PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB), Code for Pakistan (CfP) and the World Bank Group launched the third cycle of the KP Civic Innovation Fellowship Programme at Durshal Government Innovation Lab in Peshawar. Secretary Science and Technology and Information Technology, Dawood Khan was the Chief Guest and other participants were KPITB’s Managing Director, Dr Shahbaz Khan, the World Bank Group’s Senior Advisor, Amjad Arbab and CfP’s Head of Fellowships, Anam Zakaria. Dr Shahbaz Khan, spoke about the importance of civic innovation and briefed the audience of the various initiatives undertaken by KPITB, of which the Fellowship Program is one of the flagship programs. Zakaria spoke about the digital transformation happening around the world and commented that, “The KP Government is perfectly poised to engage in this global movement as it is driving civic innovation in the country. CfP is very excited to partner with KPITB in helping the government meet the people where they are and transform citizens’ daily lives”, she added. KPITB, Code for Pakistan and the World Bank first partnered to launch the KP Civic Innovation Fellowship Program back in 2014. The KP government is the first provincial government to partner with Code for Pakistan for citizens’ engagement in the public sphere. KP Civic Innovation Fellowship program is a six-month program that brings together technology leads, software developers and domain experts from local government departments to improve government processes and citizen service delivery by leveraging technology. Mohsin Ahmad, Government Liaison from the World Bank commented: “KP Civic Innovation Fellowship Program is one of its kind in Pakistan. It helps government institutions in adopting technological innovations to effectively serve citizens. For Fellows, it is a lifetime opportunity to work with other talented and passionate young minds to design solutions that will enhance government performance, and improve the quality of life.” Durshal Government Innovation Lab provides co-working space for young innovators to come together and propose innovative technology solutions to local governments and agencies for their governance and service delivery needs. The KP Civic Innovation Fellowship Program was launched here and at present, Durshal provides incubation facility to the 3rd batch of Fellows. Durshal aims to bring about the much needed technological revolution in the province through programs like the KP Civic Innovation Fellowship Program by serving as a vital link between the local government departments, tech industry, IT entrepreneurs and investors to anchor KP’s digital transformation. Since 2014, KPITB, Code for Pakistan and the World Bank have successfully run two cycles of the KP Civic Innovation Fellowship Program with 30 graduated Fellows. The Fellowship teams partnered with various government departments including the Traffic Police Department, Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Health Department, KP IT Board, Directorate of IT, and Energy & Power Department to develop different open source applications, many of which continue to be in use. Following the success of the first two fellowship cycles, the Fellowship Program has now entered its 3rd cycle this year. From a pool of 1,000+ applicants, the KP IT Board, Code for Pakistan and the World Bank selected 20 qualified Fellows to create technology solutions and help the government deliver public services more efficiently. For 2017, the 20 young innovators from the KP province will work with 5 government departments to deliver solutions that improve service delivery. The government departments on board for this cycle are Peshawar Traffic Police , Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB), Directorate of Industries and Commerce, KP Tourism Department.