KARACHI: As part of a project to educate 1,000 girls in 1,000 cities and help them find jobs and eventually become donors themselves, Educate a Girl – a platform of the Dawood Global Foundation – Sunday celebrated completion of education of 1,000 deserving girls in Karachi to become journalists.
These girls studied at the Institute of Journalism, Indus University, Ziauddin University Media Studies, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University, Lyari, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology. Educate a Girl has also educated 250 deserving girls in Lagos, Nigeria and plans for 10 cities of Pakistan.
“We are very humbled and excited by this important milestone,” said Educate a Girl President Tara Uzra Dawood. “Three girls have become news anchors, several girls have newspaper columnists, some now work at TV channels, and eight girls have funded the scholarship of other girls out of their first-ever pay and Educate a Girl’s winner Jaweria Ali has funded two scholarships including Ghanwa Akram, our 1000th winner! We very much look forward to beginning this journey now to educate 1,000 deserving girls in Lahore.”
This celebration which was hosted by Lincoln’s Corner, Pakistan American Cultural Centre (PACC) included training modules by sculptor Amin Gulgee, designer Deepak Perwani, news anchor Nadia Naqi, Imran Zakir, Bilquis Rehman, grooming expert Khadija Chagani of Pivot Point, Consul General of Finland Sadia Khan, fashion journalist Zurain Imam, news anchor Sana Hashmi and news anchor Jaweria Ali.
The entire programme of educating the 1.000 girls – including visually and hearing impaired girls -includes trainings imparted by Tehmina Khaled, Shanaz Ramzi, Khursheed Hyder, Iram Noor, Dr Fouzia Khan, Swiss Consul General Emil Wyss, Russian Consul General Oleg N Avdeev, British Deputy Head of Mission Gill Atkinson, English professor emeritus Dr Ishrat Lindblad of Sweden, climate journalist Sarah Phillips of Australia, Northwestern University Professor and Chicago Tribune ace Finance Journalist Susan Chandler of the US as well as Alex Preston of the Guardian and BBC.
Prominent donors to this award-winning cause include Mian Abdullah, Hassan Shehryar Yasin, Nadia Hussain Khan, Abrar Hasan, Maliha Bhimjee, Midas Safety, Himont Pharma, Zeenat Saeed Ahmed, Canada Pakistan Business Council, Moneeza Butt, Ronak Lakhani, Dr Parveen Kanji, Neeshay Jaffer, Blue Sky Club, Danish Iqbal Alimohammad, Afsheen Teli Dada, Oxford University Press, Iara Lee & Cultures of Resistance, among others. Pakistan Fundraising Chair Nazneen Tariq Khan and Canadian Fundraising Chair Nilufer Mama, as well as Australian ambassadors Ayesha Bux, Canadian ambassadors Samir Dossal, Hassan Ahmed, Hina Beyg, Nadia Lakdawalla, UK ambassadors Tanya Anand and Asma Khan, as well as US ambassadors Rich Chen and Chris Edwards played a critical role in reaching this goal.
Some of the noted alumni include award-winning journalists Fariha Fatima, Syeda Nazaan Jabeen, Simrah Siddiqui, Sabiha Taj as well as Stephanie Aloynius, Sobii Khan, Areej Tahir, Misbah Leghari, and Pirah Qazi.
In 2013, the Dawood Global Foundation initiated the Educate a Girl project with the aim of providing scholarships to 1,000 deserving girls in Pakistan for vocational training in media studies and strengthening women’s voice in media.
