Hello, my name is Imran, I am Child Protection Manager at Skateistan and based in Berlin. However, I was born and raised in Quetta, Pakistan.
I have built an academic career around topics including terrorism, religion, and mobility with regards to women in South Asia especially Pakistan. I was the Country Director Seeds of Peace, Pakistan and I have engaged young people especially young girls in interfaith, intersect and national integration camps, which were peacebuilding, trust-building, and leadership camps.
I did my Master’s degree in Gender Studies from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad Pakistan and has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Punjab in Political Science and Economics.
In 2007, I won the first National Youth Award in community services, having been nominated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs Pakistan. I led a session in the World Youth Conference held in Mexico and presented on meaningful youth participation in Kenya. I was selected as a youth speaker in an international conference on family planning held in Dakar, Senegal, and attended the Global Women Deliver Conference in Malaysia as a youth speaker.
I have been part of different international fellowships, the most recent one is the global fellowship from GIZ and Asian Development Bank “Transforming leadership Lab: Women, Men, Power and Potential.” I was also part of Swedish Institute’s Young Connectors Future Fellowship and was selected to participate in the Atlantic Council’s prestigious Emerging Leaders of Pakistan Fellowship Program during the summer of 2012.
Interesting! That's a fantastic number of accomplishments. Imran, what does a Child Protection Manager do? What kinds of challenges do you face in a position like that?
@Peter, sorry for the delayed response.
My role basically is to create a culture of safety at Skateistan, so I build upon what my amazing colleagues have already started. I rewrote the child protection policy which has different guidelines, we have new reporting forms now and a flow chart where all the colleagues know what to do if they see abuse or poor practice in our programs and who to reach out in the case of emergencies.
The challenges are normally about the security situation in the programs countries. Also the understanding and to have a common policy for a diverse team and people coming from a different cultural background is a challenge but at the same time, it offers so much learning. The best thing about my role is, I am engaged with each colleague from Berlin to Kabul, talk to many of them on a regular basis and bring innovative ways to empower children in our programs.