Open Minds Pakistan is a chance for you to have your voice heard. We train groups of young people aged 10-19 to write and produce articles for Pakistani national newspapers, radio and TV.
Open Minds Pakistan is a project run by the UK-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). It trains young people to think for themselves and express themselves. We do this by sending professional journalists to schools to give intensive journalism training, and by setting up discussion clubs in schools about current affairs.
At the moment Open Minds is working in 42 schools in Pakistan: 30 in NWFP and 12 in Karachi. We work with young people who have different views and speak different languages, but all of them have something to say and would not otherwise be able to say it.
The project does not tell people what to think, it teaches them how to inform themselves of all the arguments and then say what they think in a non-violent and well argued way. We want people to discuss why they disagree, not to just listen to the message someone else thinks is right.
We work with newspapers and TV stations in Pakistan who publish or broadcast what is written by our students, giving students a powerful way to express their new knowledge. We also have online discussions with all participating schools, so that students from different backgrounds can talk about important issues and get to know each other.
To find out more about Open Minds, click ‘what we do’. What will you say?