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 Colonial age structures, discriminatory and inhuman laws and the alienation from rest of the Pakistani society are some of the contributory causes for the breeding and growth of extremism and terrorism in the tribal and semi-tribal areas of Pakistan.
The restoration of peace in these areas is crucially interlinked with the need for the capacity building of the local media in the region along with efforts to strengthen civil society. A pro-active local media can effectively engage local tribes and other stakeholders in a continuous dialogue about the necessity for administrative reforms and modern day development processes in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Such a strengthened media can also contribute to an increase in the awareness of local tribes about the issues of democratic governance, participatory development, human security, gender, development rights, and justice. A well-informed and pluralistic media can contribute greatly in forming a democratic and tolerant society in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).  There is an urgent need to mobilize the local media and build and improve the skills of tribal journalists so that they are able to bring relevant policy institutions and decision-makers closer to the development needs and aspiration of the local tribes. 
There is an urgent need to mobilize the local media and build and improve the skills of tribal journalists so that they are able to bring relevant policy institutions and decision-makers closer to the development needs and aspiration of the local tribes. To do this, tribal journalists need to be trained and organized in order to perform this role of being a watchdog for public interest issues as well as becoming the voice of the voiceless tribal population. However, the tribal journalists lack the infrastructure and facilities needed to perform their duties in a professional manners. Press clubs in the tribal and semi-tribal areas lack modern communication tools and equipment. This hinders the proper functioning of these local media institutions. The Center for Research, Communication and Dialogue (CRCD) in collaboration with Tribal Network has organized capacity building training workshops in the recent past for journalists based inside FATA as well as distributing communication equipment in the press clubs. Now the group wants to take such training deeper into the adjoining conflict-prone and backward tribal and semi-tribal areas of Pakistan. This development of the CRCD’s Tribal Media Program would involve a series of four-day training workshops for local journalists from Gwadar, Quetta, Kishmor, Dadu, Rajanpur, DI Khan, Kohat, Peshawar, Swat, and Chitral. The initiative would involve the distribution of communication equipment to the local press clubs and 10 training workshops for an estimated 250 local journalists. The training sessions would include skills development (reporting and communication), democratic governance, development planning, performance audits, and accountability and transparency. The sessions would include group work, field-based assignments and data gathering. A further aim would be that such a programme would enhance the national and international media institution’s links with local media institutions in the entire tribal belt of Pakistan stretching from Gwadar to Gilgit. The proposed activities would also contribute to expanding the scope and coverage of a fortnightly online newspaper on FATA called Karwan-e-Qabial, which has been published by the CRCD for the last eight months.
The author, Kashif Hameed, is a researcher and civil society activist in Pakistan. He has helped set up numereous NGOs mainly serving the most depressed, isolated and marginalised communities in Pakistan. For the last five years he has been working on the capacity building of Tribal Media. He is currently working as Executive Coordinator with the Center for Research Communication and Dialogue, a network of grass roots organisations in Islamabad. You can send a message to Kashif by logging on and clicking on his name or by using the contact us form at the foot of every page.
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