The objective of the proposed documentary series is to leverage the work done for the ?Green Pioneers? book, to reinforce the messages it contains and to increase the impact of these messages by presenting them to a much wider audience in visual form.
The following nine projects have been short listed for the documentary series, out of which six have to be selected during the scheduling phase. This will determine the final filming and travel schedule including the edit dates.

i. The Himalayan Wildlife Project ? Deosai Plateau near Skardu
(Ideal Filming Time: July-September).
The Deosai Plateau is a vast wilderness of rolling grass that lies 35km south of Skardu. Until the establishment of the Himalayan Wildlife Project, the most threatened mammal on the plateau was the brown bear. These bears were often hunted for their body parts, which were exported across the border to China. The wildlife project was initiated by Dr. Anis ur Rehman, a dentist and Vaqar Zakaria, a consultant who both shared a passion for trekking. In 1987, the two decided to trek through the Deosai for the first time. They had heard that there were a lot of brown bears in Deosai, but they didn?t even spot one. Driven by curiosity, they eventually discovered that only 19 bears were left in Deosai. Alarmed at their decreasing numbers, the two friends formed an NGO and lobbied the government to declare the Deosai Plateau as a national park. With GEF assistance, they developed the park?s management plan and began efforts to protect it with the collaboration of the Wildlife Department. Today, the population of the bears has increased to 28. Deosai?s unique brown bears now have a chance to survive, thanks to the efforts of these two green pioneers.

ii. The Conservation and Rehabilitation Centre ? Uch Sharif
(Ideal Filming Time: Nov-March)
Architect Yasmin Cheema has spent the past 15 years studying the magnificent ruins of Uch in the Cholistan Desert of Southern Punjab. Uch was an ancient trading post that later became eminent as a centre for Islamic Sufi teaching. Together with Masood Khan, a professor of architecture at MIT, Yasmin set up the Conservation and Rehabilitation Center with a field office in Uch. They realised that Uch is not a city of ruins, but represents a living tradition of an ancient way of life. A city of 20,000 residents, the people, crafts, streets and monuments of Uch depend upon pilgrims who flock there to imbibe the profound spiritualism that is offered by this city of shrines. Instead of limiting themselves to architectural conservation, the group at CRC realised that to save the monuments of Uch, the sanitation problems plaguing this ancient town would have to be addressed. Seepage from unlined sewerage channels is damaging the foundations of these precious monuments. They started on a difficult journey to mobilise the residents of Uch. With assistance from the UNDP?s LIFE programme, the CRC has convinced local citizens to lay down sewerage pipes and dispense of their solid waste in an organised way by coordinating with the local municipality. They have drawn upon the successful model of urban sanitation pioneered by the Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi in order to save the architectural gems of Uch.

iii. Himalayan Jungle Project ? Palas Valley near Kaghan
(Ideal Filming Time: June-August)
The Western Himalayan mountain ranges are known for their lush forests and valleys ? these are home to five different species of pheasants ? Koklass, Monal, Western Tragopan, Khalji and the Cheer pheasant. In Northern Pakistan, a growing timber demand is rapidly reducing the forests so important for the country?s replenishment of water and soil resources. One way to scientifically judge the locus of forest decline it to keep a track of the pheasant population. The decline in pheasant population has attracted the attention of the World Pheasant Association. Rob Whale, a young Welsh ecologist was invited to Pakistan by the WPA. Whale and the WPA decided that the best way to start saving pheasants in the wild was to observe and record changes in pheasant numbers and habitat in the northern region and pinpoint factors responsible for their decline. A detailed survey of the pheasant population was conducted in the Hazara division of the NWFP, funded by the UNDP?s GEF/SGP. During one survey, Rob and his team managed to film the rare Western Tragopan in the Palas valley ? this is the only known video footage of the pheasant. Rob?s love of nature and wildlife has led him to settle down in Pakistan ? he has now converted to Islam and is married to a Pakistani.

iv. Society for Torghar Environment Protection ? Torghar Hills near Kila
Saifullah (Ideal Filming Time: Sept-Oct and March-May)
In the rugged tribal areas of Balochistan, the Suleiman Markhor and the Afghan Urial were disappearing due to hunting. In 1985, Sardar Naseer A. Tareen founded the Society for Torghar Environment Protection. A trained film-maker, he says he became an accidental environmentalist when he discovered that Balochistan?s rich wildlife was on the verge of extinction due to indiscriminate hunting and overuse of soil and water. With the help of experts from the US Fish and Wildlife Service a conservation plan introduced trophy hunting for the first time in Pakistan. This plan provides incentives for local tribesmen to protect these animals from poachers by serving as wildlife guards. In 1995, the GEF/SGP funding was provided to improve their livelihoods by increasing the yield of their agricultural land. When the project started, there were approximately 200 Urial and 100 Markhor in the area. By 1999, there were 1,700 Markhor and a similar number of Urial living in Torghar. The mountain is now home to the world?s largest population of these unique species of goat and sheep. Sardar Naseer?s leadership in this initiative has won him and the area widespread international acclaim.

v. Mehrano Private Wildlife Refuge ? Kot Diji in interior Sindh
(Ideal Filming Time: Dec-Feb)
His Highness Mir Ali Murad Khan Talpur II has led an extraordinary life ? barely 14 years old he was crowned the ruler of the princely state of Khairpur in upper Sindh. When the independent state of Khairpur was forced to merge with the one unit of West Pakistan, he saw Khairpur?s institutions crumble and powerless, he adopted confinement in his royal bungalow in Kot Diji. He sought personal sanctuary from the affairs of the world by immersing himself in Islam and the conservation of nature. Over the years he has devoted his life to transforming his family?s privately owned game reserve called Mehrano into a wildlife refuge. The approximately one square mile of Mehrano comprises riverine forest, grassland, a small lake and desert habitat. Mehrano is home to one of the largest herds of Black Buck in Pakistan and is also the last stronghold of the Hog Deer. Other species in the forest include wild boars, jackals, jungle cats, mongoose, snakes and different kinds of birds. Mehrano is all that remains of the vast riverine forests that once covered Sindh and remains a unique sanctuary lovingly created by a prince to save his heritage.

vi. The Indus Dolphin Rescue Unit ? Sukkur Barrage
(Ideal Filming Time: Oct-March)
For 25 million years, the Indus River Dolphin has lived in the turbid waters of the Indus River and has lost the use of its eyes. It now uses a sophisticated sonar system to live in the river. As a highly evolved species, it represents the life and health of the river
itself and has become a conservation priority for Pakistan. Over the years, numerous dams and barrages have carved up the natural course of the Indus, breaking up the territory of the dolphin. Every year, water from the Indus is diverted into canals. For reasons unknown to biologists, Indus Dolphins are trapped as they swim into irrigation canals and the barrage gates are closed. Hussein Bux Bhagat of the Sindh Wildlife Department has been trying to physically rescue these mammals for some time. Now, he is part of a professional team comprising Dr. Toosy of the Lahore Zoo and Richard Garstang of WWF-Pakistan. Based on techniques developed by world-class cetacean specialists, they have established a method to physically capture these fragile mammals and transport them back into their home in the Indus River. The Dolphin Rescue Unit is being assisted by the GEF/SGP and is a part of an effort to save this living fossil from extinction.

vii. Escorts Foundation ? Changa Manga Forest outside Lahore
(Ideal Filming Time: Nov-April)
The Escorts Group of companies is a big business house based in Lahore. In 1994, Maryam Bashir, the daughter of the head of the group set up the Escorts Foundation. The aim of the Foundation was to improve the health, education and income generation in villages around Changa Manga forest outside Lahore. Maryam and her cousin, Amna Qureishy, selected the forest for their project area since it was one of the more desperate examples of rural existence in central Punjab. Changa Manga is an irrigated forest that is a protected area of Pakistan. The project staff soon began to notice that the forest was being pillaged for fire wood needed for the chullas (stove) in the villages. Smoke emitted from these chullas causes life long respiratory problems and also contributes to green house gas emissions, which damage the earth?s atmosphere. In 1995, with GEF/SGP funding, the Foundation introduced smokeless stoves in 24 villages in the area. Today, over 5,000 households in Changa Manga use this new technology. With these stoves, a woman can get through her day using half the fuel needed for a traditional chulla. Maryam and Amna?s success is now being cited as a model in development and their NGO is training women in making these stoves all across the country.

viii. Female Education Trust ? Mand, Balochistan
(Ideal Filming Time: Sept-March)
Zobaida Jalal has successfully changed age-old traditions and deeply entrenched attitudes in the social hinterlands of Balochistan. Her strength and calm determination have helped her in her journey from a girls? school teacher in a remote corner of Balochistan to becoming the Federal Minister for Education and women. Jalal is a woman with vision ? to understand the uniqueness of her story, one has to go back to the isolated village of Sooro which lies in the Makran division of Balochistan. Jalal, though brought up in Kuwait, had to move back to her father?s native village when their grandfather passed away. It was there that Jalal was encouraged by her father to start a small school in her sitting room at home. His tribe opposed the school, but Jalal?s father stood by his daughter and soon the school grew into a big 24 room building. The school was eventually handed over to the government but faced with a lack of properly qualified teachers. Jalal founded the Female Education Trust to run the school. Today, it is said that Mand has a 100 per cent literate child population. Jalal also devised a Turbat Conservation Strategy with assistance from the GEF/SGP to build reservoirs and irrigation channels to solve the areas? water problems. Zobaida eventually became a member of the GEF/SGP?s National Steering Committee and in 1999, she was asked to become a federal minister.

ix. Soan Valley Development Programme ? Salt Range, Punjab
(Ideal Filming Time: Sept-May)
Gulbaz Afaqi grew up in a picturesque village in the Salt Range. He left his ancestral village in the Soan Valley to pursue higher studies ? he eventually settled in Lahore. However, an encounter with the late Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan inspired him to move back to his village and start a project to improve the lives of his fellow villagers through simple, indigenous solutions. The Salt Range is a special place, famous for its unique and fragile landscape. The region is rich in natural resources and has an abundance of lakes and streams. The salt water lakes located in the Salt Range are important for international conservation as they are home to migratory birds from Siberia in the winters. In recent years, the villagers have cut down the forest cover in the surrounding hills, affecting the watershed areas and lowering water levels in the region. The lakes are now in danger of drying up and the wells dug to provide drinking water are also becoming dry. Gulbaz Afaqi has conducted extensive water surveys and with the help of GEF/SGP, has initiated an on farm water management project by giving out small loans to farmers to construct proper water channels. His NGO has also started encouraging organic farming. Getting the farmers to consider working for the long term benefits of conservation is no easy task but Gulbaz Afaqi has used his own farm to demonstrate new techniques ? so if a crop fails or a new technology does not work, he suffers as well.


4. PROJECT OBJECTIVE AND PROPOSED ACTIVITY

The proposed six-part documentary series on ?Green Pioneers? in Pakistan builds on and leverages a book on the same subject funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the Global Environmental Facility/ Small Grants Program (GEF/ SGP) in 2002. This book tells the story of eighteen individuals who have pioneered development projects that have had a significant impact on the environment, heritage or wildlife in Pakistan.

The idea is to choose six out of these eighteen to feature in the documentary series and present the problems they have addressed with the assistance provided by the UNDP to a much wider audience. These are inspiring stories of great courage and vision which need to be told to a mass audience in Pakistan and abroad. They encourage one to believe that pioneering work for sustainable development can be done by almost anyone ? it is fundamentally motivated by our personal ideals, values and skills.

The objective of the proposed documentary series is to: leverage the work done for the ?Green Pioneers? book, to reinforce the messages it contains and to increase the impact of these messages by presenting them to a much wider audience in visual form. The proposed series, and principle output, would feature the development work pioneered by six out of the eighteen individuals highlighted in the book.

This would mean producing a 30 minute documentary on each story. The selection of the six stories that are to be featured in the documentary series would be driven by those that were the most interesting and visually attractive, and which have had the greatest impact on the community and environment. These stories would be the ones that stand out in terms of achievement and obstacles overcome. There would also be some effort to ensure that the stories chosen featured a variety of subject types and geographical areas.

Activities to be carried out:

In the first phase, we have had initial approval (subject to defined terms by UNDP) from UNDP for the final proposal to be submitted for their approval. UNDP has also agreed to assist Walkabout Films in raising the additional funds required from the public / private sector in Pakistan to complete the project.

The funds would be utilized to research, add the co-script, develop a production schedule, produce (film), post produce (edit etc), package and distribute (including marketing) the six programs.

Airtime from television companies remains to be confirmed. This exercise will determine if the series is broadcast under a co-sponsorship with the networks in Pakistan or at commercial rates. We have taken the estimated commercial cost into account and the negotiations shall determine the final outcome.

5. PROJECT STRATEGY

As outlined in the Forward to the ?Green Pioneers? book, the objective of putting together the original publication was to bring to public attention to the innovative paths that are being paved for development in Pakistan. The green pioneers that were selected for the book remind us that sustainable development cannot be imposed from top-down, but evolves, growing organically from people?s responses to the changing environment around them. The eighteen cases described in the ?Green Pioneers? book highlight the emergence of new grassroots leadership influencing the way Pakistan develops its actions for sustainable development. The significance of the initiatives presented in the book is reinforced by the fact that most of them have been supported by UNDP through the GEF/ SGP.

The proposed documentary series aims to expand on the work done for the original ?Green Pioneers? book, and present the messages it contains to a much wider audience in visual form. The benefits of the series include the chance to raise awareness of environmental, heritage and wildlife issues in Pakistan, and also to highlight the vital role played by the UNDP?s GEF/SGP in helping to address these issues.

GEF/ SGP resources would be used to co-fund the following activities which it is anticipated would be necessary components of the proposed exercise:

· Hiring of the Technical Staff and Equipment for the project
· Research and development of the series.
· Initial development and launch of production requirements and planning.
· Pre Production
· Travel / Board and Lodging
· Production (Filming)
· Post Production (Editing)
· Packaging and Delivery
· Publicity and Marketing

i. Inputs

· UNDP input required is limited to funding, technical advice as needed and assistance and support in raising the additional funding from the private sector.
· Other donor input required ? private sector will be approached with assistance of UNDP for sponsorship and main funding of the series as well as broadcast air time charges and publicity.
· GoP input required ? none.
· Community input required ? limited to those individuals and institutions directly involved or affected by each pioneering project featured. Specifying the community inputs required for each individual 30-minute program, organizing these inputs, costing them and managing them will be the responsibility of the proposed producers of the documentary series, ?Walkabout Films?. Research preproduction, production, post-production, and overall management of the project will be undertaken by Walkabout Films and their associates.
· All local Pakistani broadcasters will be approached to broadcast the six-part documentary series at least twice over a 12-month period, ideally for free. The idea is that the broadcaster would broadcast the series as a public service exercise, and would get free association with a high quality program of potential interest to a large audience locally - in return for waiving their normal charge for airtime. The GEO channel has already expressed strong interest in the series, although others (e.g. PTV, Indus & ARY) will also be approached.
· International/ Regional-oriented broadcasters ? it is proposed that the series should be produced to international production and broadcasting standards, in a format that facilitates it?s dubbing into any language and allow the widest possible international airing. This focus on quality is also essential in attracting broad viewership to what is essentially a specialist minority subject. Responsibility for marketing the series to international broadcasters will rest with the proposed documentary series producers, Walkabout Films, who would also retain commercial rights on any international broadcast and sales. The benefit to UNDP of any international broadcasting is clearly increased awareness and wider promotion of the causes they espouse.
· Commercial Sponsors ? Commercial sponsors would be required for the completion and promotion of the series and to this end Walkabout Films will, in consultation with UNDP, identify suitable commercial sponsors and approach them for the funding required with the assistance and support of UNDP.
ii. Base outline of proposed activity to be able to launch the project:

We have taken into account a number of concerns that were made known to us by UNDP upon the invitation of this proposal. We have, for example, factored the fact that the project would be subject to total funding being in place, before any activity (other than signing of the contract and the sponsorships being sought) of the actual project begin.

We would work with UNDP to identify and request for sponsorship(s) and based on these funds being made available the project would be initiated.

Phase One: September 2004
UNDP considers the ?Green Pioneers? proposal, and decides whether it wants to go ahead. A contractual commitment, subject to the raising of the additional funds from the commercial sponsor, should, ideally, be made before the end of September 2004.
Phase Two: October and November (latest)
We have allowed a two month period to raise the balance of the funds (which GEF is not providing) from one or more commercial sponsors. The plan would be to start the project as soon as the money is raised. (There is a pressure to start the project before the end of the year in order to meet the outlined seasonal deadlines for some of the proposed pieces.) Walkabout Films would not expect any remuneration for its efforts in this phase.

Phase Three: Starts once a firm commitment from all sponsors has been made, and the first installment due from all parties has been collected.
This should ideally start by December 2004 or earlier. Phase 3 kicks off the work-plan and schedule as outlined below:

iii. General Schedule (Brief, Pre Pilot):

The project will take around 9 months to complete. Out of this, 35 days will be taken up for research and planning. The rest will be spent on filming and groundwork at each of the six locations with gaps for logistical and travel to the next location etc.

The filming and research time spent on each story will vary according to location.

Post production averages approximately 15 days per program. The editing schedule shall run parallel with the filming schedule, once the first three documentaries have been shot.

All programs shall be dubbed in English. (Subtitles for non English dialogues).

A detailed schedule will be prepared and submitted once we have short listed the final six programs in the series and all the relevant logistical and seasonal time frames have been studied and confirmed in relation to the filming cycle.

Planning and Scheduling Phase: 50 Days
Project Time Scheduling (Requirements for Research, Planning, Pre Production, Production and Packaging)
Physical Scheduling (Locations and Seasonal Parameters)
Human Resource Scheduling (Technicians and their man hour requirements)
Logistics and Backup (Transport, Board / lodging and backup)
Field Equipment (Generator, Power Supplies, Chargers, Tents etc)


Story Development Phase: 70 Days
Scriptwriting and continuity merge
Shot lists and theme integration
Story board and program structure
Music and Sync rights
Astons and Graphics

Production (Filming) Phase: 70 Days

Post Production Phase: 90 Days
Transfers and Shot lists
Editing
Finishing
Packaging and Delivery Phase: 30 Days

Total Estimated Days = 310

The duration of the project is set at nine months or approximately 270 days. We aim to keep to our target due to the fact that a number of the phases will overlap in time and work schedules.

iv. See ?Profile? (section 1) for technical expertise and similar projects undertaken.

8. ANTICIPATED RESULTS

As indicated earlier in our previous proposal, we aim to leverage the stories from the book by adding the visual and story imagery, reinforced by the narrative which will show the positive and interactive aspects to humans in their environment.

Among our anticipated results are demonstration of the ability to achieve, the diligence factor and the spirit of mankind to make a difference if they set their minds to a particular goal. We wish to make people aware, as well as give them the insight to actual situations that are tangible and workable.

The content of our series is universal in its message, and this is what gives ?Green Pioneers? an edge over other general subjects. The content can be viewed by any person anywhere in the world, and as long as the medium of communication is acceptable, the content and the message will be understood by any audience.

Our aim would be for a cross section of society to be able to see and appreciate the stories and their messages that can prove to be a valuable educational medium in better understanding the environment, the power of a single human being and their determination and finally the practical side of life and its interaction with the environment and nature.

The only risk we envisage is that we are not able to raise the required funds for the entire project. To cover this risk we have already suggested that we shall not initiate the project till all the required funding is made available for the project.

The only other risk is that we do not get the additional funds for international commercial broadcasting and distribution. This would not be an issue if we provide the series gratis to other developing and developed countries for free to air broadcasting.