Islamabad, 14th December 2019
Yes, as incredible as it may seem, we turn five today!
Five years of hard work, five years of frustrations & celebrations.
Five is a significant number, half a decade, old enough to get over teething problems, young enough to retain the spirit of wonder and exploration. We started five years back, in our guest room, and a tiny grant that allowed us barely enough administrative cost to get the first three workbenches. They were tiny ones, with only enough space for a laptop. Any notebooks we used while working had to be placed on the lap, or carefully adjusted in the five extra inches left on the desk. We were a skeleton crew of three.
It has taken five years to move from our guestroom to a shared space, and to our first office to the current one. Five years to grow from a team of five to fifteen. And it has been an incredible journey. We see ourselves as a unique organisation; progressive, fierce, and feminist.
We have contributed to policy dialogue on media and the Internet, continued to engage with the media community, supporting them in whatever way we can. Today, we work with a team that feels as strongly for the cause as we do. We own our success and learn from our failures and we continue to explore and experiment. Here is to another five years and more after that! May we continue to stand for human rights and may we continue to work for space where voices like ours can create impact.