AGAHI AWARDS Celebrates Journalism Integrity - First Journalism Awards on Competitiveness Reporting

AGAHI AWARDS Celebrates Journalism Integrity - First Journalism Awards on Competitiveness Reporting

Pakistan’s most credible journalists recognized for their work at the annual AGAHI Awards in more than 40 categories.

• ARY News Wins the Favorite News Channel of the Year, 
• Waseem Badami Favorite Current Affairs Anchor (male),
• Aysha Buksh Favorite Current Affairs Anchor (female) for 2016 in the People’s Choice categories. 
• Naseem Zehra of Channel 24 recognized as the Most Credible Anchor of the Year 2016. 
• Arshad Sharif and Adeel Raja “AGAHI Awards Investigative Journalists of the Year.”

Winners of the AGAHI Awards 2016 with the Guests of Honors

Islamabad, PK – 10 December 2016: The efforts of journalists and media community are recognized every year through the AGAHI Awards. The AGAHI Awards acknowledges journalists’ professional commitment to promote accountability to safeguard public interest. Quality journalism heightens collective consciousness of a society that builds a nation’s identity and purpose. The best of the media industry striving for Ethical Journalism from all across Pakistan were recognized as Journalist of the Year in their respective categories today at the National Library of Pakistan, Islamabad.

The ceremony was hosted by senior journalists, Mubashir Zaidi and Amber Shamsi. This year AGAHI Awards received more than 3500 nominations from all over the country in more than 35 different categories from print, television, radio and online media. The AGAHI Awards received an overwhelming response by the journalist community - where AGAHI Awards reached more than 6 million Pakistanis through social media and almost 1.5 million through SMS for the Peoples’ Choice Awards categories including “Favorite News Channel of the Year” and “Current Affairs Anchors of the Year” in Pakistan. For the first time in the region, the AGAHI Awards also deployed big data and sentiments analysis to measure the people's choice categories.

Puruesh Chaudhary, President AGAHI and the co-founder of the AGAHI Awards while speaking to the participants said, “We can improve our way of thinking if we work together, the media can play an incredible role in helping the decision-makers identify people-centric challenges and opportunities thereby enabling them to opt for the right choices. AGAHI Awards is a step in that direction.”  

This is the first year the AGAHI Awards will include the special category ‘Eliminating Hidden Hunger & Malnutrition.’  Pakistan has one of the highest rates of stunting with nearly half of all children in Pakistan malnourished. With the support of the Australian Government and Mishal, the new category aims to encourage journalists to write more on this important issue.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Margaret Adamson said the Australian Government was supporting the special category to encourage journalists to raise community awareness of such a critical issue through better informed reporting. “Australia's aid program is supporting a range of programs underway to improve nutrition and food security in Pakistan. I am confident this initiative will help build the capacity of journalists to effectively report on this issue and in turn inform the high priority by policy makers and legislators to implementing cross cutting measures, with supporting funding, to eliminate the urgent issue of malnutrition and hidden hunger in Pakistan,” Ms. Adamson said.  

Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan and co-founder, AGAH Awards, in his welcome address said, “For the first time in the history of journalism, the content and the knowledge creator is taking the lead. In this new ecosystem, the guardians of the infrastructure are becoming irrelevant. It’s the journalist, who is taking the center stage now”. He further said, “Journalists are the drivers of public discourse, shaping policies, their stories are becoming a vital link between the citizens and the state”.

AGAHI Awards recognizes “Credibility” as the key currency for public trust for the attention economy, where media becomes the platform to create social values and transparency. AGAHI Awards is the recognition of journalists who have shown personal integrity and professional excellence to make Pakistan a more informed nation.

The AGAHI Awards 2016 Recognized the following “Journalists of the Year” in the following categories: 

* Nasim Zehra (Most Credible Anchor of the Year),  

* Waseem Badami (Peoples' Choice Awards: Favorite Current Affairs Anchor – Male), 

* Ayesha Buksh (Peoples’ Choice Awards: Favorite Current Affairs Anchor – Female), 

* ARY News (Peoples’ Choice Awards: Favorite News Channel of the Year),

* Arshad Sharif and Adeel Raja (Investigative Journalists of the Year),

      Javeria Siddique (Agriculture), 

      Naimat Khan (Anti-Corruption), 

      Adnan Aamir (Business & Economy), 

      Shafi Moosa Mansoori (Citizen Empowerment), 

      Shumaila Jaffery (Women Empowerment), 

      Muhammad Sameer Saleem (Youth Empowerment), 

      Samiullah Randhawa (Climate Change), 

      Mubarek Zeb Khan (Competitiveness), 

      Muhammad Irfan Haider & Sadia Qasim Shah (Conflict), 

      Muhammad Shahzad (Corporate Social Responsibility), 

      Adil Aziz Khanzada (CPEC), 

      Shahzia Nisar (Creating Shared Value), 

      Zehra Nawab (Culture & Tourism), 

      Syed Muhammad Abubaker (Disasters and Catastrophe), 

      Naqeebullah Taran (Education), 

      Muhammad Luqman (Eliminating Hidden Hunger), 

      Fazal Rahim Awan (Entrepreneurship), 

      Muhammad Shahzad (Extremism and Terrorism), 

      Muhammad Akbar Notezai (Foreign Policy), 

      Ahsan Raza (South Asia Bridge Initiative – SABI), 

      Muhammad Akbar Notezai (Foresight and Futures), 

      Wali Zahid (Governance), 

      Muhammad Shahid (Health), 

      Haroon Siraj (Human Rights), 

      Fariha Fatima (Infotainment), 

      Zeeshan Anwar (Innovation Journalism), 

      Hassan Bilal Zaidi (Information Communication Technology), 

      Khalid Khattak (Innovation), 

      Muhammad Suhail Yusuf (Reporting On Science), 

      Imran Malik (Institutional Reforms), 

      Zaheer Uddin Babar (Journalism for Peace), 

      Muhammad Atif Sheikh (Media Ethics), 

      Ihtisham ul Haq (Nutrition), 

      Zahid Gishkori (Open Government), 

      Sadia Seher (Photo Journalism - Print), 

      Hussain Afzal (Video Journalism Television), 

      Sheharyar Ali (Rule of Law), 

      Saeed Badshah (Sports), 

      Shehzad Ahmad (Sexual & Reproductive Health Rights - SRHR),

      Syed Muhammad Abubakar (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs), 

      Fazal Khaliq (Vocational Training & Technical Education),

      Syed Muhammad Abubakar (Water Diplomacy), 

      Muhammad Suhail Yusuf (Water, Energy & Food Security Nexus)

Inaugurated on March 28th, 2012, the AGAHI Awards are Pakistan’s first ever journalism awards recognizing the best journalists across print, television, radio and the internet on more than 40 different journalism thematic beats. AGAHI and Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with leading press clubs across the country, local and international media development bodies, regulatory authorities and the private sector organize these awards.

The AGAHI Awards are the most sought after journalism recognition in Pakistan. The Awards have been the foremost development initiative for media and journalism in the country. The awards have identified some of the most talented and diligent journalists in the industry. The AGAHI Awards winners have now acquired decision-making and leadership position across the media industry for “Shaping the Future of Journalism” in Pakistan.

The AGAHI Awards were co-founded by Mishal Pakistan and AGAHI. The evaluation methodology and selection criteria of the awards have been designed in collaboration with the Center for Internet and Media Ethics (CIME) and on the pillars of Media Development Indicators of UNESCO, with input from the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The Awards have been organized in collaboration with leading press clubs, local and international media development institutions, regulatory authorities, civil society organizations, private and public sector bodies and other stakeholders.

Leading opinion makers, senior journalists, policy makers, diplomats, academicians, leading professionals from the media industry and representatives from think tanks attended the award ceremony. The AGAHI Awards have been the foremost media development initiative for media and journalism in the country. The awards have identified some of the most talented and diligent journalists in the industry. The AGAHI Awards winners have now acquired decision-making and leadership position across the media industry for “Shaping the Future of Journalism” in Pakistan.

Mishal Pakistan is the country partner Institute of the Center for Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks at the World Economic Forum. Established in 2003, Mishal has been engaged with key stakeholders in Pakistan to improve the state of media and competitiveness through good governance initiatives.

AGAHI is a not for profit working since 2011 to create non-paid communication strategies and strategic foresight. AGAHI encourages and advises individuals and institutions in pursuing and supporting initiatives to improve the state of development in Pakistan. It works on developmental frameworks facilitating information and knowledge sharing platforms on understanding challenges in global perspective. It’s research work mainly focuses on national and international security, ICT, human capital development, and governance.

Pakistan Ranks 143 Among 144 Countries on the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum.

Pakistan Ranks 143 Among 144 Countries on the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum.

Islamabad/Geneva - 26 October 2016 - The world is facing an acute misuse of talent by not acting faster to tackle gender inequality, which could put economic growth at risk and deprive economies of the opportunity to develop, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2016, which is published today.

The report is an annual benchmarking exercise that measures progress towards parity between men and women in four areas: Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, Economic Opportunity and Political Empowerment. In this latest edition, the report finds that progress towards parity in the key economic pillar has slowed dramatically with the gap – which stands at 59% – now larger than at any point since 2008.

Iceland (1) takes the top spot for the eighth consecutive year, closing more than 87% of its overall gender gap. Followed by Finland at 2nd and Norway at the 3rd place. Nordic nations continue to rank among highest performing countries, but several developing and emerging markets have also made it into the top 20; the US falls to 45th

Pakistan at (143) remains the region’s lowest-ranked country and second-to-last ranked overall. It records progress on closing the secondary education enrolment gender gap, and on women’s estimated earned income, but this is partly offset by reversals on wage equality and female-to-male literacy ratios.

Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, the country partner institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network, World Economic Forum said, “Pakistan remains one of the few countries in the world, which does not have female federal minister, whereas, there are only two state ministers at the centre”. He further said, “the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, each also have only one female minister in their cabinet. Balochistan remains with no female minister in its cabinet”. Jahangir further said, “Pakistan needs to concentrate more in creating enabling environment to bring its women leaders into decision making roles, both in the public as well as private sectors”.

Pakistan’s scores on the Four Pillars of the Global Gender Gap Index has not improved much from last year. Both on the Economic Participation and Opportunity Pakistan Scores at (143) and Education Attainment (135) Pakistan has not changed from last year. On Health and Survival Pilar Pakistan has improved from 125 last year to 124 in 2016. However, on the Political Empowerment, Pakistan has been ranked at 90 as compared to 87 in 2015.

Pakistan's Performance on the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum	Rankings 2015	Rankings 2016	Change
Economic participation and opportunity	143	143	0
Labour force participation	140	139	-1
Wage equality for similar work (survey)	88	114	26
Estimated earned income (US$, PPP)	140	138	-2
Legislators, senior officials, and managers	124	122	-2
Professional and technical workers	122	119	-3
Educational attainment	135	135	0
Literacy rate	136	138	2
Enrolment in primary education	134	127	-7
Enrolment in secondary education	124	134	10
Enrolment in tertiary education	99	1	-98 methodology change
Health and survival	125	124	-1
Sex ratio at birth	1	1	0
Healthy life expectancy	131	130	-1
Political empowerment	87	90	3
Women in parliament	72	70	-2
Women in ministerial positions	141	139	-2
Years with female head of state (last 50)	26	28	2

The World Economic Forum identifies the key data on Pakistan as; Country GDP at (US$ billions) 269.97GDP per capita (constant '11 intl. $, PPP) 4,745. The total population (thousands) 188,924.87. The Population growth rate at (%) 1.97. The Population sex ratio (female/male) at 0.95 and Human capital optimization (%) 53.10.

“These forecasts are not foregone conclusions. Instead, they reflect the current state of progress and serve as a call to action to policy-makers and other stakeholders to double down on efforts to accelerate gender equality,” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of Education, Gender and Work, and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum.

In South Asia, with 67% of its overall gap closed, is home to two of the top 10 climbers of the world since 2006: Nepal (110) and India (87). Nevertheless, progress in closing the economic gap has been negligible and it could take over 1,000 years to close the economic gender gap fully unless efforts are accelerated.

With an average remaining gender gap of 33%, the South Asia region is the second-lowest scoring on this year’s Global Gender Gap Index, ahead of the Middle East and North Africa and behind the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Bangladesh and India are the top-ranked countries in the region, having closed just under 70% and 68% of their overall gender gap, respectively, while the lowest-ranked countries are Bhutan and Pakistan, having closed 64% and 56% of their overall gender gap, respectively. No country in the region has fully closed its Educational Attainment gender gap, and only one country, Sri Lanka, has fully closed its Health and Survival gender gap. However, the region is also home to one of the top five climbers over the past decade on the overall Index and on Educational Attainment: Nepal.



On the global front the global prospects for workplace Gender Equality has Slip to the Year 2186 now. There are several factors behind this decline; One is salary, with women around the world on average earning just over half of what men earn despite, on average, working longer hours taking paid and unpaid work into account. Another persistent challenge is stagnant labour force participation, with the global average for women standing at 54%, compared to 81% for men. The number of women in senior positions also remains stubbornly low, with only four countries in the world having equal numbers of male and female legislators, senior officials and managers, despite the fact that 95 countries now have as many – if not more – women educated at university level. In 2015, projections based on the Global Gender Gap Report data suggested that the economic gap could be closed within 118 years, or 2133. However the progress has reversed since then, having peaked in 2013.

The slow rate of progress towards gender parity, especially in the economic realm, poses a particular risk given the fact that many jobs that employ a majority of women are likely to be hit proportionately hardest by the coming age of technological disruption known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This “hollowing out” of female livelihoods could deprive economies further of women’s talents and increases the urgency for more women to enter high-growth fields such as those demanding STEM skills. “Women and men must be equal partners in managing the challenges our world faces – and in reaping the opportunities. Both voices are critical in ensuring the Fourth Industrial Revolution delivers its promise for society,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Key Messages
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2016 finds economic parity between the sexes could take 170 years after a dramatic slowdown in progress
Slowdown partly down to chronic imbalances in salaries and labour force participation, despite the fact that, in 95 countries, women attend university in equal or higher numbers than men
Nordic nations continue to rank among highest performing countries, but several developing and emerging markets have also made it into the top 20; the US falls to 45th

The Methodology
The Global Gender Gap Index ranks 144 countries on the gap between women and men on health, education, economic and political indicators. It aims to understand whether countries are distributing their resources and opportunities equitably between women and men, irrespective of their overall income levels. The report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four areas:

• Economic participation and opportunity – salaries, participation and leadership
• Education – access to basic and higher levels of education
• Political empowerment – representation in decision-making structures
• Health and survival – life expectancy and sex ratio

Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap that has been closed between women and men, and allow countries to compare their current performance relative to their past performance. In addition, the rankings allow for comparisons between countries. Thirteen out of the 14 variables used to create the index are from publicly available hard data indicators from international organizations such as the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organization, and one comes a perception survey conducted by the World Economic Forum.
In this year’s report, a key methodological change relates to the cap on the estimated earned income (raised from $40,000 to $75,000) to align with the UNDP’s new methodology and reflecting the change in income levels since the report’s inception in 2006.

System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Education, Gender and Work
In addition to benchmarking gender gaps through the Global Gender Gap Report series and other topical studies, the World Economic Forum’s System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Education, Gender and Work aims to ensure that talent is developed, nurtured and deployed for maximum benefit to the economy and society by mobilizing business, governments and civil society leaders to rethink education, close skills gaps, accelerate gender parity and boost employment.

Established in 2003, Mishal has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organizations, including media enterprises and global development agencies helping them develop their communication strategies and solutions for better understanding and creating synergies with their concerned stakeholders. Mishal is the country partner institute of the Center for Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum. Mishal’s research and capacity building initiatives have assisted and helped successive governments to improve Pakistan’s global ranking on competitiveness, gender gap, trade and information technology indices.

Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 Ranks Pakistan at 122 among 138 countries

Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 Ranks Pakistan at 122 among 138 countries.

Pakistan improves four points on the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum. For the eighth consecutive year, Switzerland ranks as the most competitive economy in the world, narrowly ahead of Singapore and the United States.

Pakistan has shown some extraordinary recovery on the economic front, where the country has been successful in improving its macroeconomic framework to improve its global competitiveness.

Pakistan is classified as a factor driven economy, which basically depends on improving its institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education indicators. Pakistan improved from 119 to 111 on the institutions pillars, while infrastructure improved only one point and stands at 116 this year. On the Macroeconomic Stability Pillar Pakistan jumped from 128 in 2015 to 116. A solid 12 points gain, which shows the country has made economic progress on gross national savings percentage of GDP, where Pakistan improved from 115 in 2015 to 107 this year. While the government debt percentage to GDP also ranks at 95 among 138 economies in the world. The biggest gain however is in the area of inflation; annual percentage change where Pakistan moved from 127 in 2015 to 93 in 2016.

On other pillars, among 138 countries, Pakistan ranks at Health and Primary Education 128, Higher Education and Training 123, Goods Market Efficiency 117, Labour Market Efficiency 129, Financial Market Sophistication 107, Technological Readiness 119, Market Size 29, Business Sophistication 95 and Innovation 75.

Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum said, “Pakistan has shown improvements on some of the key indicators to improve its global competitiveness, however the country still needs to integrate itself into the digital and cyber world. Pakistan with approx. 186 million population offers great prospects if data and knowledge-based policy making is introduced in the country”. He further said, “decision making based on big-data can enable the governments to engage their citizens in policy making and democratization of development process. In the fourth industrial revolution Pakistan can make a larger digital footprint in the cyber world, thus making its mark on the global policy making, however the country needs to equip its next generation with education and knowledge through digital services and mobile broadband”.

This year among 114 global competitiveness indicators, Pakistan showed improvements on 54 key indices, whereas on 50 indices the country lost its previous position. While 10 indices remained same as last year.
 

Pakistan at 122, ranks last amongst its South Asian neighbors, where India leads at 39 followed by Sri Lanka 71, Bhutan 97, Nepal 98 and Bangladesh at 106. South Asia continues its upward trend as competitiveness improves in most countries in the region. India has been the best performer, climbing to 39th from 55th last year. Over the past decade, the subcontinent has focused on improving overall health and primary education levels and upgrading available infrastructure, areas of particular importance given the resource-driven nature of its economy. However, the latter remains the second weakest spot in the region, just after technological readiness.

To improve the soft-data on Pakistan, the World Economic Forum closely worked with Mishal Pakistan, the country partner institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of WEF. This year a total of 350 respondents from the business community were reached out through the annual Executive Opinion Survey, whereas 114 were selected from last year and 236 from this year. The World Economic Forum reached out to 14,000 business executives globally.

The report also shows performance of some of the key regulatory bodies and other government institutions, which have shown progress as well. Among 138 countries the institutions are ranked as following: Intellectual Property Organization (109), Judicial Independence (88), Police Services (118), Auditor General of Pakistan Revenues (121), National Highways Authority (77), Pakistan Railways (53), Civil Aviation Authority (91), NEPRA (121), Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (115), National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (97), Competition Commission of Pakistan (96), Pakistan Customs (113), State Bank of Pakistan among other 138 Central Banks at (101), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan at (106) and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (135). The SEC of Pakistan has been losing its global ranking at an alarming rate from 51 in 2014 to 106 this year. 

 

The report also indicates that a ten-year decline in the openness of economies at all stages of development poses a risk to countries’ ability to grow and innovate, according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017. The report is an annual assessment of the factors driving productivity and prosperity in 138 countries. The degree to which economies are open to international trade in goods and services is directly linked to both economic growth and a nation’s innovative potential. The trend, which is based on perception data from Global Competitiveness Index (GCI)’s Executive Opinion Survey, is gradual and attributed mainly to a rise in non-tariff barriers although three other factors are also taken into account; burdensome customs procedures; rules affecting FDI and foreign ownership. It is most keenly felt in the high and upper middle income economies.

“Declining openness in the global economy is harming competitiveness and making it harder for leaders to drive sustainable, inclusive growth,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.

The report also sheds light on why quantitative easing and other monetary policy measures have been insufficient in reigniting long-term growth for the world’s advanced economies. The report finds that interventions by economies with comparatively low GCI scores failed to generate the same effect as those performed in economies with high scores, suggesting that strong underlying competitiveness is a key requirement for successful monetary stimulus.

The report offers insight into how priorities may be shifting for nations in earlier stages of development. While basic drivers of competitiveness such as infrastructure, health, education and well-functioning markets will always be important, data in the GCI suggests that a nation’s performance in terms of technological readiness, business sophistication and innovation is now as important in driving competitiveness and growth. The Global Competitiveness Report’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2005. Defining competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country, GCI scores are calculated by drawing together country-level data covering 12 categories – the pillars of competitiveness – that collectively make up a comprehensive picture of a country’s competitiveness. The 12 pillars are: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation. 

 Key Findings:

• The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 finds declining openness is threatening growth and prosperity.
• Monetary stimulus measures such as quantitative easing are not enough to sustain growth and must be accompanied by competitiveness reforms.
• For emerging economies, updated business practices and investment in innovation are now as important as infrastructure, skills and efficient markets.
• Switzerland, Singapore and the United States remain the world’s most competitive economies; India is the highest rising economy, climbing 16 places
• Access the full report, infographics, videos and more visit: weforum.org