Raja Rashid, who conducts speech competitions in his area for ONE, said that peace was important as in most cases the victim and perpetrators of crime were the young men. PHOTO: FILE
On Wednesday, these change-makers or peace activists were being acknowledged at a show-and-tell certificate distribution event held by the Empowerment Thru Creative Integration (ECI) in collaboration with the Karachi Youth Initiative at Hotel Mehran.
The event was organised to show the work done by the peace activists during the strengthening of change makers forum.
ECI programme officer Jawad Ghori said that the six-month-long project was coming to an end. He added that they had trained nearly 22 change-makers to work for peace.
These individuals were selected through a careful selection process.
According to Ghori around 15 of them were selected from Lyari, Sultanabad and Korangi.
“These peace activists have been able to influence up to 900 people in Korangi alone,” he said. “Similar projects are being conducted in Lyari and Sultanabad as well.”
These 22 young men were previously supported and mentored by the ECI and KYI, and are now working with the Organisation for Nonstop Empowerment (ONE).
The organisation has conducted cricket matches, art and speech competition, vocational programmes and peace awareness programmes so that the youth of these areas does not wander towards crime or illegal activities and takes a step towards peace.
“Young men from Korangi came up to me and said that if similar activities continued, they would give up drugs and get involved too,” said Faisal Hayat, who works with ONE and looks after the peace awareness programmes.
Raja Rashid, who conducts speech competitions in his area for ONE, said that peace was important as in most cases the victim and perpetrators of crime were the young men.
“It’s not just a certificate awarding event, but more like a graduation ceremony,” said Ghori while talking to The Express Tribune. “These 22 young men are trained as peace activists and are equipped to carry on the message of peace and train more people in the same way.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2014.
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