaking, citizen journalism, the use of visual arts for advocacy, and the use of interactive theatre, with a focus on the themes of civic education, equal citizenship, democracy, human rights, and gender equality. Various activities are conducted under this project, as outlined below:

Since April 2021, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has collaborated with Maati tv to produce a weekly podcast called “Out of the Box.” This show is dedicated to exploring the issues that impact and interest Pakistan’s youth.

In an effort to create a more inclusive and diverse counter narrative, we produced a series on women’s leadership that highlights female activists, politicians, and change makers in Pakistan’s history. Many of these women have not received the recognition they deserve in our national narrative, and this series aims to change that. Season 2 of this series is currently in production.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4UN4yzL1-_j0Pcsz1EOUg-huUBXLkJ32

Moreover, we have produced a number of films focused on civic engagement and voter education, media and digital literacy, and climate justice

Citizen Journalism Workshops

Digital Storytelling and Advocacy Camp (2022):

IRC conducted an 8-day training on digital content creation and interactive theatre. University students of Lahore and Karachi were selected for this workshop. We unpacked civic engagement, democracy and independent media in the workshop along with several theatrical exercises conducted by Muhammad Waseem and by the end of the workshop the participants produced 4 short films and 2 theatre pieces.

Below is the link of short films:

Climate crisis

Civic engagement

Future of democracy

Future of Media

Digital Theatre on Fundamental Human Rights (2021)

IRC produced 7 episodes of digital theatre on fundamental human rights. We engaged lawyer, activist and constitutional expert Sohail Akber Warrraich in this series where he broke down the fundamental rights mentioned in each episode and linked it to Pakistan’s constitution. The link to the playlist is given below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_udDrN0cDqM&list=PL4UN4yzL1-_hxhRUIBpycbnUF8EbKZxuL

Visual Arts and Democracy (2018): IRC organised 2 five-day workshops on visual arts as an advocacy tool to promote human rights and democracy, which was followed by a larger project involving a selected number of participants. Workshops took place in Lahore and Islamabad with 15-20 participants each. The participants painted a total of 6 murals under NED project in 2018.

Events/Campaigns

Maati Mela – 2023

On January 12th, 2023, Maati TV collaborated with the Beaconhouse school system for Maati Mela. The event focused on the themes of equal citizenship and the climate crisis. We presented a thought-provoking film on climate change and engaged the students in a meaningful conversation about this urgent matter. Additionally, a film competition was organized the winner and the runner-up, were awarded an internship at Maati TV. The event reached its climax with a theatrical performance on the theme of fundamental human rights. The performance was received with immense enthusiasm by both the students and faculty of Beaconhouse, resulting in a standing ovation.

The Second Maati Mela was held at Karachi University on the 27th and 28th of February. The event was a resounding success, with a packed house. We talked about equal citizenship, climate change, and gender equality. The audience was also presented with a screening of films that addressed pressing issues such as civic engagement, democracy, the future of media, and the climate crisis. The event’s highlight was a theatrical performance on fundamental human rights, developed in the theater workshop held prior to maati mela. The performance received a warm reception from both students and faculty of Karachi University. Dr. Asamt Ara, the Chairperson of Karachi University, praised the entire IRC/Maati TV team for organizing such an event and discussing critical issues to raise awareness. She was honored to host the event on campus.

Vasakh Documentary Film Festival – 2022

IRC organised the annual 2-day “Vasakh Documentary Film Festival” to showcase documentary films and an annual 3-day “Theater of the Oppressed Festival” to highlight the work of youth and community activists trained by IRC and engage the wider community on issues of human rights, democracy, and peace-building.

Mera Pakistan Campaign – 2018

Under the rubric of “Mera Pakistan” (My Pakistan), IRC sponsored a national-level call for short films, mobile videos, and photo essays that highlight democratic themes. In previous years, the themes were on Pakistan’s pluralistic ethnic and religious heritage, the spirit of Pakistani women, local government, and peaceful coexistence of religions. IIn 2018, the “Mera Pakistan” campaign featured videos on the theme of voter education, electoral transparency, and inclusion of marginalised groups in democratic processes.

Strengthening Democracy Campaign- CWS- 2021

The strengthening democracy campaign with its implementing partner, Church World Service (CWS) addresses issues of social and economic development and ensures meaningful participation of the minority groups in the political process. The issues faced by these communities were documented and presented to the masses through documentaries and social mediums.The goal for Maati TV was to reach 500,000 people online by the end of this campaign however, Maati TV has engaged and educated more than 950,000 people through this digital campaign, exceeding the targeted objective of the campaign.

Promoting Civic Engagement to improve Local Government Services- Dutch Embassy 2019-2020

In a 12-month project with the Dutch Embassy on promoting civic engagement to improve local government services, IRC built the capacity of 4 low-income and religiously diverse union councils in Lahore in civic engagement and community mobilisation. As a result of this project, these communities led massive advocacy campaigns on water and sanitation and were able to achieve tangible improvements in their civic amenities. A total of 20 activists were part of this campaign and a total of 16 video campaigns were produced. We also mobilised 100 young girls and boys

Promoting Civic Education and Engagement within Pakistan’s Youth through Digital Storytelling – 2019 – 2022

The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and Interactive Resource Centre (IRC) have collaborated on a project to create a virtual digital narrative to increase awareness of civic education in Pakistan, particularly among the youth. IRC has produced a series of episodes for the youth-oriented show “The Fortnightly Show” on Maati TV, covering topics such as civic engagement, mental health, and the climate crisis. Recently, IRC produced three more episodes for the new season of the show, discussing youth engagement in Pakistan’s elections, the environment and climate change, and women’s rights to inheritance and men’s engagement on the issue. The goal of this project is to increase political knowledge and discourse among Pakistani youth.

The episodes can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZfaRn6sYxk&list=PL4UN4yzL1-_hPBXNRLdSPCACbFWsuvEv_&index=1

Social Transformation through Interactive Theatre- CRS- WEPP- 2003

This initiative aimed to help the Women Empowerment and Participation Project (WEPP) partner organisations of CRS-Pakistan strengthen their community mobilisation skills through increasing critical awareness and promoting activism for positive social change at the grassroots level. The goal of the project was to enable NGO activists to use theatre skills to mobilise people (men and women) to speak out against social issues such as violence against women, early child marriages, human rights violations, gender inequality, and sectarianism. The project included theatre training workshops, the translation of material related to interactive theatre, and the development of a website. IRC trained three NGO theatre groups with a total of 31 members.

Support to Electoral Process- EU Delegation- DHRP- 2002

In close collaboration with the EU delegation in Pakistan this project aimed to re-establish people’s confidence in the democratic process and to increase people’s participation in the general election. Training sessions, seminars, forums, dialogues, and theatre performances and face to face activities were conducted in the rural areas of four provinces.

Democratic Rights and Citizen’s Education Program (Phase II)- 2002

The main objectives of the Interactive Theatre Component of the DRCEP program were to promote more meaningful communication or dialogue, demystify complex issues by using theatre for their presentation, and promote democratic principles of tolerance of dissent. The IRC engaged 3 theatre groups who performed in 19 districts.

Democratic Rights and Citizen’s Education Program (Phase I)- People’s Assemblies on the Devolution of Power- 2000-2001

During the period of December 2000 to august 2001, IRC organised twelve theatre training and two follow up workshops. The training workshops involved partner organisation groups. Trainees were exposed to confidence building, inhibition breaking , voice movement, and character projection techniques. Themes were the caste system, and the detrimental influence of saints, and other underlying prejudices and biases that hinder an enabling environment for marginalised candidates, and the political empowerment of the masses.