National Policy Dialogue Series

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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So we have a lot of intellectuals in this forum, each of whom has very refined and evolved views on how the government of Pakistan could potentially design and implement sounder policies that could lead to advancement in our education, technology, research.. etc.

Heres your oppurtunity to make your views heard, and win some money in the process. I know Code_red has some pretty solid ideas, write them in a paper format, and you have an entry.

We really need to ensure participation in these kinds of projects, because its rare in our country to find encouragement and platforms for making our voices and ideas heard about our governance by people who can actually use some of those ideas.

I am a member of this network, and if you have any questions please PM me or respond to this thread.

Below is the flyer for this contest. The date has been extended..

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VTTP National Policy Dialogues Series

Science, Technology & Research Policy, Basic/Primary & Higher Education Reform

The National Policy Dialogue Series (NPDS) is designed as an exercise in participative national policymaking and aimed at inviting societal participation in idea generation, dialogue, and implementation of bold, creative, and pragmatic solutions to Pakistan’s most contentious problems. The first step of this series of interlinked initiatives is a Policy Papers Contest;subsequent activities might include a media dialogue, a national conference of idea champions, and corporate sponsored implementation pilots. Seeking to create a national repository of creative policy proposals and ideas, 5-10 page essays/papers (concise, substantive, and specific) are sought from individuals belonging to the entire cross section of Pakistani society i.e. ALL PROFESSIONALS/STUDENTS dealing with the following suggested topics:

� Higher Education Reform in Pakistan: What Went Wrong, How to Fix it?

� Practical & Innovative Approaches to promoting a Performance Culture in Higher Education.

� What should be the Science and Technology Policy Priorities/Actions for Pakistan?

� What Topical Areas of Research, Science & Technology should Pakistan Stress Upon and why?

� Practical & Creative ways of marketing Pakistan (the brand) and its Research/Technology abroad?

� Practical Models for Delivering Universal Basic & Primary Education in Pakistan.

� Practical & Innovative Approaches to Reforming Basic/Primary Education in Pakistan.

A national committee of experts will judge the essays/papers on several criteria like degree of realism and specificity, practicality/feasibility of proposed approaches, creativity and ingenuity of arguments and solutions, objectivity and quality of research etc. Several awards, including a National First, Second, and Third Prizes (Rs. 25,000, 15,000 and 10,000 respectively) and Plaques as well as Certificates of participation, would be awarded. Entries are due by August 14, 2004 (at the very latest) through email at ([email protected]). One individual may submit more than one paper. Papers would be evaluated and displayed on our website on a rolling basis, so please send in your paper as soon as possible.

Please visit VTTP website (http://npds.vttp.org) to download detailed Writers� Guideline and detailed instructions on the contest or you may send a blank email to [email protected] to subscribe to contest�s mailing list for receiving a detailed Writer’s Guideline and regular updates. All entries would be made available on VTTP website and those of its co-sponsors. A National Conference, interaction with decision-makers, and other dissemination opportunities might follow.

Organized by: The Virtual Think Tank Pakistan (VTTP)

In Collaboration with: Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC), Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST) and Pakistan Research Support Network (PRSN)

Sponsored by: Engro Chemicals Pakistan Ltd.

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bump!

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Cool :k: :roman:

Very important aspect. And perhaps a good chance for many pakistanis living abroad to analyse what they have done to promote Pakistan the brand

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If you guys do some trade stuff let me know. I am currently writing some academic papers on Pakistan's services sector which will take a long time to complete. But hey i could cover a quick policy paper.

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code red, :k:, why dont you go ahead and write something on it :smiley:

CM.. could u be more specific about what the topic of your research is? If its specific to Pakistan theres a good chance a lot of people would be interested in your views.

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Alright currently working on the services sector. I am looking at market access oppurtunities in developing countries withing the WTO regime. Basically i am looking for a way to increase our exports. I am gonna do this in three parts. I am gonna analyze our existing domestic regulation in the services sectors and how it affects its growth and stuff. The second paper will be a priliminary study on the different sectors, their strenghts and weaknesses and which would benefit pakistan. After these two are done i am gonna look at the which countries we can export too. What are their commitments under the WTO regime and how can we take advantage of that to increase our export.

After that i am not sure which subject i will cover.

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CM, I've forwarded your topic to the organisers of the mini-conference, will let you know soon abt their feedback.

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so this is the feedback I recieved CM.. cant make much of it, perhaps you can..

[quote]

What this person can do is to focus on opportunities to export technology oriented goods and services. For example, what would be impact of GATS/WTO on developing country's ability to export software products and services.

[/quote]

i believe since the collaborators are HEC/research council/falana they wish the papers to be specific to technology/education/etc. Dunno..

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This is a paper i will be working on for the next couple of months. I honestly wont specify it to the IT sector alone, because that would be a waste of time. We hold no comparative advantage nor is it one of our major exports yet.

Plus no offense to the people incharge but that is a pretty general comment. I can write a PHD thesis on this topic and not even cover 20% of the subject. You have 4 agreements which cover IT. GATT, GATS, TRIPS and the ITA. Covering each one would take me years.

I was just mentioning a paper i am already writting. I wont enter the competition. This is just for my personal pleasure and maybe to provide a research resource for the Pakistani WTO community.

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wow. This thread is one of the most important threads i think i have read on gupshup. Thanks for sharing this with us, Ravage :k:

Very very interesting.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by CM: *
This is a paper i will be working on for the next couple of months. I honestly wont specify it to the IT sector alone, because that would be a waste of time. We hold no comparative advantage nor is it one of our major exports yet.

Plus no offense to the people incharge but that is a pretty general comment. I can write a PHD thesis on this topic and not even cover 20% of the subject. You have 4 agreements which cover IT. GATT, GATS, TRIPS and the ITA. Covering each one would take me years.

I was just mentioning a paper i am already writting. I wont enter the competition. This is just for my personal pleasure and maybe to provide a research resource for the Pakistani WTO community.
[/QUOTE]

CM, I guess they're bound by constraints from funding/collaborating organizations who wish to keep the content of the papers specific to their orientation.

I dont think the comment was directed towards getting you to change the direction of your research, but perhaps to gain an additional publication without doing very much work for it (incase its just a subtopic of your main thrust). 5 pages isnt much anyway in terms of research content.. so the articles dont need to be comprehensive..

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nadia, im really really glad you find it that way.

i actually am just passing the buck in a way, because even though I am interested in doing anything I could to influence our governance positively, I find that my opinions arent really much beyond ke we should have more higher education, and that the state should fund lots of students for one semester (and let them manage/hunt for aid after that) instead of funding fewer phds for five years.

i find that this forum has plenty of people who have much more vocal and eloquent views about what areas the government falls short in. You for example, Im pretty sure would be interested in universal basic education approaches.

the sad thing of it is, that in this case the government isnt unwilling to lend an ear (which is the usual complaint). its just that people (including me) arent forthcoming in speaking.

this is a volunteer initiative, and i know its very very hard getting the ear of the bodies that are actually have eventually come to collaborate in this. the organisation (vttp) came very close to disbanding based on the disillusionment of the president upon seeing the very limited response to NPDS.

I would be willing to invest some time in composing this thing as a second co-author , if some guppies chip in with ideas on any topic.

ps: why dont u make sure u’ve actually read my thread tho :P. it might then be one of the most important threads you know you have read :smiley:

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lol Ravage.

Actually, to be honest… i know this will sound like a lie, but i have been trying to research some proposals like this myself - with minor modifications in the overall ‘concept’. Infact a couple days ago i was discussing it with a guppan from Gupshup and she can probably verify this :slight_smile: i was thinking of doing something along the same lines as this. My biggest concern, however, was - who would take me seriously.

Then i read your thread today and felt like - wow. i read your thread earlier this morning (but did not reply at that time, i wasn’t logged in). i have even forwarded it to someone, i joined their discussion list, and i printed off a copy of their Writers’ Guidelines and the overall directions from their website. And i even went to my public library a couple hours subsequent to reading your thread, just so i could check out what types of books they have on the issues related to the proposals that i would like to submit. So you see - i have already started the research. And that’s all thanks to you. i am excited about this initiative, and Insha’Allah will be taking time off Gupshup only so i can get my research done properly for this. i am actually looking forward to this entire project.

If i actually do submit something, if i learn something from this overall process, if i gain some valuable knowledge from it Insha’Allah - then i would safely say that this would be the most valuable thread i have read on gupshup…with the exceptions of Religion Forum threads that have increased my knowledge/love of Islam :smiley: But your’s is easily one of the most valuable threads because we always complain about what is ‘wrong with Pakistan’…but those who are willing to implement ideas for positive change, are rare.

A big thank you for sharing this with us. :flower1: Insha’Allah, it will lead to constructive participation from many guppies.

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wow!

thanks so much.. :k:. am overjoyed to know you’re doing this.

good luck with your research, count me in for anything you need (including ms word help :)). it would honestly make a very valuable contribution, when contributions are so hard to come by.

may I ask what was the general topic you had in mind? just so that I might give myself a self esteem boost by imagining i chipped in through invaluable headnodding.

! FYI interested guppies !

The submission date is now September 30th

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[quote]
may I ask what was the general topic you had in mind?
[/quote]

Ravage,

No of course i don't mind. You were correct... i was immediately interested in the universal and primary education issue. um but on their website it states that:

Within the ambit of the general topical themes in the main announcement, we would like to encourage people to write about issues like, but not limited to, the following [underlined emphasis is mine].

hmm --> so i am guessing that underlined part gives some leeway towards some flexibility on choosing which topics they want us to cover. i think they still want it broadly related to their suggestions, but if you want to include something else as well that doesn't deviate too far from their main topics, i THINK that would be allowed.

To answer your question - i was thinking of combining mine (if possible) with something related to child labour & primary education because: without an effective strategy to deal with child labour (i.e., how do you replace the income the child was bringing to the family), then how does one convince a family to enroll their kid into school because you are potentially depriving the family of a very important source of income. This was discussed infact some time back in one of the Culture Forum threads - IMHO, i think, offering primary education alone is not going to be sufficient. In many families in Pakistan, kids are an important source of income. Those kids are helping their families, often six/seven siblings, to survive. So any education strategy has to tackle child labour as well...at least i think so. So i guess i'll TRY, Insha'Allah, to tackle it holistically - look at everything from all possible angles and come up with some solutions... that's why i was also asking about the Grameen Bank initiatives in Pakistan...maybe that could be ONE part of a solution... but in this case, it would have to be focused upon extending micro-credit to the kids... which is quite a novel concept i guess.

wow there is SO MUCH one could state regarding this issue. Thanks so much for your offer of help. It is sincerely appreciated. You know what, it would be wonderful if we ALL could share ideas with each other... it's only going to benefit our country at the end anyways, right? Lemme pm you my e-mail address.

You definitely should have a self-esteem boost because, had it not been for this thread, i would not have known about this initiative. i am so glad, Alhamdulillah, the deadline date was extended.

oh btw - one more question: do you have to be a Pakistani citizen to participate in this? :~|

Thanks again, Ravage, for ALL of your help. May Allah help everyone who participates in this endeavour...because ultimately, it just might help our fellow Pakistanis Insha'Allah.

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nods

Easy questions first, I dont think you need to be a citizen of Pakistan, just a dil ka Pakistani. The papers do need to be specific to Pakistan though.

I’ll forward your other questions to someone better placed to answer them. Personally I think what you’re saying is exactly a practical step towards universal education, in that it ties economic welfare to the promotion of education, thus it fits into the bullets, more or less.

Im not sure how educated my input/feedback would be :s. I was thinking more along the lines of margin seedhi karo and pointing out important, nay critical improvements like the one in the PS of my previous post :). But I’ll do my best :k:.

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So we have a lot of intellectuals in this forum, each of whom has very refined and evolved views on how the government of Pakistan could potentially design and implement sounder policies that could lead to advancement in our education, technology, research.. etc.

Brother ravage, could you please list few names of the resident Gupshup intellectuals so that I can in future look up their names while visiting the site and follow the posts? Thanks. :jazak:

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A little bit off topic but do they still have NCC in schools in pakistan. Or is that just in the federal areas? I have other suggestions for that waste of time and money.

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edited