Alohomora

Pakistan

Dates: 2023

Unlocking ways to counter disinformation and negative reporting on minority groups.

Team Alohomora is an impressive group of young people unlocking ways to push back against disinformation and biased reporting in Pakistan.

This team is working directly with young journalists, media professionals and content creators to counter misrepresentation, hate speech and hostility sparked towards religious minorities on digital platforms.

With the support of Young Cities, the team began by holding outreach sessions for 80 people, sharing 200 brochures, and developing a website and campaign for their project. Their hard work paid off because 200 interested candidates ended up applying for their programme on faith-based reporting and countering disinformation.

Youth Reached in Outreach Sessions

Brochures Shared

200

Youth Trained

Stories Filmed

Stories Published

Story Booklets Shared

Building the capacities of young people to counter disinformation and produce positive stories of peace and inclusion.

The team went on to host a two-day training for 30 young content creators, with CSOs and provincial government actors in attendance. Their workshop focused on understanding the root causes of misinformation and awareness of tools for fact-checking and practicing ethical reporting.

But they didn’t stop there. Throughout the 2023 summer, the team and its participants filmed five inspiring stories of individuals from religious minority groups, which included Satwant Kaur, Daniel Saleem, Harbajan Singh, Sybil David and Amber Bajwa. The stories were shared on the team’s social media page and reached more that 2,000 people.

They also published stories of 10 young peacebuilders from diverse backgrounds, and 60 copies were successfully distributed across institutions, including the University of the Punjab’s Gender Studies Department and Social Work Department, Islamia College Lahore’s Social Work Department, and the Punjab Women Protection Authority and the Women Development Department (WDD). They shared their booklet with other influential stakeholders as well in government and UNICEF.

The team will be using their Young Cities Ambassador Grant to build on this impact by creating a network of young journalists and content creators, developing dedicated educational spaces with their stories and publishing more positive content on minority groups.