Islamabad – 28 May 2019: In an effort to digitally empower Pakistan’s youth, Jazz, the country’s leading digital communications company and Oxfam in Pakistan, a leading international development organization have agreed to collaborate. The partnership will result in the expansion of a number of socioeconomic opportunities, especially for young adolescent girls, to create a more inclusive digital environment for future generations.

Jazz and Oxfam aim to tackle the root cause of poverty by aligning their sustainability efforts with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. For Jazz, the objective is to scale up sustainable solutions. Both organizations believe more young Pakistanis need to learn about blended education platforms; get online to access critical content and life skills, and gain digital financial literacy.

This partnership aims to scale up and create innovative solutions for achieving tangible results through Jazz’s Make your Mark programme. These solutions will be directed towards supporting digital skills training and literacy for young girls with a key focus on the Girl Child Education program which Oxfam is currently implementing across 38 schools in Sindh and Punjab. This partnership will also identify synergies for joint work as Oxfam is currently implementing its innovative Empower Youth for Work programme while Jazz focuses on youth empowerment through access to technology. Additionally, this collaboration also seeks to work jointly for adult literacy for women, in the rural areas of Pakistan, using technology in coordination with the Ministry of Education.

Syed Ali Naseer, Chief Corporate and Enterprise Officer at Jazz said, “Youth empowerment is a core focus that aligns with the social mandates of both Jazz and Oxfam. We realize that there is an urgent need to work to address poverty alleviation by introducing digital literacy tools for young girls in underserved areas. Young people must absorb the skills required to thrive in a futuristic economy.”

Oxfam in Pakistan Country Director Mohammed Qazilbash said, “With the ICT resources and tools at Jazz’s disposal and Oxfam’s local and global developmental expertise, both organizations can bridge the education gaps in our public schools by imparting digital skills and collaborating to create a more ICT-ready job base for young people, particularly women.”

With this collaboration both organizations are aligning their goals with the SDG 4 (Quality Education) of the Government of Pakistan. Over the next few years, further interventions will be presented to stakeholders to expand impact towards the agenda of youth empowerment and education for girls through technology.