Social media blackouts
Pakistan has long touted its ambitions to improve its citizens’ quality of life and economic well-being through digital transformation. This includes initiatives such as Digital Pakistan, or the more recent…
Lies, damn lies and social media: fake news stalks Brazil vote
In a divisive election campaign blighted by fears of unrest if far-right President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to accept defeat, Brazil is waging an uphill battle against disinformation wielded as a…
Moral panic and social change
LAST week in an interview to a private TV channel, the prime minister made several remarks about what he believed were indicators of moral degradation in Pakistani society, and the underlying reason…
Broadening social protection
In my last article, ‘BISP and institutional reforms’, in these pages on September 25, I discussed some of the recently introduced institutional reforms to make BISP a merit-based and responsive…
Social entrepreneurs
Pakistan one of the best performers in second global poll Zofeen Ebrahim and Elena Berton From turning organic waste into fertiliser to sharing farm equipment, new businesses seeking to address…
Social protection
Widespread under-nutrition, especially iron deficiency, determines a range of negative consequences impacting the welfare of individuals and families as well as the economic and social development of the nation. This…
N Korea’s ‘socialist utopia’ needs mass labour
In January, thousands of North Korean students travelled to Mount Paektu, a sacred mountain where the ruling family claims its roots and where leader Kim Jong Un is building a…
Our social policy choices
Pakistan is an emerging democracy that has tremendous potential to overcome its political and socioeconomic problems. The democratic process over the past decade has helped improve Pakistan’s image as a…
Catalysts for social transformation
The traditional approaches of service delivery adopted by NGOs are fast losing credence in a world that is shaped by a benign ideological coercion. NGO-led mega projects of social services…
Abducting social activists
Had last week’s kidnappings of bloggers and social media activists happened in Balochistan, it would have been a non-event. But all five abductions happened in Punjab — and now the…
