This presentation provides an overview of the situation of civil society in Pakistan.

1. Curtailing Space of Civil Society
in Pakistan - Exploring Digital
Spaces
Khalid Saifullah
1

2. By the end of session, we will have the
answers of the following questions
 What is civil society?
 Why civil society is important?
 How we can define the CS space?
 Is CS space really shirking in Pakistan?
 If yes, what are the indicators and causes of this
shrinking space?
 What role we can play in this context?
 What are digital spaces and how can we use them?
 What is blogging? How we can write an effective blog?
2

3. What is civil society - definitions
 Public sphere where citizens can meet together, discuss on
the social, economic and political issues related to larger
society mainly connected to state and in few instances with
market and advocate for peace, tolerance, equality,
democracy, morality, principles and human rights
 Intermediary social institutions that, exist between the
family and the state, secular and non governmental, operate
within a pluralistic framework as a safeguard against the state
increasing unchecked power (Tocqueville)
 “Third sector” of society, along with government and
business. It comprises civil society organizations and non-
governmental organizations (UN)
3

4. How civil society looks like – its constituents
 Historical and modern concept
 Contextual concept, dynamic concept across time and region
 Not for profit (Separate from private sector, economy)
 Not government (political but separate from political society and
community)
 Non kin (family)
 Autonomous, self organising
 Promotes human rights, democracy, tolerance and peace
 Voluntary (no forced membership)
4

5. Why civil society?
 Equality (economic,
social, political)
 Human development
 Empowerment
 Voices of citizens
(Civic space)
 Tolerance
Human rights (labor,
minority, women etc)
Morality
Democracy
Freedom from violence,
peace
Humanity
5

6. CS in Pakistan - Context
 Organisations, groups and individuals including nongovernmental
organisations (NGOs), human rights activists, journalists, media
groups / press clubs, community based organisations, coalitions,
professional organisations, students, trade and labour unions,
citizen's groups and voluntary organisations
 NGOs dominates the civil society in Pakistan
 Over 100,000 NGOs Operate in Pakistan, 56,000 registered
organizations
6

7. CS in Pakistan - Context
 Paradigm shift from development to security
 Technology is disrupting the existing models of
resources mobilisation and management
 Hindrances for CSOs to express, associate, assemble
and to mobilise resources
 Different laws for registration of CSOs
7

8. How CS Works
8
Economic crises, lack for
basic services, human rights
violations, disasters, political
crises
Civil Society Mobilises
Situational analysis,
Risk Assessment
Building partnerships,
engaging global CS,
community / social
mobilisation, media
engagements, consultations,
practice and policy advocacy,
public opinion making
Negotiations with decision
makers, peace building,
human rights protection,
humanitarian response
Resistance
from Govt in
some cases Government urged to take
actions for sustainable
changes
UN,
International
Actors
Negotiated social
/ political /
economic change
Human security,
Equality, Justice,
Tolerance,
Empowerment

9. Key approaches of CS for poverty alleviation / reduced economic
inequalities in Pakistan
9
Rural
development
/ Agriculture
development
Micro /
community
physical
infrastructure
Micro credit
Establishing
links with
(weak) social
safety nets
Delivery of
social services
by CS
Tax justice and contemporary approaches
Stereotype approaches, dynamic context, enhanced knowledge base, globalised CS,
urbanization, industrialisation, increasing demand of social services

10. CS Space - Definition
- An emerging concept widely being used by United Nations (UN),
think tanks, civil society organisations (CSOs), research
organisations and international media
- UN defines civil society space as a “place occupied by civil
society actors within society;
 the environment and framework in which civil society
operates;
 the relationships among civil society actors, the State,
private sector and the general public” (OHCHR 2014)
10

11. CS Space in Pakistan - Let’s answer each of
the following question…
 Are social, political and economic inequalities increasing?
 How enabling are the regulatory frameworks for CS?
 How is the access to justice for a common citizen especially
a woman, person with different faith, person with disability?
 Can CSOs mobilise resources easily?
 How much responsive is the bureaucracy to the citizens’
issues
 Can media air / write / discuss every issue openly?
 Are human rights activists safe in Pakistan?
11

12. Let’s answer each of the following question…
 Is our taxation system pro poor and pro people?
 How are the Government – CS relationships?
 What are the popular perceptions of CS in Pakistan?
 What are the main reasons behind these perceptions?
 Can we assemble and associate easily especially to talk
on human rights?
 Can we initiate dialogues on any social issue?
 Do we have access to all necessary information?
12

13. Conclusion of the discussion
13

14. Why CS Space is curtailing
 Weak CS (historical factors)
 Weak democracy
 Weak institutions
 Traditions, culture, tribal system and strong family
connections has weakened the CS
 Less acceptance from public, because of donor’s
support, foreign agenda?? (are we a donors CS?)
14

15. The flip side
 Weak CS = Weak democracy
 Weak CS = Human rights violation
 Weak CS = Unbalanced power relations
 Weak CS = Depoliticization of public life
 Weak CS = State laws are not always pro people
 Weak CS = Low human development
15

16. Way Forward
 Short term and Long term solutions
 Civic space cannot be ‘saved’; it has to be fought
for, constantly
 Own agenda Strong democracy
 Debates, discussions
 Responsibility of both the Government and society
to develop and strengthen civil society
16

17. 17

18. CS Space in Digital World
18

19. Defining digital space
 Digital space, unlike the traditional media types
(broadcast, publishing, distribution) and traditional public
spaces in the physical world (library, train station,
university, community centre etc.) enables the citizenry
to find new ways to interact economically, politically, and
socially
 Universal connectivity of the Internet is its potential for
everyone and in everywhere
 Public and Private
 Glocal
 Trans-lingual and Cross-culture
19

20. Defining digital space
 Digital libraries
 Education
 Health services
 Marketplace (local – global)
 Social media
 Digital economy
 Services (banking, IT, telecommunication etc)
 Knowledge production and sharing
 Resource tilt towards digital economy
20

21. Utilising digital spaces
21

22. What is blog?
 Shorthand for “Weblog”
 a regularly updated website or web page, typically one
run by an individual or small group, that is written in an
informal or conversational style (Wikipedia)
 an easy way to present brief portion of frequently
refreshed Web content
 Written, audio, video, infographic, picture, sketch,
painting, map etc
 Citizens journalism
22

23. How blogging benefits you?
 Reading habits
 Becoming a better writer
 Becoming a better thinker
 Opportunity to establish yourself as an expert
 Increase in self-confidence
 Make friends (national / international)
 Make money from your blog
 Professional growth – profile building
23

24. Do you read blogs?
24

25. If Yes, what you look for in blogs?
 Information / Learning
 Solution
 Entertainment
 Knowing someone
This applies to others who will look your blogs
25

26. Writing a blog?
26

27. Writing a blog - Reading
 Read 30-60 minutes each day. This will translate into one
book per week, 50 books per year.
 Listen to CD’s in your car / phone as you drive / travel/
walk from place to place. This will amount to 500-1000
hours per year.
 Attend seminars and take courses given by experts. One
idea from one course can save you years of hard work.
 Work on yourself as if your future depends on it, because
it does
27

28. Writing a blog – Thinking
 Take time to think though the critical issues and problems
in your life, family and society.
 Sit aside for thirty, sixty and then ninety minutes.
 To think better, take a pad of paper and write down every
detail of the problem situation you are facing.
28

29. Writing a blog – Planning
 Every minute spent in planning saves ten minutes in
execution.
 What you can write? Have a personality, tell a story, be
contextually relevant, interview someone, take pictures, record
audio or video, make map or sketch, trip story to any office /
place, answer why question
 Know your audience (government, general public, media,
private sector etc)
 Organize your content
 Optimize your content for search (popular words, current
debates)
29

30. Writing a blog – Writing
 Start with a topic and catchy title (A title with eight words
performed best. These titles received a 21% higher click-through rate
than average.)
 Write an introduction (and make it appealing), here reader will
decide whether to continue the reading or stop
 Read yourself, edit/proofread your blog, and fix your formatting
 Conclude (way forward, call to action, solution)
 Formatting (Colour scheme, font, blog length, innovation, use pics,
video, audio etc)
 Accept shortfalls in information etc
 Give references
30

31. Why people will not read your blog?
 Too much information
 Lengthy sentences (Use one sentence for one idea, the average
sentence length in peer-reviewed journals is 60 words, the average
sentence length in the Harry Potter series is 12 words, active voice
sentence)
 No headings / sub headings
 Font is hard to read
 No bullet points
 Key messages not highlighted
 Didn't use a numbered list
 Subject is not interested
 Background / colours are disturbing
31

32. Sample
 http://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/links-i-liked-147/
 https://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/17-08-15-power-people-against-injustice-
honduras
 https://www.oxfam.org.uk/blogs/2016/09/another-bad-apple-and-the-race-
to-the-bottom
 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rural-women-invisible-mainstay-
sustainability-phumzile-mlambo-ngcuka/?trk=eml-
email_feed_ecosystem_digest_01-recommended_articles-9-
PBYN&midToken=AQHm79szkIodnQ&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=2a_ko91kaJCDY
1
32

33. Sample
33

34. How you can promote your blogs?
 Share with your own connections
 Network with others at meetings, seminars etc
 Submit your blog to search engines
 Look at what your competitors are doing
 Encourage conversations, even “bad” comments can be an
opportunity for developing good relations
 Comment on other’s blogs
 Develop a list of your topics, websites etc
34

35. Stuck in writing a blog
 It happens to everybody sometimes.
 Start free writing, just start writing
 Go back to your reading or notes
 Create a graph or map of the ideas and information
 Give yourself small assignments
 Start your day with writing a blog
 Write a bad first draft and then improve it
 Good English is Plain English
35

36. 36

37. 37