July 18, 2019
Mediothek Afghanistan, in collaboration with Media Training and Research Center (MTRC)-Islamabad, organized a SWOT ANALYSIS WORKSHOP – the third event of the Afghan & Pakistani Youth Peace Ambassadors-2019. The SWOT analysis workshop officially inaugurated on July 13, 2019 in Kabul with nine youth ambassadors participating from across various provinces of Pakistan and twenty youth peace ambassadors from several Afghan provinces and Kabul. The event was preceded by two separate seminars “Seminar on History and Politics” in Kabul and Islamabad in May of 2019.
Speaking at the opening of the program, Mr. Shahbaz Hussain Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Kabul, talked about the importance people to people relations and the commonalities between the two brotherly nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan and how the young ambassadors’ initiative can building on those communalities to further strengthen relations between the two countries. “We believe that countries do not prosper on their own, it is the region that prosper” added Mr. Shahbaz Hussain, in his remarks.
The SWOT Analysis Workshop as well as the preceding seminars on history and politics (organized in Kabul & Islamabad) and subsequent dialogue of youth peace ambassadors of both countries with political decision-makers, outreach workshops, peace festivals and several other programs and events including modern skills acquisition trainings are organized within the framework of Afghan-Pakistani Youth Ambassadors for Peace initiative in the course of 2019.
As a follow-up to the Seminar on History and Politics, the SWOT Analysis Workshop provided a unique opportunity for the young ambassadors of both countries to come together in Kabul and identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to the topics they discussed during the separate seminars on history and politics in their respective countries.
Young ambassadors engaged in lively dialogues and constructive group work discussions in the course of the program moderated by Dr. Omer Sharifi, a renowned expert with in-depth know about Afghanistan and Pakistan.
With an understanding of the current situation in the region, especially in the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the need for consolidating people to people relations, Mediothek Afghanistan has been working with youth leaders, academics, media and civil society organizations to create an environment of mutual trust and openness, giving young leaders and peace activists a chance to come together to share their views and concerns about peace, security, regional integration, development, challenges and opportunities.
“There are absolutely different views among Afghan and Pakistani youths about each other due to negative perceptions about the Afghans in Pakistan and the perception about the negative role of Pakistan in Afghanistan, which we will try to change during our discussions and group work,” says Dr. Sharifi, “and we will do this by let the young ambassadors of both countries to engage in constructive dialogues with each other.”
In addition to facilitated discourses, group discussions, analyses and in-class presentations, the young ambassadors of both countries had the opportunity to visit several governmental institutions and meet high-ranking officials including the Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mr. Idrees Zaman, who brief the participants about Afghan President’s visit to Pakistan, the Afghan-led and owned Peace Process, expanded and consolidated relations of both countries’ peoples and the strong role of young ambassadors in peace, Presidential Elections in its due time, and the importance of peace for advancing of political and economic relations between the two countries. And, Ahmad Nader Nadery, Chairman of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Services Commission, who briefed the young ambassadors on the achievements of his institution and the Afghan Government as a whole in administrative reform, in a country rising from the ashes of a devastating conflict..
Participating young ambassadors of both countries hailed the initiative, describing it as a very effective and practical mechanism for creating understandings and consolidating relations in the region through youth and citizens’ engagement. The SWOT ANALYSIS WORKSHOP ended with a cultural evening and distribution of certificates. The Afghan-Pakistani Youth Ambassadors for Peace initiative is funded by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
