SFCG Pakistan

In 2007, Search for Common Ground began working in Pakistan through its Urdu edition of the Common Ground News Service. This edition of the news service distributes five constructive Urdu articles to newspapers and online outlets each week. To date we have had more than 420 reprints in Urdu outlets in addition to many more in English and more than 800 subscribers to the Common Ground Urdu News Service. In addition to this, 20 Pakistani civil society practitioners and journalists from the electronic and print media have been brought together to develop techniques on covering Muslim-Western issues and topics relating to conflict resolution. This resulted in TV and radio hosts changing their talk shows towards more constructive formats, away from inflammatory rhetoric and point-scoring.

In October 2009 SFCG conducted a Religious Writers' Workshop which brought together writers from five Muslim sects of Pakistan. Contributors to religious newsletters were invited to attend the workshop with the objective to encourage self-reflection around the issues they cover. The workshop also provided training on journalistic ethics and writing skills, while encouraging the development of a network amongst thought-leaders from different Muslim groups by convening them around a common goal.

2010 marks the establishment of a formal office and SFCG operations in Pakistan.

Projects

Radio for Peacebuilding (R4PB)

SFCG is helping to develop the skills of radio broadcasters from almost 50 per cent of FM radio stations across Pakistan (a total of 60 radio producers) to facilitate constructive and culturally sensitive dialogue on critical issues facing the country. The project will result in programming – 120 radio talk-show episodes – that tackles critical issues that are essential for moving the country forward in a constructive, problem-solving way. The project builds on our extensive expertise in radio for peacebuilding across Africa and in nearby Nepal. Continuous, long-term broadcasting is essential to create positive effects on Pakistani society. The project timeline is two years: the first year will have two phases, the first being training of radio producers and journalists and providing them with conflict resolution skills to incorporate in future radio shows. In the second phase, SFCG plans to work with local radio production houses in Pakistan to advise them on producing talk shows based on the template created within the same year.

The Team

Entertaining dramatic shows can be very effective in addressing sensitive issues as they tap into viewers' emotions directly. SFCG will produce a Cricket-based TV and radio soap opera series having 104-episodes with positive social messages that tell the fictionalized stories of youth from different political, ethnic and religious groups playing on the same cricket team. The scripts are penned by a creative team of Pakistanis who reflect the diversity of their country. The metaphor is simple: if cricket players do not cooperate – whatever their background – they will not score runs. A national outreach campaign to capitalize on these soap operas at a grassroots level will be an integral part of the project.