Lahore

Our Impact in Lahore

We aim for relevant and strategic impact at scale. Working closely with young people in identifying the needs of their communities and the challenges they face, we ensure that the solutions we support them in developing are targeted and sustainable.

Combining Sports with Participatory Theatre

A team of passionate activists who had never done participatory theatre before, combined the artistic method with football to counter the bystander effect during instances of discrimination.

The campaign sought to celebrate everyday citizens as potential superheroes in standing up to religious discrimination and hate, when witnessing it first-hand. Under the campaign name “Badhyaar Ho” (“Be Kind”), the campaign aimed to underscore common grievances between the Sunni majority and Shia Islamic minority and highlight and counter the bystander effect which prevents many from interceding.  The team wanted to foster a discussion among young people by showing it to them in a participatory theatre setting.  But since many young people in Lahore were not aware of what participatory theatre involved, the team made the event more accessible and playful by including a football element.

19 young people from Lahore – most of whom were women – took part in the football match and participatory theatre, joined by 56 spectators. The participatory theatre gave participants the opportunity to witness an incident of religious discrimination, intercede on behalf of the bystander and reflect on the performance and their participation. After the activities, there was a 30-minute open discussion where participants could reflect on their own experiences of witnessing or being subject to discrimination. All the participants left with commitments to stand up to discrimination in the future.