The Citizens Archive of Pakistan

What The Citizens Archive of Pakistan does

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) is a Karachi-based non-profit organisation founded in 2007 dedicated to the cultural and historical preservation of South Asian, particularly Pakistani, history. CAP operates three offices (Karachi headquarters, Lahore within the National History Museum, and Islamabad overseeing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa projects) and runs an integrated portfolio of programs anchored by the Oral History Project, which has digitised over 650,000 photographs and collected more than 5,000 oral histories across 40 categories. These archival assets feed into physical and digital distribution channels including the 21,780 sq ft National History Museum in Lahore (Pakistan's first digitally interactive museum with holograms, VR, and immersive AV technology), a 45-foot Museum on Wheels mobile unit, the CAP SHEEP Mobile Library, and 11 exhibitions on Google Arts & Culture.

The organisation's products span educational outreach (CAP Outreach Tours reaching 10,000+ students across Sindh and Punjab), cross-border cultural exchange (Exchange for Change connecting Pakistani students with peers in India, USA, and Afghanistan; Book Clubs Across Borders with Afghanistan), curated dialogue via Shared Studios portals connecting Pakistan with seven countries, and specialised documentation projects including the Minority Project (covering Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Baha'i and Zoroastrian communities) and the UNHCR Refugee Memory Project for Afghan refugees. Strategic partners include the Government of Punjab, Parks and Horticultural Authority Lahore, UNESCO, UNHCR, British Council, Harvard South Asia Institute, BBC, and StoryCorps.

CAP's business model is donation-driven: the organisation accepts individual donations (wire transfer, PayPal), corporate sponsorships (including stock/securities), offers tiered Oral History Project packages (PKR 20,000-45,000), generates modest merchandise revenue through Product CAP (mugs, notebooks, t-shirts), and hosts fundraising events such as family carnivals. CAP is registered as a 501(c)(3) public charity in the USA and Canada (tax ID# 45-5047787). All exhibitions and programs are offered free of cost to maximise accessibility, presented in both Urdu and English.

Name

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan

Legal name

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan

Website

https://citizensarchive.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan is a Karachi-based non-profit founded in 2007 that preserves Pakistani history through digital archiving (650,000+ photographs, 5,000+ oral histories), interactive museum exhibitions, school outreach, and cross-border student exchange programs across Pakistan, India, USA, and Afghanistan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage Preservation Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Museums (712110)

akta.pro primary industry

Libraries, Archives & Special Collections (BPAGAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI), Archive Restoration & Digitization (Film/Video/Audio Scanning, Remastering) (MPAHAGAI)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage preservation
• Oral history archiving
• Interactive museum exhibitions
• Educational outreach programs
• Cross-border cultural exchange

Headquarters

HQ city

Karachi

HQ country

Pakistan

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: CAP relies on generous donations from friends of CAP and corporate sponsors. The organization accepts financial donations through various channels including wire transfer and PayPal. For USA and Canada donations, contact is [email protected]. The Citizens Archive of Pakistan is a tax-exempt organization and in North America is a registered nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity (tax ID# 45-5047787).
2. Donation Packages for Specific Programs: CAP offers specific donation packages for the Oral History Project: PKR 20,000 for 5 interviews, PKR 35,000 for 15 interviews, PKR 45,000 for 25 interviews.
3. Merchandise Sales: CAP sells merchandise including limited edition products created by designers inspired by archive materials. Products include mugs, notebooks, tea coasters, and t-shirts. The Product CAP launch event was held on 3rd August 2016 at HSY Store, Dolmen Mall, Karachi.
4. Family Carnival Fundraising Events: CAP hosts family carnivals as fundraising events to support running expenses and core projects. Events feature food stalls, rides, games, prizes, interactive activities, and raffles with prizes including airline tickets, artwork, and designer furniture.
5. Corporate Sponsorships: Corporate sponsors can contribute through stock, securities, or other arrangements. The organization welcomes involvement through monetary donations or volunteering time.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) is a non-profit organization that preserves Pakistan's cultural and historical heritage through digital archiving, educational programs, and curated exhibitions. Its flagship Oral History Project has digitized more than 650,000 photographs and collected over 5,000 oral histories. The organization operates the National History Museum in Lahore, a Museum on Wheels, and runs school outreach tours, mobile libraries, and cross-border student exchange programs.

Product overview

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) operates as a cultural and historical preservation organization offering a portfolio of interconnected programs. The core offering is the Oral History Project (OHP), which maintains an extensive digital archive of over 650,000 photographs and 5,000+ oral histories. CAP complements this archival foundation with physical exhibition products including the National History Museum in Lahore (Pakistan's first digitally interactive museum) and the Museum on Wheels (mobile 45-foot container museum). Educational outreach products include CAP Outreach Tours, Book Clubs Across Borders, and the CAP SHEEP Mobile Library. CAP also offers exchange programs (Exchange for Change connecting Pakistan with India, USA, and Afghanistan), digital exhibitions through Google Cultural Institute, and Curated Dialogue using Shared Studios portal technology for immersive cross-cultural conversations. Additional offerings include the Minority Project, Project Dastaan's VR documentary 'Child of Empire,' and merchandise under Product CAP.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Oral History Project (OHP) CAP's flagship archival initiative that digitizes photographs from private and public collections and collects oral histories, creating the most diverse collection of oral histories in Pakistan with over 650,000 photographs digitized and over 5,000 oral histories collected.
• National History Museum (NHM), Lahore Pakistan's first digitally interactive museum covering 21,780 sq. ft. in Greater Iqbal Park, Lahore, featuring 20 exhibits, 3 special installations, holograms, virtual reality, immersive audio-visual experiences, LCDs, digital projections, and a green room. Open to the general public free of cost.
• Museum on Wheels (MOW) A 45-foot mobile container museum equipped with interactive, immersive, and educational exhibits that travels to public spaces and schools across interior Sindh, bringing Pakistani heritage to communities with limited access.
• CAP Outreach Tours Educational outreach program that works with students in underserved areas, reaching over 10,000 college and school students across Sindh and Punjab, providing alternative discourse about Pakistan's history and heritage.
• Exchange for Change (EFC) Student exchange programs connecting students across Pakistan with India, USA, and Afghanistan through letters, photographs, videos, and oral histories. The Pakistan-India program is the largest Track-2 diplomacy effort between the two countries.
• Book Clubs Across Borders Program connecting Pakistani and Afghan youth through online digital portals to encourage cross-cultural dialogue, engaging 12 schools in Pakistan across 12 cities and 480 students between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• GCI Digital Exhibitions Digital exhibitions curated in partnership with the Google Cultural Institute (Google Arts & Culture), featuring audio and visual content about Pakistan's history, culture, and heritage accessible globally.
• Curated Dialogue with Shared Studios Program using inflatable gold portal spaces equipped with immersive audiovisual technology that enable face-to-face virtual conversations between individuals in distant locations, hosted 64 national and 42 international dialogues.
• Minority Project Initiative documenting lives and lifestyles of religious minorities (Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Baha'i, Zoroastrian) across Pakistan, containing over 200 personal narratives documenting history, culture, traditions, rituals, and contributions of these communities.
• Story Share Initiative 2-year project in collaboration with StoryCorps to gather personal histories, conducting 441 oral history interviews in Punjab and Sindh, digitizing over 1,000 images from private collections and producing 40 animated videos for children.
• CAP SHEEP Mobile Library Mobile library initiative launched in February 2014 in partnership with SHEEP to promote literacy and reading habits in children from underserved areas, with collection points for book donations.
• Product CAP Merchandise Limited edition merchandise line created by designers taking inspiration from CAP Archive materials, including mugs, notebooks, tea coasters, and t-shirts.

Quantifiable outcome

• 650,000+ photographs digitised and 5,000+ oral histories collected since 2007
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022In 2022, CAP was asked by CEIAS to conduct a workshop on archival practices for local cultural partners at Institute of Business Administration (IBA) for students and faculty.
• UNHCRcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022In partnership with UNHCR, CAP developed the first Refugee Memory Project recording personal stories of Afghan refugees and Pakistanis who have hosted the world's most protracted refugee crisis for over 40 years. Project executed between November 2022 and December 2023 documenting impact on cultural heritage.
• Project DastaanminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022In 2022, CAP hosted screening of 'Child of Empire', an animated VR documentary by Project Dastaan. Award-winning film screened at V&A Museum, SOAS, Sundance Film Festival. Exhibition opened at NHM Lahore in November 2022 and is now a permanent feature.
• Art Lords, AfghanistancoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Book Clubs Across Borders connected Pakistani and Afghan youth through online digital portals in 2020. Partnership with Art Lords engaged 12 schools in Pakistan across 12 cities and 480 students between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• UNESCOcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019In 2019, CAP partnered with UNESCO to engage community and out-of-school children as well as students and teachers from government schools in low-income areas of Thatta and Karachi through CAP Outreach Tours.
• Vasl Artists' AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019CAP collaborated with Vasl Artists' Association to host 'Adaptation, Alteration, Variation' exhibition on April 5, 2019 at Jamshed Memorial Hall, Karachi. Part of Vasl's project Loud Speaker, supported by Open Society Foundation, reflecting on minority communities in Pakistan.
• Shared StudioscoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2018CAP hosted 64 national and 42 international dialogues through portal networks sourcing technology from Shared Studios. The gold inflatable spaces equipped with immersive AV technology connected Pakistan with USA, Germany, Afghanistan, UK, UAE, Rwanda, and Palestine, hosting 738 people directly.
• I AM KARACHIminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2018CAP and I AM KARACHI hosted the 'Karachi City of Lights Festival', a celebration of performing and visual arts at FOMMA-Trust DHA Art Centre, Karachi. Festival showcased interactive exhibits combining photography, music, games, and oral histories.
• Parks and Horticultural Authority (PHA), LahorecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018The National History Museum is a project of PHA, curated and managed by CAP. Museum showcases 441 images, 71 audios, and 50 videos featuring photographs, newspaper articles, personal letters, and oral histories of partition witnesses and survivors.
• Government of PunjabcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018National History Museum inaugurated in 2018 in partnership with Government of Punjab. Located in Greater Iqbal Park next to Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore. Museum covers 21,780 sq ft and is Pakistan's first digitally interactive museum.
• Harvard University South Asia InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Harvard University's South Asia Institute approached CAP to contribute research to their multidisciplinary study 'Looking Back, Informing the Future: The 1947 Partition' examining Partition through texts, documents, maps, oral histories, and urban patterns.
• BBCminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2017On Pakistan's 70th Independence anniversary, CAP partnered with BBC to produce podcasts, videos, and articles about the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 based on CAP's research and collection of oral testimonies.
• Google Cultural InstitutecoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2014In 2014, CAP became the first Pakistani organisation to collaborate with the Google Cultural Institute. Since then, CAP has curated 11 digital exhibitions on the GCI platform showcasing pioneering women of the freedom movement, Partition and Independence experiences, and Pakistan's pop culture history.
• SHEEPcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014CAP and SHEEP joined hands to promote literacy through the CAP SHEEP Mobile Library launched on 18 February 2014 at Polo Ground-Baradari, Karachi. The partnership aimed to involve the wider community by encouraging book donations.
• Routes2RootscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Exchange for Change India was carried out in conjunction with Routes2Roots, an Indian non-profit working for peace and dialogue between Pakistan and India. The 16-month program connected 2,400 students from 10 schools across Delhi, Mumbai, Lahore and Karachi through letters, postcards, collages, and oral histories.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Aga Khan Trust for Culture: Cultural heritage organization operating across Pakistan and South Asia, focused on historic preservation, museum development, and cultural revitalization. Comparable in heritage preservation mission and Pakistan operational footprint.
• Lok Virsa (National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage): Pakistani government-operated folk heritage museum and cultural center. Comparable as a Pakistan-based cultural institution focused on preserving folk traditions, heritage artifacts, and national history, though state-operated rather than non-profit.

Direct peers

• StoryCorps: US-based non-profit focused on recording, preserving, and sharing oral histories of Americans. Directly comparable in oral history collection methodology; CAP partnered with StoryCorps on the Story Share Initiative in 2018, demonstrating overlapping operational models.
• Project Dastaan: UK/South Asia-based non-profit using technology to reconnect Partition survivors with their childhood homes. Directly comparable in using digital storytelling and VR for Partition heritage; CAP hosts Project Dastaan's 'Child of Empire' VR documentary at the National History Museum.
• The 1947 Partition Archive: US-based non-profit dedicated to preserving and sharing oral histories of the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. Directly comparable in mission, methodology (oral history collection, digitization), and subject matter to CAP's Oral History Project and Partition-focused programming.
• Routes2Roots: Indian non-profit working for peace and dialogue between Pakistan and India through cultural exchange programs. Directly comparable in cross-border student exchange methodology; partnered with CAP on the flagship Exchange for Change India program.

Broad incumbents

• British Library: UK national library and one of the world's largest archive institutions, with major South Asia collections including the India Office Records. Comparable in archival and library services mission, particularly for South Asian Partition-era holdings accessed by CAP-affiliated researchers.
• Smithsonian Institution: Largest museum, education, and research complex in the world, with extensive archive holdings and international partnerships. Comparable as a broad incumbent in museum operations, archival preservation, and educational programming, though at vastly greater scale and global footprint.
• National Archives of Pakistan: Government-run national repository for historical records, documents, and archives of Pakistan. Comparable in core archive function for Pakistani history; serves as a government incumbent in the same archival space where CAP's Oral History Project is the leading non-profit alternative.

Emerging players

• Panjab Digital Library: Digital archive preserving and providing access to historical manuscripts, books, and artifacts from the Panjab region. Comparable as a South Asia-focused digital cultural heritage repository, though with a narrower regional focus and primarily digital rather than museum-based engagement.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-citizens-archive-of-pakistan

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Citizens Archive of Pakistan