Problem Statement
Currently, women go through domestic violence and are unable to support themselves. If we work to educate society on women’s rights and find ways to encourage targeted women to stand against the violence, we will be able to provide them a safe and secure society.
Behind the Scenes
Violence shows aggression with words or physical acts that consequences into harm, injury, or emotional damage. The violence has many shapes like Bullying, Domestic violence, school violence, child maltreatment, or sexual abuse. We are going to focus on domestic violence. The term “Domestic Violence” is used when there is a close relationship between the offender and the victim. It can be a partner, immediate family member, or other close relatives in the domestic circle.
In Pakistan, domestic violence is an endemic social problem growing at an alarming rate. Domestic violence is viewed as a private family problem with no proper focus on assessment, intervention, and solutions in Pakistani society. Women face violence and discrimination daily due to the abuse of social and cultural values and religious norms in Pakistani society.
Violence against women is increasing in Pakistan, a country of over 200 million people. It ranks sixth on the list of the most dangerous countries in the world for women.
Impact of domestic violence
Domestic violence is considered a private family matter, and hence no person wants to get involved in it. However, it marks its impact on society in a much unexpected way. The significant impacts of domestic violence are as follows:
- The women who go through violence can experience long-term physical damages and mental disorders, ongoing anxiety, fear, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), etc.
- It breaks down the family bond.
- The children who witness the violence on the parent finds it difficult to trust adults. They get close to the people who show them love and care and can get abused by strangers.
- These kids have a higher level of disobedience, anger, hostility, and withdrawal. They experience the same health issues as adults, anxiety, sleep disorders, mental and behavioral health issues, and anyone can imagine the effect of these issues on school performance.
- The impact does not stop at the front door. It causes ripples of repercussions on society, which consequences much loss in a social, economic, and moral manner.
Solution (Technical Approach)
It is the need of the day and our moral duty to give the women the stats and rights they deserve. For that, we have to change our mindset towards the problem. The first step to solve the problem is to get a grip on its causes and find each possible way to get rid of this brutal social disease.
Education is the vaccine for violence. - Edward James Olmos
Online Sessions
Our challenge is to educate the youth on the targeted problem. For that purpose, we will arrange online sessions. The sessions will not focus only on the cause but also provide a systematic approach to tackling the problem. To increase the session’s influence, we plan to invite professional figures in the field as guest speakers.
We will work on other solutions: launching a short digital magazine, conducting surveys, and social media campaigns.
Digital Magazine
The magazine is a significant source of information and entertainment. The magazine will summarize all the content we will provide in online sessions and other graphical and verbal content. With magazines’ help, we can reach the audience, which prefers to read instead of listening.
Surveys
Surveys will help us to know the public’s opinion and measure the success of our project.
Social Media
Social media is the fastest and most feasible way to get in touch with the public and influence them, especially youth. We can get more traffic through social media pages and spread our message to a broader audience.
Targeted Audience (Youth and Students)
- All types of socioeconomic status (lower class, lower-middle, middle class, and upper class).
- Age group (20–35).
- All types of employment status (students, employed, and unemployed).
Location
The project will be virtual, so it is accessible all over Pakistan.
Bussiness Canvas Model
Timeline
- It will take a week to do content research for the first session, conducting a survey. (11 Sep 2020- 20 Sep 2020)
- In the second week, we will conduct the first session and start working on the magazine. (21 Sep 2020- 27 Sep 2020)
- In the third week, there will be a second session and designing of the magazine. (28 Sep 2020- 4 Oct 2020)
- We will conduct the third session in the fourth week. (5 Oct 2020–11 Oct)
- There will be a final session, a survey, and a magazine launch in the fifth week. (12 Oct 2020–18 Oct 2020)
Smart Goal
We plan to get to 50–60 audience by the end of fourth week.
Task Division
The division of tasks and responsibilities among team members is as:
Reflections
The reflections of the team are given as:
Challenges
1. Choosing a Mega Project Topic
Choosing a topic for the mega project was a significant challenge. Every member of the team had a specific topic in their mind on which they wanted to work. Therefore, we had a hard time choosing one of the six topics.
Solution
We solved it by giving every person a chance to speak and describe their side and then decided on a feasible topic, which was worth working on as a megaproject after getting everyone’s consent. For only that purpose, we had three group meetings, each of at least one hour.
2. Reality Checks
At first, we planned to work for the women in tribal areas of Peshawar. We were very passionate and had sketched everything ahead. We thought of collaborating with an organization and contacted respected Mam Noreen Naseer, a part of an active network working for women empowerment. We had a meeting with her, and she explained every issue that we have to face to work in those areas. We had to get NOC to work in those sensitive areas, which was impossible in the first place. After talking with her, we realized the drawbacks we had in our research and planning. We even thought of changing our project as a whole.
Solution
Mam Noreen suggested that we change our audience to students as they will be accessible through a virtual platform in the current pandemic situation. We had a meeting with our program manager Sir Ghazi to discuss the whole scenario and our problems. He made it very easy for us to come to a final decision. After a bunch of discussions among team members, we tackled down the problem.
3. Making Project Measurable and Unique
The main challenge which we are facing is how to make our project unique. As we had to make many changes in the project, including our deliveries and audience, we face some difficulties in the project’s measurement.
Solution
We are confident that we can do something out of the box by bringing some hard work in research. Some of the members have given a couple of unique ideas, i.e., digital magazine and logo design for the project, which was initially not part of the plan. If we continue to think, we can add more creative ideas to make it unique and measurable.
4. Content Research
The second challenge we face is that our topic is very much sensitive. We cannot address it openly, so we have decided to limit our audience. Now our main task is the content that we will be providing. The content has to be appropriate and also approachable so that we can get desirable results.
Solution
We decide to invest more time in research for content and arrange meetings to discuss it before delivering. The second solution we plan is to invite professional guest speakers to enhance the influence of sessions.
5. Task Division
It is also a challenge to divide the tasks among the members and work more efficiently to keep balance in the load of work.
Solution
We divided the tasks according to the expertise of each person. Moreover, the team leader will keep track of all the tasks. Members can get help from each other by the rule of Ek Aur Ek Gyarah.
6. Time Management
Managing time for research and group meetings is also a considerable challenge that the team is facing. Scheduling a meeting always becomes an uphill struggle due to the different time routines of members.
Solution
The solution to that problem is to fix a time for group meetings according to every member’s availability and giving at least 2–3 hours to research daily.
Benefits
1. Team support
The most significant thing we feel while working in a team is the power of encouragement and support. We can ask for help whenever we are somewhere stuck. When I was having a hard time making a Gantt chart for the timeline of tasks, I asked Rabiya for help. She did not even know how to make it, but she still made it after learning from you tube. We always ask each other for motivation when we have our morals down.
2. Building Trust
When we divide our tasks and ask another person to do something, we build a trust bond. We have faith in the next person that he/she will do the task on time with honesty. My team members trust me that as a leader, I will do my best, so they do not question my tasks and responsibilities.
3. Covering the Individual’s Flaws
The privilege of working in a team is that we can cover a person’s flaws with others’ strengths. When we were having a meeting with Mam Noreen and Sir Ghazi, there were some points where I was not sure what to answer; then, Abeera spoke up there and answered their queries very smoothly.
4. Mentorship
While working in a team, the team has generated a mentor-pupil bond. We are learning a lot from each other. For example, I had no idea how to work on this type of project; in that aspect, M. Hammad, Farman, and Abeera made everything crystal clear to me. Usama did not have any idea about influencing people through social media. Now he is working on social media pages along with Abeera.
5. Feedback
Feedback is like a catalyst when we are working on something. It helps us to improve our work and also encourages us to do better next time. Abeera shared the blog on Edhi Foundation she wrote to review; I asked her to change the sentence arrangement to make the word delivery better and share some blog writing tips from my experience. She made some changes that make her words brighter. Rabiya designed a logo for the project. After getting feedback from members, she redesigned it, and we got a fabulous logo design.
6. More Creative Ideas
Another advantage of working in a team is exploring the new ideas of making our mega project unique. Different minds have different strategies and their ideas, which we can make more by brainstorming.
Member’s Learning
Saba Rauf
I have learned a lot while working on the mega project. More significant leanings were leadership and decision making. While working as a leader, I explore my hidden leadership skills and improve them with members’ help. I also had to make final decisions as a leader, like finalizing the megaproject and dividing the tasks among members.
M. Hammad Hassan
The first thing I have learned through group planning is how to make problem-solving ideas. For example, there was a big problem with how we will conduct our activities; after the meeting with an NGO, we all were very demotivated because things were looking tough to perform, but then we changed our planning. We came to find a way and finalized our project by doing multiple meetings by doing online sessions and surveys. And we learned that by doing active communication among the team members, we could come out of any problems we are facing.
Farman Khan
The things I learned from this teamwork are facing challenges and group learning. We were having difficulty regarding our project deliveries after respected Mam Noreen Naseer cleared out everything for us. But we faced the problem and got a solution. We also decided on the team’s terms and conditions regarding our task work, which was to be followed by each person. That was also a new experience for me.
Usama Hassan
We had some issues in selecting the final topic for our Megaproject. Firstly, everyone in our group gave their suggestions, and it was a nice try from everyone. We also had some conflicts with each other, and so finally, we get our final destination. As a team, we were much more capable of finding a way towards our goal, and with the help of everyone, we made a clear pathway to work on our project. So I learned from my circle members, and that’s something constructive.
Rabiya Arif
During our mega project, I learned to communicate with confidence, exposing myself to new experiences, which helps me come out of my comfort zone, consistently grow, deal with my procrastination, and enhance productivity. While deciding our topic, I spoke little due to my introverted personality, and I thought my words would not be proved to be right. Still, all my members encouraged me to state though we made new and productive creativity through a topic, tagline, and logo design.
Abeera Latif
The things I learned through megaproject planning are conflict management and decision making.
While deciding the topic for our megaproject, we went through many challenges, including the conflicts between group members. I have never been good at conflict management in a group because sometimes the conflict leads to a full-blown fight. But here, I was able to handle the conflict well. When my mates disagreed with the topic I suggested, I weighed in the pros and cons and realized my mistakes. After a meeting with the founder of an NGO, we had to change the whole course of our mega project. My problem solving is terrible, and I panic easily. Still, because of the support of my group mates and our PM, Sir Ghazi, I was able to go through it quite quickly, and my group selected an excellent alternative.
Group Learning
As a group, we learned how to work in a team with a different set of mindsets. No matter what, all members are facing each up and down, side by side. We face every challenge and try to solve it together, which has also taught us problem-solving skills. The feedback, encouragement, and support we get from each other are irreplaceable. We have a chance to learn a lot from each other and polish our values and principles.
Despite challenges, we just started it by Amal and took the initiative to talk to a mentor. We found what we want by conducting awareness sessions for society (Khudi). We arranged meetings almost every day, and we even work at night (Kam, Kam, Kam). We took feedback, divided our tasks, and helped each complete our tasks (Ek or Ek Gyara).
All the members are responsible for their assigned tasks and work on them by giving an essential amount of time with honesty. We accepted failure as we felt down for a while, but we learned a lesson from that failure and continuously worked for our growth. The feedback can be critical to some extent, but we deal with humbleness; hence we can avoid the arguments and conflicts.
Future Learning
In the future, we can work on our mega project smoothly by overcoming our mistakes. We have to do thorough research before doing any task, as we faced problems when we tried to plan things without research. We can also use our problem-solving skills to tackle down the problems we can face in the future. Sometimes we have an issue that all members do not attend circle meetings, and even if one member is absent, we find it difficult to conclude and divide group tasks. So by actively participating in meetings, we can perform more efficiently because when someone is sharing ideas, then definitely he/she is taking an interest. If we can change a few mindsets with our efforts and influence even a single household, we can consider ourselves successful in the project.