Youth in a bid to scale Shimshal peak in Hunza Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan. — Dawn
The youth in Chitral and GB faced numerous issues and there was no forum to streamline their efforts in proper direction. The credit of launching a full-fledged youth development project in Chitral and GB also went to AKRSP. The project had two-pronged objective of solving the issues of unemployment by raising their employability and secondly to create an environment in which they (youth) are included in the decision-making process.
The employability component of the project prepared and trained the youth to rely on the meagre resources for self-employment while the leadership component has introduced them with the new dynamics of exerting themselves in the collective matters.
About the outcome of the project, AKRSP regional programme manager in Chitral, Sardar Ayub, told this correspondent that 63,000 youth benefited from it directly while 126,000 were indirect beneficiaries. He said that the project was launched in recognition of the fact that youth had a critical role to play in determining the future of GBC by enhancing the professional skills and enterprise support service while the youth participation was enhanced in community and civic activities.
Mr Ayub claimed that the project also worked to build the capacity of local institutions to support an enabling environment for achieving the basic objectives of the project. He said that post-Lowari Tunnel scenario in Chitral and access to the central Asian states and China would bring about an environment of cutthroat competition in different fields of life which would make the local people to struggle for their very survival if they were not prepared for it.
A number of beneficiaries of the project, including Sahifa Bibi of Yarkhoon valley, Sajid Ali Shah from Laspur and Zahid Ali from Karimabad, told this correspondent that they were prepared for community engagements.
They said that there were thematic areas set for the youth which included enterprise development training, value chain of local products, youth micro challenge awards (YMCAs), basic life skills, youth in sports and matters related with engagement of youth in the community. They said that the competition among the youth worked well and it instilled in them the sense of self-reliance.
They said that the project basically taught them how to prepare themselves for the job market and how to exploit their potentials to their full in the right direction. They claimed that one of the outcomes of the project was that the crime rate among the youth had been reduced over the years.
Sahifa Bibi now runs a shopping centre in the remotest valley and earns enough to support her family. Zaib from Bang village won the reward of YMCA for a project of woodcarving and local furniture and had now established a furniture workshop using the local species of wood. He has employed five youngsters in his workshop.
The manager marketing of the project, Sajjad Hussain, said that sensing the potential of tourism and mountaineering in Chitral and GB, training was imparted to a number of youth on tour operation and scaling mountain peaks.
Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2017