Daastan Raises the Dying Beacon of Literature and Wins a Grant of 2500 USD from PTX
Daastan’s delegation led by Founder Syed Ommer Amer, and its executive member Nauman Shahid, had the opportunity to present for a micro grant at the PeaceTech Lab, which is locally run by Technology for People Initiative and United States Institute of Peace. The pitch was worked on for days and prepared to perfection, then finally presented at the event of PTX project. The event was a three-day conference which had over 20 organizations present, battling for a grant of 2500 USD funding, to execute a project which would help promote peace across multiple regions of Pakistan. It was a moment of great honor when Daastan was chosen as the winner of the said grant of 2500 USD, to conduct the second season of its story writing competition, “The Stories Untold ”, on the theme “The War Within”.
The PeaceTech Exchange Workshop:
The PeaceTech Exchange is a program by the PeaceTech lab, which helps the local community address frequently posed challenges by equipping their leaders with the ability to carve out solutions for said challenges based on technological tools. The program encourages hands-on activity of technology to tackle a variety of issues including but not limited to women and youth empowerment, education, social inclusion, etc.
The Stories Untold Season Two:
Daastan launched the competition within a few weeks of receiving the grant and the results were announced after a month of strict and diligent judging. The competition turned out to be a great success, and had more than 150 writers who participated and sent in their stories. The winners were shortlisted through three rounds, starting from the top 30 down to the top ones in each language, i.e. Urdu and English. The competition helped the writers in developing characters and plots from which the readers could take home viable lessons, of people that went through strenuous external pressures, and had to face or overcome harsh aftermaths because of it.
Keep an eye out for our updates on Facebook, if you want to participate in the upcoming competition and prove yourself as a writer.