August News /

Ali Raza Khan
YES Country Coordinator Pakistan

Ali Raza Khan’s motto is “Youth as the solution not as the problem.” With this in mind, he has played a pioneer role in designing and implementing innovative programs in Pakistan that serve youth and incorporate them in their own development process. He has taken a pro-active and integrative approach to youth involvement as a way to meet the high service needs of the society and to mitigate violence and crime from the society.  As an effective trainer and facilitator, he is continually invited by national and international organizations to share his strategies of involving young people in community building activities.  He has organized and conducted over 100 capacity building workshops in the field of leadership development, gender and development, strategic communication, participatory learning for action, reproductive health, team building, community organizing, advocacy, and behavioral change for all segments of population. Those who know him refer to Ali as “an inspirational young leader who is constantly in motion and is infecting others with his enthusiasm, optimism, and can-do attitude.”

Ali’s vision to incorporate youth first found a voice when he realized that the HIV/AIDS program with which he was working lacked information specifically designed to reach youth.  In light of the fact that 70% of the population of Pakistan is under 29, this absence of targeted programs to provide them information services, especially counseling services, was alarming to Ali.  

In the face of a challenge, the proactive leader undertook a survey with the support of Planned Parenthood International and the Asia Foundation that found that most young people were receiving their reproductive health information from quacks (doctors without formal training) and hakins (homeopathic doctors).  He found that these people were perpetuating myths and misconceptions among the most vulnerable sector of the population. Due to the many cultural taboos and stigmas surrounding discussion of sexual health, young people were going to them because of the guarantee of confidentiality.  However, this confidentiality came at a high cost. 

Ali shared the results of this survey with interested national and international organizations.  To address the issue, Ali launched a helpline for young people with the support of Johns Hopkins University. This helpline provided answers to their reproductive health questions and provided them with a link to mobile and non-mobile health clinics.  It also allowed young people to receive the information in a confidential setting.  As a complement to these services, he carried out workshops around the country to improve the reproductive health knowledge and skills of young people while at the same time creating a team of master trainers. 

Although the project was going well by all standards and according to donors, Ali was still unsure of the impact the project was having on the hearts and minds of young people and knew that something was missing.  He recognized the key difference between providing information and being part of the process.   He was still striving to figure out the format for empowering young people to take charge of changing their life and circumstances.  Ali carried out consultations with young people throughout Pakistan and started to connect with global movements.  It was at this time that Ali united with the YES Campaign, a union borne of his desire to involve young people in a more organized and structured manner.  Once again, Ali had identified an opportunity.

Ali noted the millions of youth that were not engaged in Pakistan, many of them sitting at home or involved in non-productive activities.  He decided to provide these young people with an opportunity for ownership and leadership in national development issues. He quit his job and decided to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to making his idea of a non-military service force in Pakistan a reality.  The Pakistan National Youth Service Program, executed through the YES Campaign has been the focus of his efforts ever since. 

The program was initiated with the identification of 100 young people willing to dedicate one year of their life to giving back to society, especially to other young people.  These young volunteers were provided training on the issues to be tackled and the communities with which they would work.  The program’s focus areas were defined as literacy, reproductive health and sexual education, and skills development. 

Their efforts have been enormously successful.  One hundred Literacy Centers serving 3000 women have since been established as have 5 Skill Development Centers focusing on literacy, stitching, computer handling, and typing skills training for orphans and poor children.  Most remarkably, these centers were established with very little financial support.  In most cases, the communities and local leadership have donated the space for the centers while the volunteers received a small stipend for their work from the national government under a similar initiative of President Pervez Musharraf’s National Commission for Human Development. 

Aside from their educational role, the Centers play an important role in empowering young women to engage constructively at the community level.  There is also a key function that these centers are playing in bringing about recognition of the importance of education among older generations.  There has been increased school attendance in areas where the Literacy Centers have been successful, as parents become aware of the benefits for the community.

If there is anything that Ali has learned in this process, it is the importance of mounting an integrated campaign.  He relays, “It would be premature just to enter the communities with skills development programs.  At the end of the day the young people will still live in the same community, which often has little to offer.  They are exposed to the kind of things they should not because these communities teach them very harsh lessons – to be abusive, to be selfish, to be evasive.    We are trying to build up safe places in the communities so that these young people have a space for positive socialization.”

As a recognition of his outstanding commitment and contributions to bring change in the lives of neglected and destitute children and young people, Ali  has been awarded the JP Youth Service award of Pakistan.  Additionally the Government of Punjab has recently issued a letter inviting the leading educational institutions to engage the YES Network Pakistan in sharing their promising strategies of involving young people in community building activities.

When asked about his own perception of his impact, Ali states, “I can identify change in the belief that I can see in the eyes of young people.  (The belief) that they are really worth while, that they are capable of achieving great things in life for themselves, their families, and their communities.  This was missing.”