Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister seeks NGOs' support for women empowerment

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development, Sitara Ayaz urged the international organisation, micro finance institutions and non governmental organisations to cooperate and collaborate with the provincial government to implement its laws and policies regarding women development and empowerment particularly those pertaining to skill and entrepreneur development among domestic women of the province.
She was speaking at a meeting with Islamabad based project Chief Executive of International labour Organisation (ILO) Ayesha Khan and Peshawar based executives of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) at her office on Friday.
The Provincial Secretary, Social Welfare and Women Development Sahibzada Fazal Amin were also present. The chief executive ILO and Smeda officials elaborated about their programmes and policies with regard to women's protection and development and discussed various ways and means for women empowerment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The provincial minister while referring to the provincial government's commitment and achievements for protection of women's rights and their welfare, social and economic empowerment told that getting 30% quota allocated for women in Bacha Khan Akhpal Rozgar Scheme was a result of her fight for women's rights.
Similarly, she added, all the government departments were approached to ensure a suitable environment and working conditions for women keeping in view the particular social values and traditions of our province. She said that the departments have also been directed to monitor gender activities and behaviors in order to check and control any kind of harassment if working women are facing.
The meeting on this occasion was of the view that women harassment issues and cases are much lesser in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province than other provinces due to social values and typical culture of the province that extends great respect to women folk.
Sitara said that although the provincial government was committed to resolve women issues and had fulfilled its responsibilities to a great extend in terms of comprehensive legislation for the welfare and protection of women's rights but, added that it was facing many difficulties in implementation of such laws and policies for which co-operation and collaboration of non-government stakeholders was required. She was of the view that arrangement of short training particularly for rural women who are willing to get engaged in any cottage industry would prove to be a major break through in their skill and entrepreneur development. Expressing concern over closure of ILO office in Peshawar the provincial minister stressed for an equal role of ILO in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She hoped that would help address general labour issues especially those related to women industrial workers.