Alumni Small Grants

Alumni Small Grants

Filmmakers Tackle Top Issues Facing Baluchistan

Puan Editor

July 11, 2014

8 min read

Filmmakers Tackle Top Issues Facing Baluchistan

By Hira Nafees Shah Film is one of the most powerful mediums to raise awareness of social issues and change mindsets. Across the whole range of cinematic arts, filmmakers can bring to life the dreams and struggles of everyday people, engage pressing questions, and stir audiences to take action. That’s ...

Alumni Small Grants

Photo Camps Showcase Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Diverse People, Places

PUAN EDITOR

July 7, 2014

8 min read

Photo Camps Showcase Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Diverse People, Places

By Hira Nafees Shah Saeedullah Orakzai firmly believes in the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. But that becomes a big problem when many photos being disseminated of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) depict only conflict, the alumnus says. Concerned that many photos often show only ...

Alumni Small Grants

Society of Webpreneurs Project Introduces Blogging to Bahawalpur Students

PUAN EDITOR

June 30, 2014

7 min read

Society of Webpreneurs Project Introduces Blogging to Bahawalpur Students

By Hira Nafees Shah Musab Khan sat down to take a look at the past question papers for an upcoming engineering exam. Despite surfing the internet for hours, he remained frustrated when his searches returned few useful results. Many students in Pakistan face the same situation when they are searching ...

Alumni Small Grants

“Go Girl Pakistan” Alumni Project Empowers Girls Through Sports

PUAN EDITOR

June 11, 2014

8 min read

“Go Girl Pakistan” Alumni Project Empowers Girls Through Sports

By Hira Nafees Shah On a mild afternoon in March, a bunch of volunteers were waiting with bated breath at a local Karachi stadium. Their event was scheduled to start at 4pm, but despite it being 15 minutes over, no one had showed up. And then everyone heaved a sigh ...

Alumni Small Grants

Fulbright Alumnus Restores Mughal-era Monument in Lahore

Puan Editor

May 21, 2014

8 min read

Fulbright Alumnus Restores Mughal-era Monument in Lahore

By Hira Nafees Shah Across the street from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) in Lahore stands a historic monument “Khan-e-Dauran” dating back to the Mughal era. The relic has seen it all, from the rule of the Mughals in Lahore, to the British Raj, then to the partition ...

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Alumni-Led Music Mela Conference Rocks Islamabad’s Red Zone

PUAN EDITOR

May 8, 2014

16 min read

Alumni-Led Music Mela Conference Rocks Islamabad’s Red Zone

By Hira Nafees Shah A boring and bureaucratic city no longer—that was the consensus of Islooites who attended the 2014 Music Mela Conference that rocked the city’s Red Zone at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) May 2-4, 2014. Showcasing 15 folk, fusion, rock, indie and Qawwali bands ...

Alumni Small Grants

Alumnus Promotes Inter-Faith Harmony through Adult Education

PUAN EDITOR

April 28, 2014

8 min read

Alumnus Promotes Inter-Faith Harmony through Adult Education

By Hira Nafees Shah With six children and limited resources, Parveen Emanuel had led a tough life. In her childhood, she had wanted to study, but her parents had refused, saying that they did not want their daughter to get a job. Then marriage brought an avalanche of responsibilities. Now ...

Alumni Small Grants

IVLP Alumnus Spearheads Islamabad’s First Social Media Summit

Puan Editor

April 7, 2014

10 min read

IVLP Alumnus Spearheads Islamabad’s First Social Media Summit

By Hira Nafees Shah Nearly 400 alumni, social media gurus, journalists and civil society activists enthusiastically took part in the groundbreaking Social Media Summit March 29-30, 2014, in Islamabad. International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumnus and Progressive Youth Forum (PYF) General Secretary Abdullah Dayo organized the summit, which was funded ...

Alumni Small Grants

Alumnus Empowers Widows in Bannu for a Better Tomorrow

Puan Editor

March 17, 2014

8 min read

Alumnus Empowers Widows in Bannu for a Better Tomorrow

By Hira Nafees Shah Lying in bed with a three day old baby by her side, Sogida Anar Gul felt like the roof was caving in when her husband died and she became the sole breadwinner of the family. Life had not been easy before, but after his death, even ...

Alumni Small Grants

Conflict Resolution Workshop Gives FATA Residents Peaceful Alternative for Resolving Disputes

Puan Editor

February 28, 2014

10 min read

Conflict Resolution Workshop Gives FATA Residents Peaceful Alternative for Resolving Disputes

By Hira Nafees Shah With anguish in his voice, Adnan Rehman narrates his story. It is a tale of heartbreak and loss, in which three generations of the same bloodline were affected, spanning a period of 45 years. It all started when a rival faction of Rehman’s family allegedly killed ...