The Peghaam Project – Countering Extremism Through SMS Work in Pakistan

Faith Matters has been working for over 2 years in Pakistan utilising mobile SMS messaging to counter extremist narratives or rhetorics. The work has placed themed messages to over 4 million Pakistanis in country and we are able to map, measure and analyse which themes of messages elicit the greatest responses from these regions. This is a unique piece of work and the mapping work also shows which populations in districts in Pakistan respond to which specific types of messages. We also received over 2.5 million inbound messages from a total of over 100 million SMS messages which were placed into the country. Furthermore, we were able to assess impact and changes through the project through unique and innovative methods that showed the value of mobile telephony in developing countries.

The SMS work in Pakistan was also utilised to ensure that equality and minority rights are protected in country. The Peghaam project remains one of the most relevant ways of reaching out to large numbers of individuals internationally and remains a potent tool in engaging with hard to reach populations and with individuals whose only form of communication with the outside world is the mobile phone.

Organisations looking to learn from the work that we have undertaken can make contact with us through info@faith-matters.co.uk and address their queries to the Director of Faith Matters. There is a tiered charge structure for ‘not for profit’ and ‘for profit’ organisations.

]]> https://www.faith-matters.org/the-peghaam-project-in-pakistan-countering-extremism/feed/ 0 274 https://www.faith-matters.org/faith-matters-international-projects/ Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:48:57 +0000 https://faith-matters.org/index.php/2010/04/20/faith-matters-international-projects/

Faith Matters has numerous branches across the globe. We undertake the following:

Faith Matters has also overseen two international ‘micro-finance’ projects which support the development of small businesses in Jerusalem, Israel and the West Bank in Palestine.

The Jerusalem Interest Free Fund: The fund provides small business and study loans to. The fund offers the loans for small business start-ups and educational courses for both communities – Arabs within East Jerusalem and the Orthodox Jewish community – on an interest free basis.

The Future Visions Charity: The charity supports entrepreneurs in the West Bank through micro and small business loans and to people in outlying villages in Palestine. Faith Matters provided strategic advice to the charity and helped to develop its structure, it direction and the systems it needed to develop in order to be effective.

Faith Matters Pakistan: Our work involves using new technologies in reaching out to new communities on a global basis. This work involves the use of SMS and social media, as well as Muslim and Christian interfaith dialogue work in Pakistan. Faith Matters is also undertaking its first capital build project in Jajuki, Pakistan and we are proud to have the opportunity to serve 100,000 Pakistani villagers in this area through the community centre that we are developing. Further work on Faith Matters Pakistan can be found on www.faith-matters.pk.

Faith Matters India: Our work in India involves work with young Hindus and Muslims and the promotion of dialogue between the two faith groups. This is being conducted in Delhi and involves young people discussing their identities and what it means to be Indian. Faith Matters India can be found on www.faith-matters.in.

Faith Matters Jerusalem: Our work in Jerusalem involves conflict resolution between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jewish communities. We believe the meeting and engagement of young Arabs and young Jews is a fundamental step to exposing both communities to the ‘other’ and in ensuring that the ‘other’ changes from being faceless and voiceless, to being a real person with a history and social narratives. This is the only way that stereo-typing and hate can be reduced and this work is facilitated by Faith Matters in Jerusalem.

Student Exchange Programmes: Faith Matters has undertaken numerous student exchange based programmes and we recently brought over students from the Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine and Jordan to the UK for a week long intercultural trip. The groups met young people in schools and further education colleges and they had the chance to experience the diverse communities in the UK. We are looking to bring over further groups in 2012.

The Future Visions Charity: The charity supports entrepreneurs in the West Bank through micro and small business loans and to people in outlying villages in Palestine. Faith Matters provided strategic advice to the charity and helped to develop its structure, it direction and the systems it needed to develop in order to be effective. The Future Visions Charity provides support to many Palestinian women in villages in the Jordan Valley and in the West Bank of Palestine. It also tries to use faith and business as a route to reducing tensions and mistrust between communities. It is these latter values and vision which synergises with the work of Faith Matters which also works on programmes to tackle intolerance, hatred and bigotry.

This link has also meant that models of co-existence and dialogue have been tried and implemented in communities in Palestine, the United Kingdom and Israel.

Faith Matters has overseen two international ‘micro-finance’ projects which support the development of small businesses in Jerusalem and the West Bank in Palestine.

The Jerusalem Interest Free Fund: The fund provides small business and study loans to Arab Palestinian women and Charedi (Orthodox Jewish) women. The fund offers the loans for small business start-ups and educational courses for both communities – Arabs within East Jerusalem and the Orthodox Jewish community – on an interest free basis.