1. Preston University:
Preston University is one of the country’s oldest private universities. Since its inception in 1984, Preston has been dedicatedly engaged in imparting state-of-the-art education in Business, Engineering, Social sciences and Technology, at graduate and postgraduate level, to the budding students of this country. Preston University is duly chartered by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and is fully recognized by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Government of Pakistan.
Preston University has always attached due importance to University-Industry Linkages as, due to increase in competition because of globalization and constant technological advancements, it has become imperative for universities to collaborate with industry to enhance dissemination of knowledge, increase research and development, and build the nation’s organizational capacity.
2. Preston Entrepreneurial Challenge PEC :
Preston University, a pioneer in private sector Higher Education has been engaged in imparting higher quality education to Pakistani and foreign students since the past thirty three (34) years. Preston University, Islamabad has organized an All Pakistan Inter University Business Plan Competition titled “Preston Entrepreneurial Challenge (PEC17’)” bearing the Slogan “PUR DAM HAI AGAR TU TOU NAHI KHATRA E UFTAAD”. The referenced mega event was scheduled from May 19-20, 2017 at Preston University, Islamabad Campus. PEC 17 encompassed challenging and fun-embracing events such as Business Plan Competition, Advocacy Campaign, Elevator Pitch, Be and Entrepreneur, Workshops, Surprise and recreational activities.
PEC each year is comprised on three day activities. Organizing an event like PEC 17 is geared at polishing the true potential of the youth and give them confidence that is essential to contribute to the development of their country, through entrepreneurial endeavors.
3. Advocacy Campaign:
Preston University Islamabad organized Preston Entrepreneurship Challenge PEC 17. This year the initiative was to enter 5th edition which was achieved very elegantly by the PEC Team. PEC 7 is a national level event where this time around 170 teams from around 40 universities participated across Pakistan. It was a privilege for Pakistani Youth to unleash their talent with very diverse back ground.
One day of the event was dedicated for “Advocacy Campaign Competition” where students were encouraged to develop communication campaigns around various social issues including, education, human rights, equality and diversity, peace and tolerance, health, gender, environments, livelihood etc.
In our previous editions, development sector organizations took great interest and supported the activity every year. In the past, Oxfam Novib and Save the Children had supported the event. The event provides great opportunity to reach out to youth coming from various parts of Pakistan and sensitize them on different social issues. Event also provides opportunity for customized thematic branding including venue branding, organizing thematic discussions and even campaigns submitted by students can be customized as per thematic areas managed by your organization.
With your kind and colossal support to conduct the Advocacy Campaign as a major part of PEC 17, we hereby thank your esteemed organization and would appreciate your kind support for future events to be held in our university.
4. Rationale
Pakistan can be characterized as an immensely plural country which is composed of diverse religious, sectarian and ethno-linguistic groups. The country has an overwhelmingly Muslim community which accounts for 90 percent of its 180 million inhabitants. The Muslim population however belongs to several doctrinal groups. Sunnis are in the majority amongst Muslims, with Shia Muslims and Zikris facing wide-spread discrimination. There are several Christian denominations, Bahais, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Kalasha, Parsis and Sikhs who are identified as non-Muslim Pakistanis and are quite vulnerable to various forms of violence and discriminations. Freedom of religion is a constitutional right in Pakistan. However, minority groups continue to face difficulties including discrimination, fear and intimidation and targeted violence.
Over half of the population of Pakistan is under the age of 35, and about 30 percent is between 15 and 25 out of which 50% are female. Presently, Pakistani youth, is in a vulnerable situation due to the lack of opportunities in employment, education, participation in political affairs and empowerment processes. There are lower levels of knowledge, information awareness, educational achievements and professional skills, as well as a general deterioration in health status and an increase in crime and law infringement among youth. UNDP’s 2009/2010 National Human Development Report on Youth indicates that youth are experiencing exclusion in almost all areas, including education, employment, health care, family, and entrepreneurship.
Lack of access to information and to channels where youth can express themselves is also a rising problem. There is not a single socio-political publication in the country aimed at youth. There is also clearly an information gap between the cities and small districts and a lack of trust in the mass media as an information source.
The continued lack of opportunities creates frustration among adolescents and youth and the lack of forums where they can voice their interest and concerns makes them vulnerable to being involved in violent demonstrations, criminal activities and general civil unrest. This was evident in recent wave of engagement of youth and their violent reactions in academic institutions in case related to religion and faith.
In the light of above current year theme is focused on Equality, Diversity and Gender. Participating youth from around 40 leading universities across Pakistan were capacitated on role of youth to promote the concept of equality, diversity and gender empowerment. The activity contributed in by empowering and mobilizing youth to contribute to this process. The event also facilitated in information dissemination on subject issues.
The following topics were given to the teams who participated:
Advocacy Topics:
- Political Empowerment
- Nutrition & Food Security
- Access to Justice
- HIV &Aids
- Freedom of speech
- Livelihood/ Poverty Alleviation for Transgender
- Minority Rights in Pakistan
- Culture Conflict
- Child Marriage
- Polio
- Gender Equality
- Interfaith & Intra-faith Harmony
- Child Rights
- Domestic Violence
- Women Education
- Primary Enrollment
- Inclusion of youth for promoting peace & tolerance in society
- Deforestation
- Water Conservation
- Changing Climate
- Fight against Air Pollution
- Women Participation in Electoral Process.
Minorities:
- In Pakistan Minorities is defined in following terms;
- On Religion Basis
- On Gender Basis
- On Geographic location Basis
Objectives: To create awareness
Target Audience:
- General public
- Government officials
- Minorities itself
Gender Equality:
- The problem for women is education , security.
- Opportunities for females to make them independent economically.
- Integrated marketing communication objectives is to create awareness in our target audience through campaigns and social media
Political Empowerment:
Key Problems
- Monarchs and Wadera System
- Overall low literacy rate
- Wasting right of vote
- Poverty
- lack of political awareness
- Prioritizing personal interests
Communication Objectives
- Awakening people about Vote casting
- Impact of Vote casting
- Spreading the word of confidence on the self and common interest of the people towards the country’s betterment.
- Awakening individuals’ responsibility towards nation and society (both ethical and interest based)
Child Marriage:
Binding Someone In A Relation When He/She Is Not Capable To Understand Their Relation
Early age marriages have many problems
- Responsibility
- Teenage life
- Divorce
- Education
- Career
- Health Issues
Universities Participated:
We received multiple registrations from different universities so making the tally to 30 in total teams which participated in Grand Finale. Each team for advocacy campaign was given a topic on which 7 minutes presentation followed by Question Answer Session by the judges was carried out.
- The universities which were taking part in this year`s PEC edition were:
- Preston University
- University of Malakand
- Superior University
- Bahria University
- NUST
- PIEAS
- University of Education
- Virtual University
- University of Gujrat
- Sardar Bhadur Khan Women University
- Government Post College Graduate for Women
- Institue of Space Technology
- FUUAST
- IQRA University
- BUITEMS
- NUML
- University of Turbat
- University for Veternity and Animal Sciences
- University of Lahore
6. Winners:
Jury members highly appreciated the efforts of Preston and CSSR for conducting such an exercise in which social issues of Pakistan were raised and solution to the problems were also addressed. Jury members praised the efforts of participating teams for putting up quality work. Conclusive remarks of the judges were that Preston and CSSR should in future keep doing such activities which are beneficial for the society and the organizations. They were of the opinion that such activity was first ever judged by them in a university level competition. Students were also enthralled by the event and rated it as the best competition among all which gave them an opportunity to oversee the social issues in Pakistan and working on the issues as an advocate to the sector.
Winner of the Event was Team from NUML University Islamabad whose given Topic was Deforestation/Tree Plantation.
At the end of the event participants were given the certificates of participation in Advocacy Campaign Competition, Trophies among the Event Winners, Chief Guest and Jury Members which was followed by dinner for Participants and Guests.
7. Media Coverage:
Electronic Media:
Event Collateral:
Pictorial Glimpse of the event:
