As part of Global Voices’ fundraising challenge campaign called “Behind the Story,” we will feature 30 contributors in 30 days. In this series, we ask each contributor about a particular story they have written and why working on it mattered to them. These reflections from these contributors remind us why it is important to ensure that the Global Voices Newsroom is sustainable.

In this insight, R Umaima Ahmed from Pakistan shares thoughts on why working on the story “In Pakistan's elections, animals were tortured for the sake of political stunts” was especially meaningful.

This is one of my earliest pieces for GV on a topic that is very close to my heart. Animals have long been ignored, tortured, and killed in Pakistan. During the 2018 elections, a dog was shot after being wrapped in a flag of a political party. Animal activists raised their voices, and I was one of the few journalists to cover animal abuse in Pakistan. Since then, abuse against animals has started being reported and it has helped us to generate discussion and demand stronger laws on the subject over the years.

Global Voices is a platform that provides a space for our community to share stories and perspectives about their community and issues they care about through the accompaniment of a supportive editorial team that assists each contributor to craft their stories.

If you have gained new insights about different parts of the world by reading Global Voices stories from our contributors, please consider donating to keep these stories readily available. Your contribution will support Global Voices’ Newsroom through the end of the year.