Evaluation Report for PYCA · Evaluation Report for PYCA by Ideas for Life Trust June 2016 2 Acknowledgements ... lack of access to justice and unemployment are the main factors leading

Ideas for Life Trust

Evaluation Report for PYCA Evaluation Exercise

Luqman Ahmed & Sadaf Raza 6/10/2016

Evaluation Report for PYCA by Ideas for Life Trust June 2016

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Acknowledgements On behalf of Ideas for Life Trust, we extend thanks to the programs team and the management of

Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) for their overall support and coordination in finalizing the tools

for Pre-KAB and Post-KAB assessment, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), the Evaluation exercise and the

related logistic arrangements.

We would especially like to thank Ammar Zafarullah (Executive Director), Areebah Shahid (Advisor

Programs), Ezaz Ahmad (Program Coordinator), Shakeel Akbar Bhatti (Admin Officer) for their valuable

support throughout the Evaluation exercise.

Luqman Ahmed & Sadaf Raza

Ideas for Life Trust

June 2016


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Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................2

List of Abbreviations ...........................................................................................................................4

Executive summary.............................................................................................................................5

1. Introduction................................................................................................................................6

2. Methodology ..............................................................................................................................7

3. Key Findings ................................................................................................................................7

3.1. Relevance 7

3.2. Effectiveness 9

3.3. Efficiency 11

3.4. Impact 12

3.5. Sustainability 14

4. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................15

4.1. Recommendations .............................................................................................................17


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List of Abbreviations

AJK Azad Jammu and Kashmir

BZU

Bahauddin Zakariya, University, Multan

GB Gilgit Baltistan

IG Inspector General

IT Information Technology

KAB Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors

KP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

LOC Line of Control

NDU National Defense University

NGOs Non Government Organizations

NOC No Objection Certificate

PEF Peace and Education Foundation

PSM Public Service Messages

PYCA Pakistan Youth Change Advocates

http://www.bzu.edu.pk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khyber_Pakhtunkhwa


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Executive summary Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA)’s training program has been designed for the young people of

the country and the objective behind it is to promote youth engagement and create alternative spaces

to counter narratives that exist owing to extremist messaging in Pakistan. The project inspired outcomes

at three levels, i.e. knowledge, attitudes and behaviors (KAB).

The pre and post KAB survey results show that for a majority of respondents poverty, lack of education,

lack of access to justice and unemployment are the main factors leading to radicalization in the society.

This result displays the level of understanding of the target group on the related issues.

The survey findings based on the pre to post KAB tools provide an evidence of a shift in respondents’

opinion towards the contribution of civil society in bringing about a positive change. However, less

female respondents think that individuals can play a significant role in the society as compared to male

respondents who gave importance to the role of a given community and individuals in the post KAB

survey.

It is noted that through these workshops students have been introduced to national and International

development models but students ask for more self-actualization sessions in which they can

identify/explore their self as good empathetic human beings.

Similarly, the seed projects were relevant to the context and needs of the Pakistani society to focus on

countering extremism narratives. However, some participants mentioned to do projects focusing on the

socio-economic indicators i.e. to eradicate the root causes of extremism. The modality of seed projects

focusing on the peace initiatives was generally appreciated by the participants.

A number of participants highlighted positive impacts of the projects such as bonding among the group

members, linkages and networking with the market, universities, colleges, schools and district

administrations. This has helped them in building their entrepreneurial skills. The projects also lead to

many similar initiatives, such as the Youth Association of Pakistan, an initiative by a group of veteran

participants in Islamabad who worked together on a seed project by PYCA.

The participants have mentioned a number of instances where the activitie s would sustain beyond

project life. For instance, the “Peace corner” will remain there at the University premises resulting in

providing a good reminder of the activity. The project focusing on sessions with the students will be

scaled up by the Private Schools Network in Islamabad who have asked to replicate similar activity in

their 360 schools.

Findings of the evaluation exercise indicate that the project is making considerable efforts in equipping

young people with techniques to identify violent extremist messages and strategies to counter these.

The projects were also successful in instilling sense of ownership in one’s identity and also in accepting

and accommodating others faith and cultural identity. Students through these projects reached out to

the people with a clear understanding of what they want to achieve.


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1. Introduction Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) in collaboration with Peace and Education Foundation (PEF)

designed and delivered a training program for the youth to promote peace and development in

Pakistan. The program was developed to help equip youth from colleges and universities with

communication, analytical and social entrepreneurial skills.

The overall objective of the project is to promote youth engagement and provide alternative spaces to

counter narratives to extremist messaging in Pakistan. Specific objectives of the project include:

- Identifying PYCA participants/leaders from vulnerable universities and relationship building with

key stakeholders.

- University based workshops and development of joint action plans.

- Creation and airing of peace focused public service messages (PSMs) on social media platforms.

- Establishing a social media platform for discussions, networking, blogging and video-posting for

the youth.

- Selecting innovative proposals submitted by university and college youth and providing seed

funding and mentorship to the young people to implement these in their communities.

- Evaluation exercise to gauge the impact of the project.

The initiative aims to inspire outcomes at three levels i.e. knowledge, attitudes and behaviors1. The

project presents a model to build capacity through orientation and training sessions at the regions and

centre levels, to manifest the final deliverable that is the seed projects undertaken by the selected youth

around the themes covered through their training and capacity building at the earlier stage of the

initiative.

1 The outcomes at Knowledge level are: (1) Young people are equipped with pro-active techniques to identify

violent extremist messages and opinions for offsetting or refuting these messages (2) Young people engage in

critical thinking that allows them to arrive at solutions to problems (3) Young people acquire critical skills to

strategize, story tell, use social media and create a business plan to effectuate their goals.

The outcomes at Attitude level are: (1) Individuals and communities become convinced that they have capacity to

counter violent or extremist messages (2) That they should and can influence decision makers to achieve

constructive change.

The outcomes at Behavior level are: (1) Pakistani youth feel empowered, inspired and trained to initiate social

entrepreneurship vehicles that will effectuate positive change (2) Pakistani youth actively involves in an intra -

community dialogue and acts in ways to reduce the circulation of extremist messages.


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2. Methodology The report is based on year round evaluation activities of PYCA’s training program for the youth to

promote peace and development in Pakistan as a result of commissioning of a ten months service

contract by PYCA to Ideas for Life Trust in May 2015. Consequently, a pre and post KAB assessment was

undertaken with 200 respondents from colleges and universities of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK),

Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory from the month of July to December 2015. Moreover, FGDs with

three groups of 17 participants was held during their advanced training on 9th January 2016 in Islamabad

and the evaluation exercise on 28th of May 2016 in Islamabad, with some 30 participants who were

engaged by the PYCA in the seed projects activity. The respondents were surveyed for the Pre KAB

survey in the beginning of a two day workshop session. The same respondents were asked to record

their opinions at the end of the workshop session as part of the post KAB assessment.

The seed projects evaluation exercise included the group presentation on the projects where the

participants in pairs highlighted their respective project activities, achievements and key challenges. The

participants were then divided into two groups. Each group participated in multiple assessment

activities such as Focus Group Discussion and Participants’ Testimonials. The purpose of the Focus Group

Discussions or FDG was to have the participants’ opinion about the overall activity, especially , the seed

project by focusing on Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability of the initiatives.

The purpose of the Participants Testimonials’ was to know about the drive and personal initiatives of the

participants to select and implement a particular project, its contribution to the counter extremist

narrative and recommendations to scale up of the activity. Toward the end of the workshop, the

participants were encouraged to give recommendations on the projects they have implemented.

3. Key Findings

3.1. Relevance Relevance of the PYCA’s program under evaluation can be ascertained from the fact that during the

FGDs of the participants in the advanced training session in Islamabad, most agreed that youth have

immense energy and potential and that they need to be engaged in constructive activities. It is when

government/institutions/families do not provide them the right direction that they get involved in

extremist activities. Since religion gives meaning and direction to life more get involved in it and anti-

social and negative elements then use this service to realign in the wrong/extremist direction.

“It is due to inclination toward extremism at a tender age”.

Areej Munir, AJK University Muzaffarabad

Participants justified the need of peace building initiative as relating it with the consequence of

extremism and extremist actions at the society level; sectarianism has increased and people lack

tolerance now.

“It has violated peace. Education and economy are impacted due to that, and state institutions suffered ”.


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Bilal Anjum, Federal Urdu

University of Arts, Science and Technology

(FUUAST)

“Youth have no patience level, and it is affecting the family relationships. Society is not being developed ”.

Amen Shafique Khokhar, AJK University Muzaffarabad

Most participants agreed that extremism has greatly disturbed the way of life; it has created fear in the

people and made everyone intolerant of others. The participants also viewed the rise of sectarianism as

a serious threat to peaceful co-existence which this region.

While discussing reasons for radicalization of youth most participants in the FGDs expressed that since

youth has a lot of energy and potential they are sometimes used by the people/institutions which

promise to give meaning and substance to their life. If the youth they said are not engaged in positive

activities then their potential gets compromised through negative company and activities. Most of the

students stressed that youth need to be properly roped in positive, constructive and society building

activities; need for more sports facilities for venting out the unspent energy was also stressed. The

influence of social media and the hate and judgmental messages that it generates was also discussed.

Majority also talked about the lack of education and proper guidance. When youth is not given proper

education they take whatever is given to them in the name of education as right, just and universally

correct. Frustration arising out of unemployment is given as another reason for increasing radicalization

of youth. This signifies relevance of the seed projects undertaken by a selected group of participants

toward the end of the project.

Furthermore, participants in the evaluation workshop also agreed that the seed projects were quite

relevant to the context and that there was a need in the Pakistani society to focus on countering

extremist narratives. However, some participants also mentioned to do projects focusing on the socio-

economic indicators in order to eradicate root causes of extremism. While some others were of the

opinion that such initiatives cannot be undertaken within the sanctioned amounts. However, a number

of participants found the modality of seed projects focusing on the peace initiatives as relevant to the

needs in the society.

For instance, the seed project by Hassan Aziz and Muhammad Bilal, ‘Give Peace a Chance’, focused on a cricket match between Madrassah and University students. The rationale of the activity as presented by the students during the workshop was to provide a common platform and to give students belonging to both schools of thoughts with a chance to understand diversity. The participants further shared that the University and Madrassah students have never worked together. With the help of the project University and Madrassa students got an opportunity to communicate with each other and participate in the activity as one group. This has helped in understanding these students in a better way. There were various initiatives launched by the students from different institutions across the three

provinces of Pakistan, i.e., Punjab, KPK, Sindh and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). These range from

promoting interfaith harmony in a school of Momin Pura, Lahore by Amna Arooj and Shazza Farheento

the promotion of peace messages at the LOC by Bilal Anjum ar Hajira Poonch, AJK; from promotion of

peace and heritage preservation by Laila Khadim, and in another projects by Tehmash Khan and Aveel


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Khan of preserving Shiv’s Temple, Graffiti messages in a Dare e Arqam School in Sargodha, to the project

focusing on attitudinal change by Umair and his colleague, with public officials in Lahore , to name just a

few among a lot to focus on local need and context.

The seed projects were very relevant due to their contextual relevance. For instance, Zia ur Rehman, a

Final year student from IM Sciences, and an awardee of the seed project of “Peace promotion through

IT” termed the project quite relevant, as:

“Positive and productive use of IT for peaceful purposes was lacking in our society, so we thought that we

should try to promote this initiative through our project.”

Wall chalking with different hate narratives has become a very common phenomenon in Pakistan. In

a seed project where walls of the city were to be covered with peace graffetti , this is what the

awardee has to say:

“I wanted to do this project to reduce violent extremism and promote interfaith harmony in the society.

Because religious intolerance and sect related issues in Pakistan have been [on the rise], so I wanted to

promote peace through interfaith harmony.”

Another related project was undertaken by a group of students from BZU Multan, ‘Smile for Peace’. A

group member shared her thoughts about the project in the following words:

“At BZU, there is lot of wall chalking, visual pollution having hate speech….I chose this project to make

sure that people would give due importance to eliminate this visual pollution.”

3.2. Effectiveness The training sessions conducted by PYCA have significantly increased the level of perception as far as

peace in the society is concerned. Youth showed awareness about issues related to freedom of speech,

tolerating different points of views, accepting differences etc. Also it showed they are aware that a

mindset which leads to radicalization comes from certain factors such as institutions which groom and

inculcate such thought. To have peaceful society means to remove such breeding grounds. The

participants also showed a significant understanding of war and conflict and how more or less it

contributes towards a peaceful society.

The pre and post KAB survey findings also portray the temperamental nature of the youth; how easily

they can be influenced and manipulated. Youth in general are more reactionary than reflective. These

workshops have provided them a platform to individually as well collectively think and reflect about pre-

ordained notions.

On the other hand, FGDs with male and female students show that male students were more aware

about the system of government, while girls seem to be less aware of that. This collaborates towards

less political understanding of the girls, their exclusion from the politics from the grass root level, and

their acceptance that to be governed than to govern.


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“The assembly and parliamentary system needs to complete their terms. Political rivalries impact the overall system.

Democracy needs to be strengthened”.

Raja Sarmad, Virtual University

“Dictatorship is what we require here in Pakistan, in this kind of situation. It depends on the leaders as well ”.

Noor ul Ain, Superior University Bahawalpur

Another related issue is lack of understanding on the kind of system of Government in Pakistan. This is

evident through the responses, as the less number of respondents favored parliamentary democracy as

compared to Islamic democracy. However, very small number of respondents actually favored the

presidential system of democracy. This indicates that there is some understanding but it requires deeper

insight into the kind of political system and system of government in Pakistan.

The participants also acknowledged significance of the social media, and more so after their training

sessions. Youth reflected that how they are able to now perceive a message and how they now have the

understanding to either propagate it or ignore it.

Through these seed projects, students also managed to engage diverse groups removing the barriers of

ethnicity and religion and making the target beneficiaries feel comfortable in their engagement with

each other. As shared by Laila Khadim from AJK University, the seed projects undertaken by the

students of AJK brought together diverse groups of students from areas such as Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). It was a common a practice that GB students were looked down upon.

By engaging both these groups through various activities such as speech competition, stalls and cultural

programs, gaps were removed. Both the parties worked together to make it a success.

On a personal level these projects led to some good learning. Students were able to unlearn the

concepts previously held correct. For example, the group led by Tehmash that aimed at preserving Shiv

Temple, learned customary religious practices of Hindus and was able to remove myths from reality

which brought peace with one’s own self.

The practice of respecting and preserving the religious cultural practices of different groups gives a

deeper understanding that one’s own faith is not challenged if one participates in the religious festivals

of other groups. Washing the holy stone, giving of the prasad (holy offering), cleaning of the compound,

and projecting it into the media does not threaten one’s own religion rather it makes one more

magnanimous.

The effectiveness of this project can be seen when people cleaned the place up and welcomed the Yatris

(devotees), some went to the extent of participating in the ceremonies as well. However, the

participants also shared that they were being labeled and name called which points toward deep seated

bias that exists in the society toward efforts which promote interfaith harmony.

Nevertheless, such activities provide an insight into other religions and cultures. A very important

lesson learnt was what appeared to be a religious bias, has ulterior motives coming out of economic

gains. For instance this place was used as a dumping ground for garbage, and there was land mafia after


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the prime property in such cases economic gains are behind inciting hate and extremist behaviors and

mindset.

The available data of 14 projects presented during the evaluation workshop shows a significant number

of direct target beneficiaries. These projects had an outreach to 7,790 beneficiaries. However, gender

segregated data was not available to distinguish between the male and female beneficiaries. Out of the

14 projects presented during the workshop, five were implemented in Punjab, four in AJK, two in Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and two in Islamabad, (with one in Islamabad and Multan together) and one in

Karachi. Out of total seed project target beneficiaries, 60% were from AJK, 17% from Punjab, 10% from

KP, 7% from Karachi and 6% from Islamabad. So AJK was highest in terms of outreach of the seed

projects followed by Punjab and KP.

3.3. Efficiency The efficiency of the seed projects can be gauged from the fact that a majority of the participants when

asked what would they do differently if they were given a chance to do it again, mentioned to scale up

the activity rather than changing the mode of the activity. This is evident from the following

observations:

Shazza Farheen, an awardee of the seed project, “Every Step with Peace” shared:

“I want to do this activity again at a higher level where talented students have platform to show their talent

whether they are Muslim or Christian. I want to do this again in another school.”

However, some expressed that they would take into account the different actors involved, permission

granting authorities and target beneficiaries to roll out the projects in a smooth manner ensuring that

the activity is concluded within a specific time frame.

Some shared their challenges for instance students undertaking the project, “Teach peace” said that the

biggest challenge was to engage the uneducated to teach peace through the videos.

They said that their lesson learned was that most uneducated youth is engaged in labor and it is difficult

to gather them during the day time. Furthermore, most of the videos were available only in English so

they selected video which were self-explanatory and displayed actions and behavior. However, on a

positive note, they learned team building and assigning tasks at different levels.

The participants agreed that the mode of the seed projects to allocate small amounts was better as

compared to dishing out the big chunks of amounts to only two or three projects. Dividing it into more

than a dozen projects focused on diversified projects from more number of students , was appreciated

by all.

However, participants also mentioned that the amounts in some projects were curtailed and the

activities cut down which could be sorted out with the participants in the earlier phase of the planning

stage.


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Most project activities were executed from February to May 2016 i.e. each project received a time

frame of six weeks to conclude. There were some delays owing to problems relating to the issuance of

No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the university/college and district administrations. Such problems

are however, unavoidable because of the security issues that are present within the country.

Permission from the concerned authorities remained a huge challenge throughout implementation of

various seed projects. The students emphasized the need to have more coordinated effort on the part of

the PYCA program team, to mentor on the issue of permission and No Objection Certificate.

Participants also mentioned that the University and College administration are warned not to liaison

with the NGOs directly without prior permission by the universities/colleges. So it became difficult for

them to engage the departments directly.

There were also some delays noticed due to peculiar nature of the projects. For instance, the project of

“Peace Campaign at the LOC” at Tatrinote Hajira, AJK could not kick off in time due to an event of cross

firing on LOC. Even the issued NOCs were cancelled by the authorities. This process of obtaining a new

NOC was thus, delayed to the disappointment of the students undertaking the project.

This was also reflected by many other participants. For instance, when asked what would you do

differently if you do this activity again, Nirmal Aman, a student of Superior University expressed her

dissatisfaction with the government authorities:

“When I will do this project again I will go for ideas which involve less participation from government

authorities .”

However, despite the challenges student showed confidence in their projects and remained hopeful

that efforts would result in bringing about a positive change. This confidence was also shared by one of

the seed grantees Abdullah from “Teach Peace” project. He said,

“Once you believe in yourself and what you are doing. You have the capacity to convince others.”

3.4. Impact There is shift in behavior noted after the training session as evident through the responses of the

participants. The participants in the FGDs signify this change in behavior in the following words:

“After the training, belief on democracy is further strengthened. I have become more peaceful, I was

aggressive, beforehand. If anyone talks about state and religion I will not react. I have become more open to

accept the right of minorities. I also feel to contribute to the society. I established Aman committee which

leads to peace. Aar Par Khushhal, is the campaign. I have also started hash tag campaign”.

Bilal Anjum, FUUAST

“I felt that the real behavioral change is to listen to others ; that is more powerful than speaking. When I listen

to others I will also accept his or her opinion”.

Hassan Aziz, International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI)

http://www.iiu.edu.pk/


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“I had less tolerance before and how did not know how to interact with the other people. Now I have started

giving importance to other people’s opinion as well”.

Nirmal Saqlain, Superior University, Lahore

The findings collaborate that a reflective thinking has been developed where youth have the capacity to

now tolerate opposing views.

“I have learnt a lot from attending the PYCA trainings. I have had a chance to meet people from other

regions and cultures. I have more acceptance for people who do not think like me”.

Maryam Rasheed, AJK University Muzaffarabad

A number of participants highlighted positive impact of the seed projects such as bonding among the

group members, linkages and networking with the market, universities, colleges and cchools and district

administrations. This has helped building their entrepreneurial skills. The seed projects would culminate

into many similar initiativesuch as the Youth Association of Pakistan, an initiative by a group of veteran

participants in Islamabad who worked together on a seed project by the PYCA.

Impact of these projects can be assessed in terms of entrepreneurial skills among the participants and

the benefit to the target audience in a direct and indirect manner. For instance, students from AJK

planned a peace campaign at the Line of Control (LOC). Students were quite enthusiast in sharing the

details of the project, in terms of its impact:

“The arriving and departing buses and their routes were decorated and a camp was organized to welcome

the families arriving from the other side of the LOC. The project played its part in connecting people and

bringing the communities. The project was also successful in sending out positive messages to the local

community residing in the area”.

In yet another project, “Give peace a chance”, cricket matches were organized between University and

Madrassa students. In the final match, two teams were constituted, each comprising students from both

Madrassa and the University. According to the students undertaking this project:

“The activity brought together students from two entirely different education systems and conveyed the

prevailing common grounds through which they can effectively help each other by realizing each others’

strengths”.

In another project students from Karachi University did peace advocacy through street theatre in

underprivileged areas of Karachi. Through this activity, the students aimed to reduce prevailing gaps

within the communities hailing from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds and put through a

message of peace.

When asked how did the project contribute to the counter extremist narrative, a number of students

focused on the objective of the project. For instance, Amna Arooj a student from Superior University

Lahore mentioned:

“The project contributed a lot as it is a good step towards unity and peace. We can now counter extremists by

working for the same cause, giving them a message: No one is superior by color, cast or religion. All are same”.


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Similarly, Amen Khokhar from AJK University, describing her project, “Spirit of peace’ said that youth got a chance to express their feelings and that change does not happen at once. It takes time. She was positive that the project she has undertaken would help spread message of peace and would eventually lead to reducing extremism. This is what she mentioned briefly, to gauge the impact of her project:

“I will encounter society stereotypes which really lets you down. If again I got a chance to do such an activity I will think of new horizons and take it on a bigger level. I will also ensure it to be long lasting and more impactful one.”

The projects have been successful in bringing out positivity among the participants and their respective

audience, creating an overall nurturing environment for peace and development. For instance,

according to the Noor ul Ain her project has contributed to the counter extremist narrative:

“If all the walls are painted for everyone, it means this country or city is for everyone. No minorities will feel

minor. Everybody will feel equally important.”

In yet another initiative, as reported by Amna Arooj, undertaking one of the seed projects, “Interfaith

harmony among Muslim and Christians” in Momin Pura, Lahore. The invisible walls separating Muslim

and Christian students went down as mentioned by Amna. Children who used to keep to themselves

engaged with each other and embraced each other whole heartedly after the activity. She further

added.

“The impact was also obvious on students’ behavior. For instance, girls undertaking the project of

“Peace Graffiti”, initially faced lot of challenges getting permission from the local authorities and they

had to change the venue and the city. There were a lot of wasted efforts as well. But throughout this

process, the team remained consistent, that they would do it no matter what.

The impact on students’ behavior was also reflected by Bilal Anjam, who was managing the seed project

on LOC.

“The challenges and the hurdles we face made us understand how conflict is generated and how much

patience one requires to deal with such challenges. For instance, we used to be stopped for security check at

every five minutes at a check post. Even when we have the permission, this practice itself taught us to practice

a lot of patience”.

3.5. Sustainability There are some notable differences in the perception of respondents in pre and post KAB survey and in

the FGDs indicating the perception of respondents gradually shifted toward moderate rather than hard

stance in both favor and opposition of a notion.

Similarly, participants in the seed projects evaluation have hinted at numerous instances where the

activities are going beyond the project life. For instance, the peace corner will remain there at the

university premises, and a good reminder of the activity. The project focusing on sessions with the

students will be scaled up by the Private Schools Network in Islamabad who had asked to replicate


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similar activity in their 360 schools. As Kashif Zaheer Kambo, from National Defense University (NDU)

and an awardee of the seed project “Hockey for Peace”, mentioned that they signed agreemen t with

the Private Schools Network for revival of hockey and propagating message of peace through it. Further

the Deputy Commissioner has also asked to undertake the activity in the public schools. The participants

highlighted the need to continue such initiatives in future.

Noor ul Ain, a student of Superior University reflected on this aspect, as:

“I will not only do this activity but also convince others to take this initiative.”

Laila Khadim an AJK University student, and an awardee of the project “Peace Interact” shared that after

this activity more students were interested to hold similar events at a bigger scale, an event including

other universities from AJK as well.

Munazzaa from BZU, Multan and an awardee of project “Smile for peace”, said that there were many

indirect beneficiaries; they keep on receiving calls from the people who have seen our walls and wanted

to be part of it. Students created a peace building team for all the departments to take care of the wall.

This hints at sustainability of some seed projects undertaken by the participants. Rooshan Razzaq from

University of Karachi and the awardee of “Peace Archives”, said that through this project people got

aware on how they should tackle their problems and that the extremist behavior is not the only option if

things get difficult for them. Furthermore locals assure them they would pass the message to other

areas and shall stay united in propagating the peace message.

4. Conclusion Findings of the evaluation are evident of the PYCA program making considerable efforts in equipping

young people with techniques to identify violent extremist messages to counter these, through training

and capacity building sessions, mentoring and implementation of seed projects.

Based on observation of the workshops and review of training content, the consultants are pleased to

note a balanced and a well-rounded approach towards the subject. It is also to note since the subject

matter was quite sensitive and could challenge youth in reactionary mode a very slow and deliberate

effort was made to challenge perceptions to examine behaviors and attitudes. The finding of pre and

post KAB survey also collaborate towards this.

The FGDs show the need to develop the critical thinking skills and entrepreneurship trainings as only a

few participants mentioned that they knew about the entrepreneurship in the survey. Participants in the

survey were very enthusiastic about the opportunity to develop proposals and arrive at solution to

problems and solve the issues at the local level, which was evident through the FGDs. The need to focus

on entrepreneurship was also highlighted by the respondents.

There were changes noticed in the attitude of participants toward issues concerning violent or extremist

messages which shows their capacity and willingness to counter these messages, using the social media


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tools and other modern tools at their disposal. Few changes were also noticed on the behavioral front

which shows their willingness to initiate change and affect the spread of extremist messages.

PYCA’s training program has significantly increased the level of perception as far as peace in the society

is concerned. Youth showed awareness about issues related to freedom of speech, tolerating different

points of views and accepting differences.

Most students in the Focus Group Discussions were of the view that the training has greatly changed

their perception about so many things which they took for granted and believed them to be true. Almost

all agreed that they have become more tolerant towards different ideologies and have now learnt to

respect diversity. They also said that now they do not feel compelled to comment or be a part of any

activity which falls in the category of hate mongering through extremist messages. Some also expressed

that they have a clear vision of the future and what they can do and how to go about it. Some expressed

that they learnt the art of listening without judging and that it has taught them to respect others and

their point of view.

Similarly, most seed projects benefited the target beneficiaries and called for an amicable and friendly

environment where peace can thrive through religious and cultural diversity. The projects were

successful in not only instilling a sense of ownership in one ’s identity but also accepting and

accommodating other’s faith and cultural identity. Students, through these projects, reached out to

people around them with a clear understanding of what they want to achieve.

However, it is noted that some projects should have been thoroughly reviewed by the PYCA team in

terms of the implementation mechanism and outcomes of the projects. Some projects were ambitious

like the one which aimed for making Peace Graffiti in Lahore, finally because of security situation and

the non availability of the NOC it had to be shifted to Sargodha. Similarly, the one in which students

arranged a seminar or a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Punjab, to remove bias which

exists on both sides i.e., the common people and the police. It should have been designed as an

interactive exercise with group activities and perception exercises to clearly map before and after

response, instead of having plain talks on both the sides.

Similarly, some projects should have focused on how well community can be mobilized to generate

resources, donation, assistance in kind, free use of space, sponsoring tea or project material. All this

could also be made part of the training and later the seed projects as well. This would increase self

reliance and a sense of accountability when the funds will be raised at local level. It will also ensure

active community participation.

Students learned to answer the questions like what people will get if they participate in the project

activities. This is the most commonly asked question when NGOs go in the field and the most difficult

one to answer. Because it is very difficult to explain to the people who are looking for tangible rewards,

that behavior change can go a long way in their life.

Through these projects, students have learned to deal with different social actors. At one level they

were dealing with the Government officials and at another level they catered to the community needs.


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Simultaneously, they worked on team building. They learned how to deal with different people at

different levels.

Time management of funds was requested by some participants undertaking the seed projects. An

annual alumni reunion remained a favorite suggestion among the participants, along with the

suggestion to appoint alumni as campus focal points for continuity of any such initiative in future by

PYCA.

4.1. Recommendations Following are the key recommendations:

The training modules at PYCA should include content related to political processes especially for

girls.

Results and trends of the pre and post KAB survey could be used to become part of the training

content in future.

PYCA should also focus on hands on trainings on how to deal with situations involving

aggression, through alternative healing or focus developing mode.

Alternate spaces where youth can find their calling, needs to be more encouraged. Though,

through these workshops they have been introduced to national and International

developmental models but more self actualization sessions are required, in which they can

identify/explore their self as good empathetic human beings needs to be given, aside from their

religious believes, e.g., scenario building, role play, etc. A concerted effort is required in the next phase to encourage students to form humanitarian

relief committee, instead of raising funds for religious organizations they can raise funds and

execute relief work in floods and earthquakes, medical camps, ration distribution camps.

PYCA should plan ahead for the situations, requiring the Government assistance, such as the

matters related to the NOC from the concerned Government department. All necessary permissions, paper work to be done before starting the project or in the early

phase of the project, so it may not disturb the implementation process.

Students should be asked to incorporate print and electronic media, for further out reach of the

projects.

Peace circles should be initiated by the awardees and the participants of the seed projects, as a

scale up activity these circle can meet once a month and reach out to more people in the

community/university.

In order to generate resource and raise funds, community oriented projects should also be part

of the seed projects.

Alumni should be actively engaged in future projects and they should be taken on board while

evaluating new projects.

Alumni could be appointed as campus focal points in their respective institutions so they keep

on highlighting the cause.


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An annual alumni reunion of PYCA seed project members is recommended so that alumni are

connected with the PYCA and should keep on contributing to promote peace and development.

The training sessions at PYCA should focus more on financial management and budget making

for the development projects.

Documents

Evaluation Report for PYCA · Evaluation Report for PYCA by Ideas for Life Trust June 2016 2 Acknowledgements ... lack of access to justice and unemployment are the main factors leading