Some 40 girls have successfully completed the vocational training under the Standard Chartered Bank's leading community investment programme "Goal" to get employment.
Standard Chartered Pakistan (SCB), in partnership with Right to Play, hosted a ceremony on Wednesday to recognize girls from underserved areas that have been trained to become future economic leaders in their communities. Shehla Raza Provincial Minister for Women Empowerment was the chief guest at the ceremony, while the Spenta Kandawala board member SCB Pakistan and Shazad Dada CEO SCB Pakistan were also present.
This initiative is part of the bank's leading community investment programme focused on Education, Goal. As part of the Goal programme, 'Be Independent' module was launched in 2018, a module that aims to provide practical experience and equip girls to be ready to generate their own incomes by obtaining a job or developing their own micro-enterprise.
Since its launch, over 800 young girls have been empowered with vocational skills, employability skills and other essential knowledge to equip this group to become economic leaders in their communities.
Out of the 800, 40 girls were chosen based on their potential to receive vocational training on specific fields such as cooking, baking, pastry making, learning English language, fashion designing, learning how to use Microsoft Excel and Office, photography, to name a few After a year of hard work, 40 of these girls, whom the Bank calls Futuremakers, have completed vocational trainings and some have even earned gainful employment opportunities.
Futuremakers by Standard Chartered is the bank's global initiative empowering the next generation to learn, earn and grow through our Education, Employability and Entrepreneurship programmes. Goal is Standard Chartered's leading education programme that falls within the Education pillar of the Bank's community investment strategy.
Shehla Raza appreciated the banks efforts for vocational training of the girls and said that this step will help to generate new job opportunities. She said that in a country like Pakistan, there are limited opportunities for women job; the Standard Chartered bank's programme Goal will enable more women to get jobs.
The Goal curriculum is based on five training modules that provide with the confidence, knowledge and skills these girls need to be integral economic leaders in their families, communities and societies.
In Pakistan, Goal has been running since 2016 through its implementing partner, Right to Play, and has to date empowered over 11,000 girls. In 2019, the programme was expanded to include public schools in Islamabad. As at February 2020, Goal is actively running in 34 schools in Karachi and Islamabad.
Commenting on the ceremony Shazad Dada, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan said that there is massive hidden potential waiting to be unlocked for the youth, specifically girls, across the country.