Systems Change in South Asia
Academy Fellow, Kanwer Anwer Saeed, has founded The Jaulian Project in his quest to foster deep systems change in South Asia.
The Jaulian Project aims to bring together leaders to create a community that is committed to fostering positive change and creating meaningful impact to create stability in this world of chaos. It encourages using local tradition, wisdom and spiritual history of the land to equip leaders with tools and clarify their direction through Leadership Journeys. Jaulian has also initiated a platform called the Resilient Women’s Collective that works to connect and build women empowerment in Pakistan.
First Leadership Journey, Bali 2018
The first Leadership Journey, led by Kanwer and co-facilitated by Ken Leinbach (Academy co-Founder and Board Member), Marissa Jablonski (Academy Fellow and Sustainability Consultant), and Rahul Baswani (Managing Partner, Sierra Next), was held in Bali, Indonesia in 2018. It was attended by industry leaders interested in using purposive existence and behavior to rethink the psychology of their organizations.
Using a creative combination of outdoor activities, deep dialogue and personal reflection, the program provided a rich team-building experience and a unique opportunity for leadership to get to know each other outside of their professional roles.
Resilient Women’s Collective
As an incubated initiative of The Jaulian Project, the Resilient Women’s Collective (RWC) arose from Kanwer and his wife Farah’s desire to create a platform for Pakistani women to connect in a “safe containers” and share stories to reclaim their power in public spaces. It is a process where women learn to leave behind mental barriers that prevent them from realizing their fullest potential. By fostering human connection, empathy and self-awareness, the end goal is for women to lead self-propelled solutions to problems they face in their communities. In short: Social change, driving influence using a bottom-up approach with feminine wisdom leading the way.
As part of RWC, Kanwer led the second RWC ‘Wilderness Trail’ in October 2019 surrounded by serene nature and humbling mountains of northern Pakistan. The Wilderness Trail provided women with transformational journeys through impactful conversations, adventures, and empowering experiences. The 4-day outbound program prioritizes team-building and recognition of participants’ emotional intelligence through various mentally stimulating and physical challenging activities. Participants were encouraged to question, challenge and share new ideas, bond with other women and foster relationships that last beyond organizational boundaries.
Women also self-reflected through carefully facilitated sessions and were invited to challenge limitations through adventure. The average Pakistani woman who had never done rock rappelling or trekking through hidden forests without a male chaperone, used collective energy to create space for self-belief, courage, endurance, leadership and self-reliance. This was the biggest achievement of the program.
Wilderness Trails will continue throughout 2020 as the Resilient Women’s Collective will diversify into mentorship connections, gender-workplace research in Pakistan, and a women’s leadership summit.
The Jaulian Project – the Urban Ecology Center Partnership
The Jaulian Project and the Urban Ecology Center, USA joined hands in August 2019 to provide scholarships to sustainability activist from Pakistan to train at Urban Ecology Centre under the leadership of Ken Lienbach. The first scholar, Anusha Fatima, Founder of Trashit was sent from Pakistan for the Summer intensive workshop at the Urban Ecology Center, Milwaukee-USA.
