PAKISTAN | Workshop held at Salim Habib University to select 10 students as ambassadors to Ombudsman Sindh

The 3rd round of the Workshop on the Provincial Ombudsman Sindh’s Ambassador Programme was held at Salim Habib University, Karachi, on December 11, 2024 to instill the concept of civic responsibilities and advocacy  skills in the youth of Sindh by carrying out the community outreach of ombudsman mandate to student community and general public. The workshop, initiated through the Regional subsidy of International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), focused on the role of the Provincial Ombudsman Office in providing administrative justice to the public, and was chaired by the Honourable Ombudsman of Sindh, Mr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput, who was welcomed to Salim Habib University by Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Syed Irfan Hyder, COO of The Salim Habib Education Foundation Mr. Muhammad Abbas, Member Board of Governors Mr. Tariq Amin, Registrar Dr. Muhammad Hussain Habib, and Manager Admin Mr. Umer Farooq.

In his speech at a packed Salim Habib University Auditorium, the Honourable Ombudsman Sindh, congratulated the management and owner of the University for constructing such a state of the art university and stated that such an effort in the education sector is very appreciable. He added that one crore and sixty lacks children are out of school and efforts are required to bring them back to school. He said he is making every effort to make this Institute as effective as the ombudsman Institute in Europe. He mentioned that we receive about 8000 complaints in a population of 5crores of Sindh which is not sufficient as people have lot of grievances with government departments and the objective of the ambassador programme is to disseminate our message through the ambassadors to general public so that people become aware of our Institute that can address their grievances free of cost and speedily. He informed that his office has already selected 20 Ambassadors (10 each) from the Hamdard and Sindh Madressatul Islam Universities, who are already disseminating the message of his Institute's mandate through social media and community meetings. He also underlined how important it is for students to educate the society about  their legal rights, and the channels through which they may be able to resolve their issues.

The Ombudsman Sindh then highlighted that students selected as Ambassadors will bridge the communication gap between the community and Ombudsman office by promoting accountability, openness, and good governance.

Vice Chancellor, Salim Habib University, while speaking on the occasion, commended this initiative to connect with citizens and students, and emphasized the need to serve the community by spreading knowledge and awareness.

The Provincial Ombudsman Secretariat's Advisor Rehana G. Ali Memon and Registrar, Masood Ishrat also spoke regarding of the Brand Ambassador Program and Mohtasib Sindh's operations at the event, which was also attended by advisors and consultants from the Ombudsman Office.

The event concluded with a Q&A session during which Honourable Ombudsman Sindh addressed students’ queries.

Source: The Provincial Ombudsman Sindh, Pakistan