Improving Pakistan’s ranking on the Human Development Index: Are the youth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the answer?

This is a land of paradoxes. It has an illustrious past but a troubled present. Its soil is rich, yet the people are poor. They face countless hardships but remain optimistic. This is the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

There are many factors contributing to the misfortunes of the over 35 million people of this area. These include an influx of refugees from Afghanistan over the years as well as a huge volume of internal migration, both of which put a strain on already meagre public services. In addition, the security operations against the rising insurgency in the region also took a significant toll on the region’s infrastructure and capacities. 

The strife of recent years only multiplied a plethora of social and economic problems of this area that stemmed from low economic opportunities and lack of literacy. The unemployment rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is higher than what is considered ‘healthy’ for an economy. Additionally, the share of the employed workforce in the informal sector has also increased, signaling lower wages and lower productivity. 

The literacy levels have been generally low across all segments of society, but particularly for women. The quality of education especially for the poorest 20% is less than desirable. 

The young people who are lucky enough to get an education against all odds, still have no opportunities to make use of their learning. Naturally, the fulfillment of SDGs in this region is also very low because of a lack of infrastructure, poor reach of public services, and huge differences in access and opportunity across districts.

Meanwhile, the problems that hinder the youth from reaching their full potential also enable them to devise the best solutions for them. After all, they have experienced these problems first-hand and more closely than anyone else. We believe in enabling young people to take the lead and become positive agents of change for a brighter and more prosperous future. 

To this end, UNDP recently devised a youth challenge where the young men, women and transgenders of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were given an opportunity to design solutions for peace building and conflict prevention. And the response bowled us over. We had youth intent on promoting cultural connections between Afghanistan and Pakistan through music and art, conducting HIV awareness sessions for Transgenders and equally passionate about helping aspiring women cricketers appear for official Pakistan Cricket Board’s trials. 

We gave cash prizes - to the 50 winners - as seed funding, along with mentoring support to transform their innovative ideas into action.  

Social cohesion, respect for diversity and pluralism, and enabling dialogue between the youth and other segments of the society are key factors for improvement in the Human Development Index with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on its way upwards.

Footnotes: Text by Ayesha Babar, Communications Analyst and Head of Communication Unit, UNDP Pakistan / Photos by Shuja Hakim, Communications Officer, UNDP Pakistan