ISLAMABAD      -    Pakistan Youth Change Advocates on Thursday organized advance level training for students and faculty members on digital content development and integration.

Faculty members and students from different universities including University of Karachi, University of Peshawar, University of Gujrat, University of Wah and Hazara University gathered in Islamabad to attend advance training on digital content development and integration.  Organised by Pakistan Youth Change Advocates, the two-day training under the initiative, “Strengthening Digital Media to Promote Respect and Social Cohesion in Pakistani Cyber Space” trained participants to produce content for digital media and how to properly disseminate it through various social media platforms.

The participants belonged to the department of mass communication who despite having all the theoretical knowledge about content development strategies miss the mark to indulge in active and effective production of content.

The aim of this training was to equip the participants with digital content development, identifying their target audience, optimizing content for SEO and finally promoting the content through suitable social media platforms.

The lead trainer Areebah Shahid shared “Majority of young people that PYCA has interacted with through its previous programs and projects have a very limited use of digital space and their contribution is restricted to comments and reactions”.

Talking specifically about the youth’s engagement with the government through digital media Ms. Shahid said “Pakistan is experiencing a boom in the digital media industry, there is no unified platform through which these digital media entities can engage with the government and become part of discussions around laws, policies and regulations that directly impact their ability to create and disseminate content.”

It is therefore need of the time that young people should be aware about the laws of the country that prohibit hate speech in the digital realm and engage in constructive discourses in the cyber space.

In the next phase of the programme, the capacitated faculty and students will organise training sessions in their respective universities in an effort to ensure that the cycle continues and progressively more young people are empowered to effectively use digital media.