Vulnerabilities Videos

The Face of Vulnerability video series provides a snapshot of the anthologized dimensions of many faces and factors of vulnerability afflicting different communities across Pakistan. These videos highlight the faces of vulnerability as experienced by various social groups in Pakistan through a combination of testimonials from members of the groups, key informants, and experts with the aim to:

1. Develop a narrative that highlights the diversity of the phenomenon of vulnerability; and
2. Highlight the human-interest components of the phenomenon that also contributed to the advocacy engagements by sensitizing the viewers towards the plight of vulnerable groups and helping alleviate the case for more general as well as some specific demands for reforms and social inclusion strategies.

It is not always easy to leave one’s ancestral lands/homes and settle elsewhere to start one’s life anew. Why were Baloch residents of Sadiqabad forced to migrate and settle in this area? What frightens them, and why are they unable to relocate to their native areas?

We have a tradition wherein we empathize more with persons with disabilities rather than providing them facilities for commute and earning their livelihoods. Beyond official papers, claims of government personnel, and speeches of rules, few facilities exist for persons with disabilities. Have we ever pondered about what they need from society and how can they lead an independent life enabled by social inclusion?

We often see children working at restaurants, dhabas (roadside stalls), and other places, whereas instead, it is their age to play with toys. We do not realize that poverty and destitution deprive these children of their childhood. They are often subjected to harassment from boys and men which gets expressed in verbal slang, altercations, or outright sexual exploitation. Can we bring change into the lives of these children?

Life in mountainous, hilly areas is far from as easy as one usually gets to see in videos or photos. A passerby journeying through mountains may find the lifestyle of people inhabiting these areas to be wonderful, hardly aware of the price that the latter have to pay for living in such harsh terrain. What are the social and economic hardships that herders and nomads of Mansehra face due to climate change?

The view of rain from your house window may be dreamy for you, but certainly not for the farmers. It is more like a bane than a boon for them. A news item about a flood may not mean anything to you, but how are the lives of Shorkot’s farmers being affected by it?

Whenever we hear the word “cleaner” it calls to our mind the image of a Christian person. Prejudices of such sort are deeply ingrained that they have become an unwritten norm and public and private organizations specifically mention non-Muslims or Christian as the candidates in job advertisements for sanitary workers. Associating cleaning and sanitary work with Christian and non-Muslims has left their youth with no other alternative option to earn their livelihoods.

Poor planning and factory licenses and permits issued by government agencies increase the wealth of the owners of chemical factories in residential areas, but how do they affect the lives of the people living around these factories? How are the residents in one of Karachi’s localities battling against these chemical-borne diseases?

It is not easy to work in a coal mine where the distance that separates life and death is at its minimum. Are there any safety measures being provided by law? Are the employers concerned about the lives of their workers? Are there any social security benefits in case of an injury? Let’s find out in the video based on the lives of mine workers in Shangla.

In our society, transgendered persons are ridiculed and treated with prejudice. At the social and governmental level, what are the steps that can be taken to make transgendered persons an active part of society?

Modern technology has rendered drugs quite accessible and it takes just a phone call to get them delivered to one’s home. As a result, the numbers of drug addicts are swelling day after day. The situation has aggravated further as drugs have now taken over education institutes. Notwithstanding the claims of law-enforcement agencies of clamping down on such activities, the actual situation on the ground is quite the opposite. Can we salvage our youth from the curse of drugs for them to play a useful and healthy role in our society?

Caste is part and parcel of the Indo-Pak socio-economic system, and even in the 21st century, we have failed in eliminating its root and branch. Pakistan’s Hindu scheduled castes are subject to compounded exploitation: on the one hand, they face caste-based discrimination, while on the other, they are dependent on the whims of feudal lords for their livelihoods. Why is there no improvement in the lives of scheduled Hindu castes of Jacobabad working on lands for decades?

It is not easy to be a woman in a patriarchal system that tends to associate values of honor and respect with womanhood. Considering women to be of less IQ, such a society bars them from voting as it is deemed an offense to men’s honor. Even though the Constitution and law enshrine women’s right to vote, the government seems to have fallen short of realizing this goal in practice. Who are the actors restraining women from voting in Mianwali and how do they do it?