Pakistan project helps communities to tackle major challenges

Thousands of teachers, students, parents, and community members in Pakistan now have the tools to begin tackling the challenges facing their country – thanks to an innovative project led by University of Birmingham researchers.

The Cultivating Global Citizenship: Empowering Teachers to Become Change Agents in Pakistan project has delivered professional development workshops for teachers and community activities focused on global citizenship education – aimed at creating solutions to deal with poverty, educational inequality, climate-related health threats, and pollution.

Global citizenship education will help future generations to responsibly deal with these challenges – both locally and internationally – but teachers in Pakistan lack the necessary knowledge, skills, resources, and support to incorporate appropriate topics into teaching and learning.

Researchers led workshops for pre- and in-service teachers from teacher education universities and schools across the Punjab region of Pakistan, as well as helped them design and deliver 360 global citizenship lessons for schools. Schools also co-created a series of sustainability mission statements to guide daily activities, promoting environmental and social responsibility.

Discussions are now underway to incorporate global citizenship education into teacher education and school curricula. The project is expected to influence policy changes and integrate sustainability mission statements into school action plans.

The project received commendations from key policymakers, including the Federal Minister for Planning and Development Professor Dr Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, the Minister for School and Higher Education Punjab, Mr. Rana Sikandar Hayat, and the Special Advisor for the Higher Education Commission, Mr. Muhammad Raza Chohan.

It is now hoped to expand the project to train 250 university teacher trainers, potentially benefiting thousands of students and community members over the next 3-5 years.

Dr Meng Tian, Associate Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Birmingham, commented: “The people of Pakistan face major challenges requiring both this and future generations to act quickly. Our project has laid strong foundations for promoting global citizenship education - delivering significant short-term achievements and offering hope for sustained impact.

We worked with partners in-country to develop and deliver culturally relevant, practice-oriented, and research-informed solutions to these challenges. By fostering a sense of global citizenship, we believe our work in Pakistan can help to create a more inclusive, just, and peaceful world.”

According to UNICEF (2024), 22.8 million children aged 5–16 in Pakistan are out of school - the second-highest rate in the world. Several cities, such as Lahore, are among the most polluted globally and hazardous smog continues to reach record levels, affecting millions of residents.

The project also saw an arts competition and exhibition in Lahore engaging over 150 students and young artists - raising awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and global citizenship among over 500 community members.

In December 2025, the project team will host the Education Access and Equity with Global South Partners Conference in Dubai. Collaborators from Pakistan will share their ongoing activities, inspiring other Global South educators - exchanging ideas and educational resources with other projects in Malaysia, South Africa, and India.