This article was originally published by Pakistan Today.

Pehlaaj -Theatre for Social Change Organisation held an interactive theatre show at Faiz Ghar on the subject of corruption on Saturday.

Students of different educational institutions were among the audience.

Naeema Butt, theatre founder and an “accountaprenuer” in the US-based Accountability Lab Incubation Centre, held the session aiming at empowering the citizens to build the world’s best tools for integrity.

“So, do you think the corruption is something that is practiced only in government offices?” she asked the audience, after several responses that government departments and politicians were corrupt.

The workshop, which had a number of interactive activities, kept the participants engaged from one topic to another such as their definition of corruption in Pakistan, and their personal experiences of being oppressed by a corrupt society.

Representative of the transgender community named Lahore Tehzeeb, physically challenged Moiz Shaukat and young entrepreneurs were present on the occasion. The session was followed by an address by special representative from SSDO Islamabad, Kausar Abbas, who talked about the right to information and shared his expertise.

The accountability incubator is the lab’s flagship programme for young civil society leaders to build sustainable, effective tools for accountability, participation and social impact.

Ms Butt, a US trained theatre of oppressed facilitator, said they would be now working for two years on accountability and transparency by using applied theatre techniques for the first time in Pakistan.

She said the workshop was to form integrity theatre clubs in Lahore and other parts of Pakistan. The workshop ended with forum theatre plays. In it, the actors presented a short play or scene called the anti-model – a scene related to real life corruption incidents in the daily lives in which the protagonist did not achieve their goal.

“This is one of the strongest ways to empower the audience and finding the solution to end corruption,” said Ms Butt. Participants were also briefed on the Right to Information Law and how to report a case of corruption.

“We want to instill the element of integrity in Pakistani youth by giving them awareness about their rights and ways to stand against corruption at both personal and professional level,” she said.

“We are forming Integrity Theatre clubs all around Pakistan to work against corruption for the awareness of the Pakistani citizens.”

eedev