ISLAMABAD: National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) will hold a two-day national consultation on gender equality and women empowerment in post devolution scenario on December 14-15.
The consultation is being arranged with the support from Aurat Foundation's USAID supported Gender Equity Program (GEP) and UN Women to discuss the revised context post devolution and its implications for gender equality and women's empowerment with strong focus on provincial and regional capacity and ownership.
The objectives of the consultation include enhancing the provincial gender strategies/plans to address women's empowerment issues and priorities.
The consultation will provide platform for inter-provincial and regional dialogue, agreeing on the outline of a Pakistan guiding framework on gender equality and women's empowerment.
The delegations from the provinces and regions comprised of Women Development Department Ministers and Secretaries, other key line provincial departments' Secretaries and representatives from key women organizations and CSOs as well as provincial parliamentarians will participate in the national consultation.
The representative from Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR), other key line ministries, Women Parliamentary Caucus (WPC), academia and representatives from civil society will also attend the programme.
NCSW is the only federal body solely responsible for over-viewing women's rights and it is in the process of becoming autonomous and independent to be able to play that key role within the institutional framework of accountability around implementing the key commitments in this regard.
Chairperson NCSW, Anis Haroon said that supporting devolution and the capacities for implementation and accountability at provincial and regional level, it is necessary for the government to agree on an updated framework on gender equality and women's empowerment in light of the 18th amendment.
In this regard, the updated Pakistani Framework on Gender equality and Women's Empowerment should build on the National Policy on Development and Empowerment of Women (NPDEW) expired in 2009 and the National Plan of Action for Women (NPA) made in 1998 which was being updated until the devolution of the MoWD earlier this year.
She said 18th amendment clearly recognizes the strategic importance of the devolution of powers to the provinces and has been implemented fully by mid 2011.
The Ministry of Women development (MoWD) was devolved at the end of June 2011. There is therefore an even stronger need to support provincial and regional governments, specifically women development departments/directorates and their capacity to identify and implement key priority areas on women's empowerment and gender equality.
At the same time, besides the provinces' policy making role post devolution, the reporting on and support to international commitments remain the responsibility of the federal government under the Ministry of Human Rights, she said.
This implies that the federal government will be responsible for reporting on the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other international commitments but with inputs from, involvement and ownership of the provinces and regions.
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