Sponsored by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), Alif Ailaan was the largest education-based INGO in Pakistan. Founded in 2013 by renowned public policy commentator Mosharraf Zaidi, it tirelessly worked to bring systemic problems in the education sector to the forefront of the public discourse.

For Alif Ailaan, a single child out of school is one too many. Therefore, it worked towards ensuring that Pakistan’s out-of-school children can be enrolled where they can receive high quality education. For that, it acted as a bridge linking parents and children to schools, teachers, and local authorities.

Alif Ailaan was further known for several campaigns and extensive reports that aim to improve the quality of education in Pakistan. For example, under The National Maths and Science Calendar, the INGO organized a series of events to highlight the quality of these subjects in the country.

Education is a sensitive subject in Pakistan as over 22 million children between the ages of 5 and 16 miss out on schooling. Moreover, Pakistan ranks the 8th lowest in the world when it comes to education spending.

Taking on this challenge, Alif Ailaan launched multiple campaigns to hold the government and similar stakeholders accountable for the lack of effort in improving the basic education infrastructure.

During the General Elections in 2018, Alif Ailaan engaged DPL to come up with a digital campaign strategy that can highlight education as a relevant topic for voters and politicians alike.

DPL proposed and developed a social, mobile, and hyperlocal strategy. This strategy entailed –

• An innovative platform to listen and amplify citizens’ voices rather than simply publish facts and figures
• An app to enable people to put forward their personal experiences and emotional pleas for better education

Select issues reported on Taleem Do then were published in newspapers as well as Alif Ailaan’s blog.

To realize this solution, DPL and Alif Ailaan’s teams collaborated closely while leveraging Agile and Human-centered design (HCD) to guarantee innovation.

Taleem Do! empowered people to report issues related to education in their native areas. The ability to lodge complaints anonymously via an easy app interface with Urdu language support was especially helpful in encouraging people from the remotest regions to participate in this revolutionary cause. Moreover, it ensured the authorities in each area an educational issue was highlighted were held accountable.