Azfa Asif is a young, emerging leader. She visited the United States on a one-year exchange programme in 2010 and returned with a vision to give back to the local community here in Pakistan.
An active member of the Pakistan-US Alumni Network (PUAN), Asif implemented a project that aims to improve the quality of education for underprivileged public schools in Rawalpindi.
“The idea is to instill a spirit of volunteerism and educating students on the importance of extracurricular activities,” said Asif. For this purpose, she has also organised various activities and helped establish a school library.
She was among over 700 alumni of the US government-sponsored exchange programme who gathered to acknowledge innovation in community service by PAUN members on Monday.
This fourth annual reunion of the PUAN Islamabad chapter brought together individuals from different walks of life who are alumni of US exchange programmes to share experiences and commitment to cementing ties between the two countries.
The alumni have organised numerous community activities in Islamabad, including environmental conservation programmes, leadership exercises, an anti-littering flash mob and the capital’s first music festival.
Another alumnus, Ali Muhammad, shared his project of promoting citizen journalism in Hunza Valley, which he implemented in 2013. “We don’t have a television channel on Gilgit-Balistan so we trained about 50 proactive, young citizen journalists to develop content to feature on the local cable network,” he said.
The citizen journalists learnt skills such as storytelling through documentary-making, field reporting and event coverage and use of social media.
They are now uploading the content on video-sharing websites such as Vimeo, Daily Motion and on the official Facebook page of the project called “Youth Eye”. Furthermore, they are also volunteering for local print and broadcast media and blogs.
PUAN Country President Haseeb Kiyani encouraged participants to volunteer for the network’s activities to spread the knowledge they gained in the United States throughout Pakistan. “This reunion speaks about the talent, creativity and passion found here in Pakistan and also demonstrates how much we can accomplish when we work together as partners,” said US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas Williams.
The US government invests an estimated $40 million annually on exchange programmes for Paksitani citizens. More than 1,200 Pakistanis participate each year in various high school, undergraduate, graduate and professional US-sponsored exchange programmes.
The network has 12 regional chapters nationwide. Its mission is to encourage people-to-people relationships between Pakistanis and Americans. Consisting of more than 14,000 students and professionals who have participated in US government-sponsored exchange programmes, PUAN organises a number of events in Pakistan, including community service projects, leadership training, roundtable discussions, and community engagement activities.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2014.
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