TEDxLahore 2017

LAHORE: Attended by over three hundred TEDx enthusiasts from Lahore at Beaconhouse School System’s Liberty branch on the 22^nd of October, 2017, TEDxLahore 2017 kicked off with much anticipation to a packed auditorium.

Curated by and licensed to Irteza Ubaid, TEDxLahore 2017 brought together a diverse group of seven speakers who spoke about subjects ranging from healthcare, education, tourism, transgender activism, and more. From Kamran Lashari (the Director General of the Walled City of Lahore Authority - WCLA), Nadia Naviwala (a Wilson Centre Global Fellow and an independent American writer and researcher), Dr. Noreen Zafar (a well-known healthcare specialist in Pakistan), Usama Khilji (a rights activist, writer, and researcher), Zohaib Kazi (the musician behind Patari’s popular ‘Fanoos’ music series), Jannat Ali (a transgender rights activist and Katahk performer) and Yusra Amjad (a poet, writer and stand-up comedian), the theme of this year’s event was ‘moving forward.’

“We wanted to adopt a progressive, forward-looking theme for TEDxLahore 2017 because right now, at this moment in time, Pakistan is at a very important juncture,” stated Irteza Ubaid, “There is so much happening in the country right now and so many things that need our attention, therefore, with our theme, ‘moving forward,’ we wanted to discuss subjects and ideas that were pertinent to Pakistan, currently. And with our seven speakers and change-makers, we hoped to urge people to be more proactive to make our society and communities a better and more wholesome space to live in.”

*TEDxLahore 2017’s partners included: United Snacks, Courting The Law, DESTINATIONS Magazine, FM91, Beaconhouse School System and Global Shapers Lahore.

Speaker Profiles

Usama Khilji is rights activist, writer, and researcher based in Islamabad. He was a 2016 Chevening scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science where he pursued an MSc in Comparative Politics, and is currently the Director of Bolo Bhi, a policy, advocacy, and research organisation focusing on speech and privacy rights on the internet and civic education, and Advisor to the London-based Refugee Rights Data Project.

Usama has seven years of experience teaching debating and history, and recently designed a university curriculum on fundamental rights in Pakistan’s constitution. He regularly speaks in national and international media on rights issues in Pakistan, in addition to writing on a freelance basis.

Jannat Ali is a well-known transgender activist, performing artist and DIC Coordinator at the Khawaja Sira Society (a community-building organization) led by the transgender community for healthcare, human rights and advocacy in Pakistan. She was the first transgender Project Manager in Pakistan.  

Having been awarded a gold medal during her MBA program, Jannat is also a professional Kathak performer and stands as one of six women who was part of the well-known theatre production, ‘The Third Line’ (based on the lives of transgenders), that was performed across Pakistan in addition to overseas; in Denmark and the United States, in 2016.

Having represented Pakistan’s transgender community in over seven countries for a number of training sessions, workshops and seminars, Jannat’s travels encouraged her to implement similar trainings for her community in her own home country.

She has delivered lectures at Copenhagen Pride in 2015 and a year later, in the winter of 2016, Jannat was selected to work and speak with 400 students across ten schools about gender, society and performance art in Denmark.

In addition, Jannat was the Art Director and Project Coordinator at the AKS Festival (a festival that promotes awareness and dialogue on minorities and marginalised groups) in Copenhagen (in 2015), and the AKS Festival in Pakistan (in 2016).

She recently played an important role in putting forward the first transgender protection bill in the Senate, which has now been presented in Pakistan’s National Assembly.

Nadia Naviwala is a Wilson Centre Global Fellow and an independent American writer and researcher based in Islamabad. She investigates and writes about foreign aid, local philanthropy, civil society, and education in Pakistan.

Nadia moved to the capital in 2012 as the Pakistan Country Representative for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). At USIP, she started the Peace Innovations Fund to give small, flexible support to social startups. Prior, she served as a Pakistan Desk Officer at USAID and a National Security Aide in the U.S. Senate.

In 2002 as a college student, Nadia started the internship program at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC.

She has also taught U.S. foreign policy at the National Defense University in Islamabad in 2014.

Nadia holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, where she was an International and Global Affairs Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a Public Service Fellow, and an associate with the Carr Center Program on State-Building and Human Rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She holds a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Zohaib Kazi’s diverse body of work includes creating music, producing digital series and authoring a graphic novel, ‘Ismail Ka Urdu Sheher.’

Zohaib’s immensely successful digital series for Patari, ‘Fanoos’ is an attempt towards re-discovering Pakistani roots, by scouting regional talent across all corners of Pakistan and packaging them in an urban capsule to amplify the talent's reach in the digital universe.

Through the understanding of various cultures in music, ‘Fanoos’ successfully attempted to blur the provincial boundaries in an attempt to reunite Pakistanis by allowing them to see and experience the sounds of their country on a macro, holistic level.

‘Ismail Ka Urdu Sheher,’ Zohaib’s debut graphic novel and music album, is a narrative that merges his curiosity in the field of science, literature and graphic design, in an attempt to make the world aware of several concepts in a form that is both informative and entertaining.

In addition, Zohaib is the former General Manager and Associate Producer for Coke Studio Pakistan.

Dr. Noreen Zafar is a well-known healthcare specialist who has been working in Pakistan since 1999, offering high quality gynecological care and empowering Pakistani women to become emancipated and independent decision-makers regarding their health.

She is also the founder of the Girls & Women Health Initiative (GWHI), an NGO that has initiated numerous taboo-breaking campaigns to increase the usage of contraception to reduce deaths caused by unsafe abortions.

Dr. Noreen Zafar’s extensive work experience also includes persistent efforts to end abuse, gender bias and to help women overcome depression and anxiety.

She has also set up numerous free medical camps in the country; holding awareness sessions and regularly training midwives and paramedics to perform safe deliveries, in addition to providing safe post-partum care.

Kamran Lashari is the Director General of the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) where he has been heavily involved in numerous conservation projects over the years that have gone a long way in the restoration of art and culture in the vibrant city of Lahore.

Some of his most well-known conservation projects – in collaboration with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture –  include the Wazir Khan Mosque, the Shahi Hammam, and the walled city of Lahore (as a whole), to name a few. Lashari also introduced street tourism to Lahore’s Old City, tourist rides via the popular ‘Rangeela Rickshaws’ and trained a number of walled city residents as tour guides.

Apart from his focus on the restoration of Lahore’s heritage sites, Kamran has organized a number of festivals and events – from culinary competitions, to performing arts festivals and a yearly photography exhibition (called ‘Wekh Lahore’).

Yusra Amjad is a poet, writer and stand-up comedian from Lahore. She organises and performs with the Auratnaak Lahore troupe and has been published at Crossed Genres, The Rising Phoenix Press, Mongrel Books, The Missing Slate and others.

Yusra is also involved with Girls at Dhabas, a collective aiming to reclaim public space for women. She believes in cultivating creative communities, in spoken word poetry, and in using both the written word and performing arts to subvert social hierarchies.