Women’s Development Dept releases annual report
Karachi: The aim of the Women Development Department, Sindh, is to streamline women in the economic development and the department is continuously making efforts for the economic empowerment of women through a number of projects.
Minister for Women Development Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto said this while addressing the launching ceremony of the Annual Report 2008-09 of the Women Development Department, Government of Sindh, at a local hotel on Tuesday.
The report gives a brief account of 16 projects that are being carried out by the Women Development Department. Five of these 11projects were introduced last year.
Giving an account of the department’s budget, the minister said that around Rs173 million were allocated under provincial Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2008-09.
One of the major ongoing projects is the establishment of women complaint centres in the province to provide protection to the distressed women.
Besides, the cells to deliver basic legal, medical and counselling services to the needy women have already started functioning in Larkana and Hyderabad, while such cells would soon be established in other parts of Sindh.
Another scheme pertains to the establishment of Sales and Display Resource Centre in Karachi and other districts of Sindh.
“We want each district to have a sales and display centre that would promote the socio-economic development of skilled women by promoting and encouraging their skills,” said the minister, adding that the project will provide them direct access to the national as well as international market.
She said that four exhibitions have already been held in Karachi in connection with the said project.
The department has initiated training for the educated women for income generation under the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program.
According to the report, some 900 girls and women are being trained in the fields of beautician, secretarial jobs and entrepreneurship across the province. “The women are not only getting trained but they are also provided jobs in the related fields,” said the minister.
A number of projects that are under the process of approval include the Sindh Women Economic Empowerment Project (SWEEP), establishment of working women hostel in Karachi and other districts of Sindh, women development complex at divisional level, including Karachi, and the advocacy for women empowerment in Sindh.
In order to provide temporary shelter to the victims of domestic violence and distressed women, the department has launched a shelter home for women in Larkana while more shelter homes would be established in other districts of Sindh.
Earlier, secretary of the department Gul Muhammad Umrani said that the present provincial government has made the Women Development Department independent while in other provinces it comes either under the Department of Social Welfare or other departments.
“The need to launch the report was felt in order to bring into light the department’s progress,” he said, adding that the report gives the summary of the past, present as well as future works of the department.
Source: The News
Date:5/27/2009
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