Sahar Zafar

I am a visual media specialist and a human rights activist from Lahore, Pakistan. As both visual design professional and human rights defender, I blend design, development, and strategy across the digital and print mediums. I specialize in helping nonprofits connect the dots between digital storytelling, behavior change, and sustainable development. I completed my Hons. degree in TV & Film Studies in 2011 and have since been working closely with the education, media and humanitarian sectors. I have conducted trainings on visual communications tools for practitioners from development organizations, youth, cross-generational groups, and educators. The training provided participants with essential technical skills for transforming development related messages into a visual language to create maximum impact.

I have developed communication and digital strategies for organizations; apart from directing several documentaries, designing E-learning modules and collecting photography series for I/NGOs, donors and policy think tanks. I have been working in digital storytelling for almost a decade using different kinds of media, from print to digital. As a visual media specialist working in development sector, I tell stories visually, I think critically, I design reasonably, and I make things look intriguing. I question habitual, safe thinking around communication tools and I also believe that powerful visuals can make campaigns come to life for the broadest possible audience. I want to be a member of YouthLead because I believe that in this age of increased media engagement and commercialization, how we envision the role of the media and technology in development can define how we deal with disasters and humanitarian crisis. In a highly interconnected world, we need to employ technology and visual media to make a bigger impact by creating effective ways for crowdfunding, improved aid delivery, and advanced economic development projects globally.