Daily Times

What could be the measure of humiliation for a common man in my beloved homeland Pakistan, who in the words of our all-time favourite cricket celebrity and current Prime Minister, is a victim of the elite capture? Without finding any accredited index (though there are some initiatives for assessing human dignity) I have named it The Humiliation and Elite Capture composite Index. Eventually I have arrived at the conclusion that most of the ordinary, self-made and honest women fare even worse than men on this index, and yes it will be worst for trans and other ostracized segments of population. I often wonder how my Prime Minister would fulfil his oft repeated commitment to bring the elite and influential under the rule of law and support the poor segments of society to make Pakistan a truly welfare state?

It is understandable that in spite of a sizeable number of foreign qualified advisers in the central government and many bright brains in the cabinets and legislatures, our problems if branded according to 17 SDGs cannot be fixed instantly. It remains a bitter reality no matter how much it is sidelined that the structural arrogance persuasively warrants that uplifting of the sufferers would remain an illusion.

Just a decade ago, in the landscape of the deceptive development, the words and concepts like ethical fiber, empathy and inclusivity were not really welcomed (proud to be in the tribe of unwelcomed). However, with the successful translation of ethical face of capitalism as social entrepreneurship and overpowering of the Tech industry the conversation, lexicon and parameters of success have evolved globally with their own share of merits and demerits. Now there is an over consumption of the word empathy that in fact is officially the first thing to do in design thinking in IT. Then arrives the politics of aid, data and success stories. The Harvard Business Review, luckily, has quantified organizational empathy through an index for revenue generating companies and categorized it into ethics, leadership, company culture, brand perception, and public messaging through social media. Their publicly available metrics include CEO approval ratings from staff, ratio of women on boards, and number of accounting infractions, scandals and carbon metric. Not contesting the disorder modelled by the Ivy leagues and top most money making companies, anyone who is familiar with the realities on ground is eligible and justified to wonder if the same could be done here for the public departments. This may help in creating, accepting and strengthening the social justice – a tricky terrain.

The ODI in consultation with some UN agencies, in 2014, detailed a research report about the experiences of seven countries namely Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, India, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Nepal to tackle intersecting inequalities

The ODI in consultation with some UN agencies, in 2014, detailed a research report about the experiences of seven countries namely Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, India, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Nepal to tackle intersecting inequalities. Their research showed that along with some other key ingredients social movements demanding changes in the rules of the game are required for addressing these disparities. My personal belief is that all forms of intersectional inequalities can be ended by leading with cognitive and compassionate empathy. Currently, the emotional intelligence and empathy are being seen as powerful policy devices to create understanding policy issues in nearly all developed countries. Their think tanks, academia, and other research organizations are working actively on this concept and offering a variety of study courses, training workshops and constructing connectors with policy making. According to a digital article attributed to the Australian government there could be seven ways to integrate empathy into policy making. These include Think broadly about audience, Do not forget policy owners, Think like an insider, Get ready to be uncomfortable, Practice helps, Check your bias and Make it a story. Renowned psychiatrist from Harvard, author the empathy effect and Ted Speaker Dr. Helen Riess Empathy can be learnt as a skill. This implies that Empathy can be taught to leaders in politics, health care, social sciences and business. The Co-founder, One Team Government movement, UK, Kit Collinwood, is of the view that that the successful future of the public sector, and of policymaking as a core function within it, depends on our ability to better connect with and understand people irrespective of barriers like political will and mandate, time pressures, cultural friction “the payoff in the quality of our ideas and our ability to implement them will be worth it every time”.

I conclude by requesting the honourable PM that he must consider testing the magical recipe of empathy to get rid of the clutches of elite capture and its colossal damages to the self-esteem, self-respect, voices, dignity and mental health of the non-elites of this country. The caveat is that it has to be done through non-elites, experts and innovators without strong surnames and push of the class. As I always try to convey through writings, talks and tweets that there is an urgent need to start to teach empathy and prescribe empathy pills to all VIPs, civil servants, politicians and legislators. Once they learn this skill, all public departments will acquire a humane face and all services irrespective of their technical classification will be human services. Resultantly, the individual and collective health of the society and the state will ameliorate, and the country will perform genuinely better on all scales of human security, equality and development.

The writer is a Public Health, Gender, Inclusion & Empathy expert and founder of a non-funded think tank apna Wallet meant for psychological and financial empowerment of all women