July 10, 2018: Today, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HUM TV Network Private Limited to promote empirically informed dialogues on the development challenges confronting Pakistan. Under the MoU, UNDP and HUM TV Network will collaborate to produce public interest programming that promotes informed dialogue on the development challenges confronting young people in Pakistan; propagates values of peace, tolerance, and inclusiveness among young people and improves their capacity for informed critical thinking and; analyse the Government of Pakistan’s funding priorities in different sectors through an empirical analyses of the provincial public sector development funds (2013-2018).

The partnership will help UNDP and HUM Network to achieve their shared goals of empowering youth to work towards a just, peaceful, and inclusive society as envisioned in Goal 16 of the SDGs and Government of Pakistan’s Vision 2025 and strengthen the democratic process in Pakistan through informed debate and evidence based analysis. Furthermore, the partnership is in line Goal 17 of the SDGs which calls for strengthening partnerships (including public-private partnerships) for achieving SDGs.

Speaking on the occasion, Ignacio Artaza, Country Director UNDP Pakistan stated, “UNDP will support HUM TV in producing public interest programming to strengthen democracy, young people’s social and economic empowerment, and social cohesion in Pakistan. I am confident that this partnership will leverage the strengths of our organizations to achieve common objectives of youth empowerment, social cohesion, and democratic strengthening in Pakistan.”

The partnership will allow HUM TV to benefit from UNDP’s on ground experience of implementing development interventions throughout Pakistan; and its empirical knowledge base of information on the existing and emerging development challenges confronting the country. This will help in producing top quality public interest television programming that can provide an accurate snapshot of the political, economic, and social landscape of Pakistan. Similarly, HUM TV will provide UNDP will a reliable platform to reach key influencers in the government and civil society and galvanize them to take effective policy actions.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ather Viqar Azeem, Senior Executive Vice President HUM Network Limited stated, “Non-sensationalist and informed information dissemination is the need of the hour. It is even more important in the context of Pakistan’s youth bulge with millions of young people looking for accurate information on political, social, and economic issues. We are glad to be working with UNDP Pakistan towards these ends.”

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About HUM TV Network

Hum Network is Pakistan’s premier broadcast entertainment provider with an extensive international footprint. Hum Network is presently running three television channels focussing on lifestyle and entertainment. In April 2018, HUM Network launched a news channel to promote informed debate and dialogue on political and social issues of Pakistan.