GIZ Funded Support to Local Government Project (LoGo)

Center has been working with the LoGo Programme’s result area State-Citizen Dialogue for development and implementation of a Communication for Development (C4D) Campaign to support citizen’s voices, rights and responsibilities in Pakistan. The Support to Local Governance Programme is implemented by GIZ and SDC to improve service delivery by local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab. The programme consists of three interlinked components of supporting local government reforms, increasing local revenue generation, right to information and enhancing state-citizen dialogues. LoGo has been implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The program aims at strengthening the local government system by contributing to a trust-based state-citizen relationship and building capacities for service delivery based on people’s needs. This is where a series of integrated communication activities, based on human centered design approach and entertainment education, were launched to steer an interactive communicationscampaign between the local government and citizens. The outreach aimed at multiple segments of society, especially women and youths. Under this initiative, Center developed and launched a fictional character named “Qasim the Khadim” to be the carrier of messages to citizens and counterparts. The character was developed through a participatory approach based on human centred design and has inputs from partners in Punjab and KP. Qasim the Khadim has reached thousands of people, including students and women across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through transmedia activities, such as theatre performances, comics and posts for social media, as well as live action and animation videos.

One key achievement of the LoGo project was its exhibition at the second edition of the prestigious Paris Peace forum at la Grande Halle de La Villette, in Paris, France. It is a European initiative championed by the president of France, Mr. Emmanuel Macron to tackle global problems that requires international cooperation and collective action. The Right to Information Evaluation Methodology, which is part of the LoGo Project, was the only project that was selected from Pakistan to be showcased at this prestigious international forum from more than 700 project submissions from 115 countries. The representation of Pakistan within the context of its progress in the field of “Right to Information” was a recognition of its efforts in a field that is quite contemporary as well as critical to the modern concept of democracy. Center was part of the group that represented Pakistan alongside the Government dignitaries including the Federal Education Minister, Mr. Shafqat Mehmood, the Provincial Minister for Information KP, Mr. Shaukat Yusufzai and the Provincial Finance Minister for KP, Mr. Taimoor Jhagra.

LoGo project has led with a work package to increase knowledge and awareness about rights and responsibilities of an active citizenship through interventions based on human centered design, visibility strategies, excellence in learning, Entertainment Education (EE), outreach and social mobilization, and civic education. Center has also built the capacity of all concerned government partners from KP and Punjab in continuing the activities for long-term benefits to the core mandate of the project.