Pakistani Youth Set Out to Make a Difference

Youth all over the world have plenty of lessons to learn and best practices to glean from their colleagues at FLP. First and foremost, funding should never be a prerequisite for an endeavor that a committed group of youth wish to undertake.
     —Zeeshan Suhail

Many in the Western world are unaware of a transformation taking place in the Muslim world, and even less aware of the fact it is being spearheaded by youth. Future Leaders of Pakistan (FLP) is just one example of these groups, but it is a superb one, because of the results they have managed to demonstrate in their few years of existence. Best of all, the change they are leading has brought together youth on not just a national, but international level.

FLP was created in 1998 by a group of students who wanted to do something for Pakistan. Today, the organization has hundreds of members and many other supporters and allies all across the globe. Its goal is simple: Providing youth with leadership opportunities through mentoring, networking, entrepreneurship, project management and advocacy. While members range between 18–35 years of age, and come from diverse ethnic, political, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, they are able to put aside their differences and focus on activities to motivate and unite youth to do something for Pakistan. Here is a look at what they've been accomplishing:

• Helping Pakistan's Internally Displaced People (IDPs)
  This past year, FLP raised thousands of dollars for those displaced by the fighting in northern Pakistan's Swat Valley. The money went entirely to provide food and medicine for families and children affected by the conflict. Many of FLP's younger leaders exhibited such extraordinary leadership qualities and drive that they eventually started their own organizations. For example, one member, named Zoone Abbas, started Thali, an NGO that provides food to those most in need.
• Entrepreneurship
  This year, renowned American author Ethan Casey visited Pakistan and made it a point to meet with the leaders of FLP. He gave them copies of his book, Alive and Well in Pakistan, which the entrepreneurial youth leaders decided to auction off to raise funds—not for the organization, but for the IDP relief campaign!
• Parliament Watch
  One of FLP's landmark projects, Parliament Watch (PW), received rave reviews from many quarters, including the media and even the political parties it sought to do research on. PW aggregated information about all the politicians who were going to run in the elections of 2008. This included educational background, district information and political affiliation, among other information. The current president of FLP, Tamreez Inam, was the project coordinator for PW at the time and led a team of 12–15 volunteers who worked several hours per week just to get the site and database (of 16,000 politicians!) up and running by the time the February 2008 elections came around. Not only did FLP want the elections to be transparent, they wanted the electorate to be educated and enlightened about the choices before them. Tamreez recalls how this was the tipping point for FLP; its leadership searched for ways to make the organization bigger, better and more dynamic. Procedures have been more streamlined and membership has increased nearly tenfold.

FLP has not only caught the attention of local media outlets and leaders in the civic and political arena, but also of the UK Youth Parliament and British Telecom. FLP was recognized as an "Example of Excellence" in the Seen & Heard Awards of 2008 for two of their projects: Parliament Watch and Dialogue on Leadership.

FLP allows its members enough flexibility to embark on endeavors they believe in and then allows the network to assist in ways they deem appropriate. At the same time, certain projects must be put aside if they do not meet the benchmarks set by "senior management," which consists of members elected through elections every few months, or annually, according to the position that is vacant. A case in point is member Zain Sadullah Khan's initiative called "Read and Feed," which involved reading to kids and feeding them after the story-telling session. Moreover, many of the youth leaders spearheaded leadership conferences on their own, with no support from FLP other than providing them with the global network of fellow future leaders. It is quite astounding what they managed to get done with such meager resources—a great lesson for youth who yearn to do something, but think money is what hinders their progress.

Youth all over the world have plenty of lessons to learn and best practices to glean from their colleagues at FLP. First and foremost, funding should never be a prerequisite for an endeavor that a committed group of youth wish to undertake. FLP continues to rely on the volunteerism and enthusiasm of youth. More importantly, common goals and objectives should be laid out clearly, and initiative and drive should be encouraged. The true hallmark of a successful social enterprise is that it incubates ideas that have the power to positively alter our world and then provides opportunities for members of that organization to implement them. FLP does all of this and so much more. In my various interactions with FLP's leaders, I have realized that they are not just the future leaders of Pakistan—they are, in fact, today's leaders of Pakistan.

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