Date: March 20, 2023
Venue: SMI University, Karachi
Summary of the Event

Transparency International Pakistan organized a workshop on Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions) at Sindh Madrasa ul Islam University, Karachi on Monday, 20^th March, 2023.

Around 200 students, including 90 females, participated in the workshop. The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness and enhance the capacity of youth on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the role young people can play in the promotion and implementation of SDG Goal 16 (Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions) in Pakistan.

The workshop started with the recitation of the Holy Quran. Afterwards, Dr. Jamshed Ali Halepota, Dean of the Faculty of Management, Business Administration, and Commerce at SMIU welcomed the guests and the participants. The workshop featured expert speakers who shared insights on various targets of SDg16.

The first speaker was Dr. Kamran Ahmed Assistant professor FMS Szabist Karachi and Co-Founder Thinkers Tribe who emphasized that Pakistan is going through severe economic crisis which has elevated the importance of Sustainable Development Goals. He shared that his organization Thinkers Tribe is working on the localization of SDGs in Pakistan and encouraged young people to contribute towards SDGs through research and academic work. He emphasized that universities and academia have very important role in the promotion and mainstreaming of SDGs in Pakistan and highlighted that this workshop is an effort to sensitize young people about SDGs. He argued that SDG16 is focused on strengthening the rule of law, promoting human rights, enhancing access to justice, and combating corruption, crime, and violence all of which requires the involvement and participation of young people in the decision-making processes.

Next, Mr. Avinash Advani, Project Manager, Shahid Afaridi Foundation gave brief overview on the objective of the workshop. He highlighted that the main objective of the workshop is to raise awareness and enhance youth capacity on SDGs and the role young people can play for the promotion and implementation of SDGs in Pakistan and more importantly to collectively brainstorm, share input and suggest way forward for the planning and implementation of Goal 16 in Pakistan. He acknowledged the potential talent that exists among the youth of Pakistan and suggested that they should be engaged and encouraged to share their ideas through various platforms, such as their teachers, peers, or other forums where their voices can be heard.

Moving on, Mr. Kashif Ali, Acting Executive Director, Transparency International Pakistan presented a comprehensive overview of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He highlighted that SDGs provides a historic opportunity: to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and secure a better future for all of us. But this inspiring vision is challenged by risks, the most serious of which is that all 17 unanimously adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be severely undermined by corruption.

He informed the participants that Goal 16 has 12 targets. Some of these relate to peace, rule of law, access to justice, transparency, anti-corruption strong institutions and combating violence, extremism. Like each other goal, global targets have been set for Goal 16 against which the progress needs to be measured.

However, there are number of issues associated with the official targets specifically speaking about the four targets namely 16.4, 16.5, 16.6, 16.10 due to which Transparency International felt the need for Civil Society to contribute towards the official monitoring process through alternate indicators. He also explained in detail the finding of TI Pakistan civil society shadow report on SDG16.

Moving on, Mr. Ashfaque Ahmed, Project Coordinator TI Pakistan briefed the audience on Right to Information Laws. He explained the background and importance of access to information, as well as the history and current scenario of RTI Laws in Pakistan.

Next speaker was Dr. Hashim Zuberi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at SMI University. He emphasized the impact of greenhouse gases on global temperature rise, particularly affecting the third world countries. He stressed the need for collective efforts to slow down or halt environmental destruction. Mr. Zuberi suggested that youth could play a crucial role in achieving the SGDs goals by implementing environmental conservation measures.

After the presentations, students worked in breakout discussion groups focusing on SDG16.4, SDG16.5, SDG16.6 and SDG16.10 and came up with innovative ideas on the role they can play in promoting agenda of sustainable Development in Pakistan.

At the end, Dr. Jamshed Adil Dean SMI University delivered closing remarks. He thanked Transparency International Pakistan for organizing an informative seminar to raise awareness among young people and emphasized on the need for more such seminars to sensitize youth in Pakistan. He encouraged students to play their part in the promotion of Sustainable Development Goals.

The workshop ended with refreshment for all the participants and the guests.