#speakup barometer

Pakistan needs innovation to challenge censorship and surveillance

Pakistan’s lack of e-commerce infrastructure means its vast potential for digital participation initiatives is going untapped.

Digital Rights #speakup barometer Pakistan

Digital Participation Matters

The #speakup barometer is a DW Akademie project that examines the connection between digital participation, freedom of expression and access to information in five thematic areas: Access, Digital Rights, Media and Journalism, Innovation and Society.

#speakup barometer Pakistan Media and Journalism

DWA DW Akademie speakup barometer Pakistan Barometer

People using digital media

Instructors use YouTube to get new ideas

Four instructors of the Sindh Tech Skill Development Center for women and girls in Karachi

The Sindh Tech Skill Development Centre in the Lyari area of Karachi proves a safe place for young women and girls to learn everything from IT skills and English, to make-up and hairstyling.

A young mother finds freedom and a career online

A Pakistani blogger in forced exile

A citizen journalist goes online to build cultural bridges

A movement of millennials in Pakistan is dubbed the Pashtun Spring

The Pashtoon Tahafuz Movement: Ordinary citizens from across Pakistan took to social media to organize protests and bring attention to human rights violations

The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) began as a civic grassroots initiative in Pakistan. Its use of digital media to speak truth to power has made the group one of the most powerful human rights voices in the country.

DW Akademie in Pakistan

The DW Akademie Pakistan team together with project partners from Pakistan: Media House Islamabad Muhammad Shafiq, Asif Khan, Shahjahan Sayed und Karin Schädler

Supporting a diverse media landscape in Pakistan

DW Akademie in Pakistan supports citizens as well as media practitioners to ensure a media landscape based on unbiased, factual information and innovative thinking.

Asif Khan, DW Akademie representative in Pakistan (photo: Qurratulain Zaman)

Improving digital participation in Pakistan

Asif Khan is DW Akademie's country representative in Pakistan. In an interview with the #speakup barometer team, he shares his insights on digital participation in his country.

DWA DW Akademie speakup barometer Pakistan Spinnengrafik

Visualizing Pakistan's overall results

See the detailed results for all of our five clusters visualized in one chart: Access, Digital Rights, Media and Journalism, Society, and Innovation. Please click to enlarge the image.

Digital Participation in Pakistan: Moderate

Despite Pakistan’s vibrant television industry and culture of political debate, digital participation is significantly limited by poor infrastructure. Internet penetration is very low, and a lack of e-commerce infrastructure means there are few business models for sustainable innovation in civic engagement and digital journalism. Before society was able to fully make use of the limited opportunities for free expression online, the government moved to regulate social media with vague laws that are open to misuse against dissenting voices. This has created a toxic online environment for many people, in particular women and minorities.

Digital experts from Pakistan

Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Nighat Dad

Nighat Dad is the executive director of the Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan. She is a pioneering activist who has campaigned for access to open Internet in Pakistan and around the world. She actively engages at the policy level on issues focusing on Internet freedom, women and technology, digital security and women’s empowerment.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Saad Hamid

Saad Hamid is a Digital Ecosystem Builder. He served as CEO of Demo Enterprise, Community Lead at Invest2Innovate, and Country Representative at Upwork (Elance-oDesk). He is part of initiatives such as Erozgar and Digitskills to help young people learn freelancing and online work.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Farieha Aziz

Farieha Aziz is a co-founder of Bolo Bhi, a digital rights and civil liberties group. She has a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Karachi. On behalf of Bolo Bhi, she received the Index on Censorship Free Expression Award for their work on the Cybercrime Bill in April 2016. In 2015, she was recognized by Access Now as a hero for challenging government censorship.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Asad Baig

Asad Baig is executive director and founder of Media Matters for Democracy. He is a journalist and media development expert, who passionately believes in the power of the media. He wants to play his part in ensuring that the media in Pakistan embraces its true value, projects progressive ideals and optimizes its potential as an instrument for strengthening democracy.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Zebunnisa Burki

Zebunnisa Burki is the deputy editor of opinions and editorials at "The News". She is a trained lawyer with a degree in politics and communication from the London School of Economics. She worked for seven years as the executive editor for the South Asian Journal, and is the co-founder of the first network of women media practitioners across South Asia, South Asian Women in Media (SAWM).
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Shahzad Ahmed

Shahzad Ahmed is the country director for Pakistan’s chapter of Bytes for All, a human rights organization focusing on information and communication technologies for development, democracy and social justice. A development communications expert, Shahzad is a member of several groups, including the South Asia Board of Innovation for Change and the International Advisory Group - Code Red Initiative.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Sabahat Zakariya

Sabahat Zakariya is deputy editor at “The News,” one of Pakistan’s leading English-language dailies. She has a Master of Arts in journalism from New York University and was a recipient of the Falak Sufi scholarship. Her thesis on ‘The rise of single women in Pakistan’ was commissioned by Bloomsbury (India) for publication.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Marvi Sirmed

Marvi Sirmed is a human rights defender and journalist in Pakistan with more than 25 years’ experience. She has worked extensively on women’s rights, the rights of minorities and freedom of expression. She is a member of the executive council of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and a recipient of the Presidential National Human Rights Award.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Shaheryar Popalzai

Shaheryar Popalzai is a digital strategist with a focus on the media industry. He is a former International Center for Journalists Knight Fellow and was previously associated with The Express Tribune as head of original content and strategy. He co-founded Hacks/Hackers Pakistan, part of a global community of journalists and technologists dedicated to collaborating on innovative technologies.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Sadaf Khan

Sadaf Khan is the program director and co-founder of Media Matters for Democracy. She has been associated with the media and media development sector in Pakistan since 2002. She is a Chevening scholar and has a degree in development communications and media / ICT governance policies from the London School of Economics.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Jahanzaib Haque

Jahanzaib Haque is the chief digital strategist at Dawn Media Group, focused on convergence and editorial integration of the company for the digital age. He is also the editor of Dwn.com and DawnNews TV. He researches and writes policy papers focusing on the Pakistani media, the Internet and human rights in relation to cyberspace.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Dr. Nida Kirmani

Nida Kirmani is associate professor of sociology in the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. She is also faculty director of the Saida Waheed Gender Initiative. Kirmani has published widely on issues related to gender, Islam, women’s movements, development and urban studies in India and Pakistan.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Raza Ahmad Rumi

Raza Ahmad Rumi is a Pakistani policy analyst, journalist and author. He is director of the Park Center for Independent Media. Raza is also visiting faculty at the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. From 2015 to 2017, Raza was a scholar in residence at Ithaca College, the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and New York University, where he taught courses in journalism.
Leading the way: Pakistan’s digital experts

Sophia Hasnain

Sophia Hasnain is the founder & CEO of Linked Things, the only end-to-end Internet of Things solution provider in Pakistan. After receiving a master’s degree in electrical engineering in the US and working in Europe, she returned to Pakistan. She envisions a world where simple and effective IoT solutions will make the lives of hundreds of millions of people more productive.

Author: Qurratulain Zaman