In Connecting Communities, we offered two different fellowships based on filmmaking and campaigning for social change to 120 young people belonging from different communities, religions, ethnicities, and areas of Karachi, after training & mentoring a total 12 short films produced and 12 campaigns were launched based on interfaith and inter-ethnic diversity, acceptance, inclusion and tolerance.
Lyari has experienced the worst violence in the last two decades. People of this area have faced immense trauma, pain, and discrimination. Young people needed “Hope” to build communities and restart their lives. Mehr-Ghar is an initiative to build upon that “Hope”
Mehr-Ghar is our Flagship initiative. It is arts based community space for learning & open dialogue that features a small café space, studio, library, meeting room and event hall where we hosts poetry readings, meetups with writers, talks, debates, theatre performances, film screenings, open mics, jam sessions, training/workshops and standup comedy.
Since March 2021, Mehr-Ghar has hosted hundreds of activities, ranging from trainings/workshops, poetry readings and film screenings to vibrant debate on critical issues with support and participation of local communities, stakeholders, musicians, artists, writers, filmmakers, local leaders. Mehr-Ghar has contributed to revitalizing Lyari’s Cultural Landscape and has provided an alternative, independent safe community space discourse to local people.
With the support of UN Woman Pakistan, We launched a documentary film fellowship program called “Stories by Women” specially designed for young women aged belonging from less privileged communities of Karachi. These 60 women produced 12 inspirational documentaries focuses on Women-Heroes (who are an inspiration for many others).
The Student Festival took place on 28 and 29th May 2022 at Arts Council of Pakistan, with the aim to bring student societies together and to give them a chance to showcase their achievements and network with a diverse set of stakeholders while also highlighting social issues pertaining to VE and promoting Peacebuilding & CVE values to a larger audience. We collaborated with six different universities including:
With the aim to promote and sustain peace, diversity, acceptance, intercultural harmony and social cohesion across educational campuses in Karachi.
Lyari Film & Photography School was a major success of Mehrdar Art & Production. It was the project where the journey of the organization began. Understanding the need of the local community being more inclined towards media entertainment and film, Mehrdar Art & Production Partnered with the Local Government, Karachi Youth Initiative and ZAHARSSS Production to open up this school in an abandoned government facility. The main idea behind it was to disseminate knowledge and skills of film production, photography and other post production activities in the residents of Lyari especially the youth, to understand the influence of media and information and provide literacy on the subject matter to identify alternatives and eliminate violence extremism through positive reinforcement of media. This as a result would break the support to the violent extremist groups within Lyari. Lyari Film & Photography School successfully indulged more than 300 beneficiaries from the vicinity providing learning from local film makers and photographers for mentoring. In addition to the technical skills like photography, camera handling, script writing and story boarding to translate messages on the screen, Lyari Film & Photography School also amalgamated elements of research based approach to character development and citizen journalism.
A further effort was put within the working on media and information literacy for the community of Lyari by starting a six month project with support of Karachi Youth Initiative (KYI) named “Haal Hawaal”. This Program aspired increased opportunities and incentives to engage young and creative people from Lyari for social benefit and benign behaviors. The core idea was again to provide constant reinforcement of positive news influencing mindsets of common youth and individuals to step out of violence mindset and unite as a community. The process of this program was very simple where 25 youth from Lyari being trained on media literacy, citizen journalism and highlighting community stories that are both informational and inspirational. Participants got the opportunity to learn about Photojournalism, Story & News Writing, The participants directed to snap and shoot their community issues and weekly photo-walks and exhibitions were arranged for community. The street issues and positive stories identified through the photo walks and field learning complied in a form of newsletter. The final publication took place through blogs and a short magazine distributed within notable community spaces of Lyari; providing access to information for the common individuals. In 2017, Mehrdar Art & Production joined hands in a multi organization program in partnership with DAI and US Aid, by the name of Azme Naujawan. The organization branched out to new communities with a primary Youth Center in Ibrahim Hyderi. The program involved training local community youth in principles of Social Responsibility, Media Literacy, Community Leadership, Innovative Ideas, Political & Democratic Structures, Campaigning, Campaigning Tools and Civic Action. The mediums used were not only interpersonal skills training but also training in Visual Art, Music, Theater and Global Culture. After the entire training module of 52 hours is complete, the youth are then given the task to execute social action projects to uplift and contribute to their communities. Azme Naujawan in 3 years of its working has established 7 community center in 6 districts of Karachi, facilitating more than 5170 youth producing 1034 social action projects and campaigns. Mehrdar Art & Production is the only organization from the entire consortium to produce 72 result oriented social action projects and sustain 12 of them in 3 years to be successfully converted into CBOs. These projects range from education and awareness to media and information literacy to visual arts. Mehrdar Art and Production was also responsible for highlighting many of these stories through documentaries all over Karachi – and in the process have also managed to formulate 2 direct youth committees in Nawabad, Lyari and Ibrahim Hyderi
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In 2017, Mehrdar Art & Production joined hands in a multi organization program in partnership with DAI and US Aid, by the name of Azme Naujawan. The organization branched out to new communities with a primary Youth Center in Ibrahim Hyderi. The program involved training local community youth in principles of Social Responsibility, Media Literacy, Community Leadership, Innovative Ideas, Political & Democratic Structures, Campaigning, Campaigning Tools and Civic Action. The mediums used were not only interpersonal skills training but also training in Visual Art, Music, Theater and Global Culture. After the entire training module of 52 hours is complete, the youth are then given the task to execute social action projects to uplift and contribute to their communities. Azme Naujawan in 3 years of its working has established 7 community center in 6 districts of Karachi, facilitating more than 5170 youth producing 1034 social action projects and campaigns. Mehrdar Art & Production is the only organization from the entire consortium to produce 72 result oriented social action projects and sustain 12 of them in 3 years to be successfully converted into CBOs. These projects range from education and awareness to media and information literacy to visual arts. Mehrdar Art and Production was also responsible for highlighting many of these stories through documentaries all over Karachi – and in the process have also managed to formulate 2 direct youth committees in Nawabad, Lyari and Ibrahim Hyderi.
Stereotypes and disinformation persist not only due to the mindless sharing of fake news or misinformation, but also because of people not knowing cultural backgrounds, heritages, history and aware about learning through literature. The high need of this was observed in 2019, when the only university in Lyari, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University, Lyari, faced various cultural and sectarian groups emerging within the university. Further it was observed that even the merit based high achievers from BBSUL were being rejected from other universities for further education based on their affiliation with Lyari. To counter this and demonstrate the real information it was felt important to bring all under the same umbrella. This initiated a banner of “Safe and Peaceful Universities” under which the 2 day Lyari Literature Festival for the promotion of peace and harmony took place at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University. Nearly 12000 individuals from all over Karachi, including mainstream media, bloggers, vloggers, celebrities, university students, business-men, politicians and security officials participated in promoting the agenda of Peace and harmony. Various sessions on poetry, literature, community welfare, role of film, need for media literacy, countering extremism and nurturing resilience took place over a course of 2 days. Further local entrepreneurs, cottage industries and mainstream cultural craft shops alike were given space to demonstrate and exhibit their work. The core idea was to promote literature that fuels peace, harmony and gets the attention of audiences to generate interest within learning, researching and equipping themselves with knowledge to identify and disregard misinformation. Hence various books written by local writers were also launched while a high focus was given to promote music and arts that spreads awareness.
Another achievement on the plate of Mehrdar Art and production came when in 2020, a Documentary training in Northern Sindh started by the name of “Stories of Sindh” promoting cultural heritage and integrating peace, media literacy, resilience and community togetherness through it. The concept was an amalgamation of Haal Hawaal and Key principles of Lyari Film and Photography school. Northern Sindh is renowned for its extreme poverty and pressing issues. One key factor is lack of access to information, limited media literacy and little to no internet facility. Mehrdar Art & Production decided to target 3 cities of Northern Sindh; Khairpur, Shikarpur and Jacobabad – to produce 75 Documentary Film Makers through training on media & information literacy, providing access to Information and communication tools, and equipment and resources required to document local stories. As a result inspiring communities within these areas to develop their interest within research based practical information through 15 documentaries, screened through all 3 cities. However the global pandemic that has taken on the world by storm put the training to a halt. We hopefully will be continuing this project once public gatherings are permitted.
Due to the past achievements of success on Media and Information Literacy, Mehrdar Art & Production in a collaborative effort with Khayaal Studios further branched out in exploring positive reinforcement, disregarding misinformation and rumors, furthermore putting a halt to disinformation spreading like Chinese whisper within lower income communities of Karachi, through a web series by the name of “Hum Apas Mai”. The series aimed to mirror Karachi’s versatility and the problems that come with it. Residents of the city have been conditioned to discriminate on the basis of religion, sect, and language due to the negative influences of media and rapid spread of disinformation over decades. As people from all over the country pour in for a better lifestyle in Karachi, the series demonstrated events that follow among people from different cultures, cast, religions, sects and gender classes in the same apartment building, the problems they face with each other, the stereotypes that follow, the perceptions, beliefs and attitudes shaped over the information they have received over a period of years and how they’re able to eventually accept and own each other by facing common issues and threats. The web-series were also screened within 12 communities of Karachi, which yielded people accepting that these issues persist within their communities and though it was mentioned humorously, are very serious issues that community members should work on in unity.
Hum Sub Saath is a program and campaign that seeks to engage youth activists from Community Resilience Areas of Ibrahim Hydri and Lyari to promote peace narratives through on-ground as well as online engagement activities and facilitate the district government of Karachi to address the current health crisis. This activity, consequently, looks to deliver objectives of increased support for positive modes of civic action and social responsibility amongst targeted communities. The activity is linked to increasing broad-based citizen engagement in community decision making by empowering youth and increasing their relevance in a community, particularly through concentrated efforts at linking their social action with community stakeholders and decision-makers. While the youth will be taking social action in promoting positive reinforcement and emphasize on communities to demonstrate resilience as a community in the tough times, the organization seeks to further the reach by an online campaign, where various relevant and active community stakeholders will be engaged in talking about the effects of the virus within marginalized communities, while also inspiring community members to take required action and understand the larger dynamic for the uplifting of our beloved country, Pakistan. The entire process is dedicated to uplift communities through public service messages in the form of videos by community influential public figures, peace posters, and graphics that highlight on ground community needs during the covid-19 timeframe and aid in providing solutions to help them understand, develop, and manage the ongoing crisis while adapting peace as an alternative. We firmly believe in these tough times: “ہاتھوں کے ساتھ ساتھ ذہن صاف هونا بهی اہم هے” (Along with cleaning our hands, it is also important to keep our minds clean).
The story is about a community facing the adverse effects of covid-19 and the disasters caused due to the spread of misinformation and fake news about the pandemic within the community. The focus of the story is a young boy Ahmed who is famously known by little master within the community as he focusses on observing and learning before coming to resolutions. The story focuses on a little master’s journey on developing an understanding of the pandemic and trying to spread awareness on following SoPs, countering extreme narratives spread due to the pandemic, and trying to maintain peace within different socio-economic classes, cultures, belief systems and casts living within the community. Little Master is an initiative to make the children of today understand the drastic after-effects of covid-19 and to develop an understanding, compassionate and resilient world of the future. It embeds 6 stories focusing on understanding diseases, countering misinformation about them, building community coherence and guiding youngsters in taking responsibility of establishing peace and unity within their communities. Team Mehrdar Art & Production aims to print 10,000 copies of this 6-chapter comic book to distribute among different schools in order to reach out to young children and students to learn and develop an understanding of pandemics and epidemics. Furthermore to inspire them in developing the correct attitude to maintain during tough times to help contain not only the spread of the pandemic but also fight with depression, anxiety and stress within the community. Finally to encourage young students to become resilient and promote peace within their communities by becoming active and responsible citizens.
Pakistan had not have enough rain in two years, due to the shortage of plantation and cutting of trees. This has affected the ecological system of various areas of Pakistan, especially Karachi, which over the period of years has become a concrete jungle of high risers. Many smaller communities are affected by this change and do not even realize why they go through the trouble. Since August 14, is the national independence day, everyone holds a higher patriotic spirit that day, and is highly concerned about the country and its people on that particular day. Hence this became the perfect day to gather the community, plant trees and make them responsible for the environment they live in. A research suggested, that a better environment constitutes to a better mood, cuts down frustration and detoxes people, giving a rise within compassion and kindness. This and the patriotism spirit is what Mehrdar Art & Production used on August 14, 2019, as they collaborated with DES Pakistan, Forest Department, MF Grammar School and UC Chairman of Ali Akbar Shah Goth, Rafiq Baloch to start a campaign “Plant a Living Flag” in Ibarhim Hyderi.
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