Govt To Include Gender Aspect In PC-1 Formulation Process
31 Oct 2008
31 Oct 2008
The government is considering including gender impact in the formulation process of any project before it is approved.
Including the gender aspect in PC-1 of any project would help the government to minimise discrimination against women. "Gender is a serious issue because in all major indicators including unemployment, wages, poverty and nutrition, female were mainly suffering," Dr Rashid Amjad, Chief Economist and Vice Chancellor Pakistan Institute of Development Economics told Daily Times.
He said females played an important role in the economic development of any country. Without proper participation of women in the economic arena, the country could not improve on the development indicators.
Arranging such type of workshops on gender issues would help the government in provision of analytical tools for preparation of such policies. Earlier, participants at the workshop on "Gender Sensitive Project Planning Skills" claimed that gender equality was key to national progress. Secretary Planning and Development Division, Suhail Safdar, chaired the four-day workshop.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Suhail Safdar said gender mainstreaming was in line with the broader policy initiatives conceived in the Medium Term Development Framework and the Gender Reform Action Plans of the government. He said that in future it would be ensured that gender impact is properly considered in the formulation of PC-1 for every development project of the government. He apprised the participants that the government of Pakistan was fully committed to international commitments on gender equality and was pursuing the goal by mainstreaming gender in all its policies, programmes and projects.
The secretary said women elected representatives at national, provincial and district levels were involved in decision-making and programme development. He termed the capacity building of government officers as an important initiative to sensitise the government machinery in order to achieve gender equality goals. He further said that the direct beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme, worth Rs34 billion, are women and it was a major step by the government towards empowering women in Pakistan.
Dr Rashid Amjad said that women in Pakistan as well as in most of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) remained an overworked and underpaid resource whose real potential to contribute for development and growth has never been sufficiently tapped. The female literacy rate for women stands at 41 percent as compared to 65 percent for men in Pakistan. "Consequently women earn significantly less than men," he added.
While emphasising the need for taking into account the gender perspective of development projects and policies, he quoted Dr Mehboob-ul-Haq: "Without engendering development, development is endangered."
Country Director UNDP, Alvaro Rodriguez said that UNDP in collaboration with the Planning and Development division was supporting the government in capacity enhancement and policy support. He said that capacity building support was provided to influence the government policy on making public sector programmes and projects more gender sensitive and improve capacity to undertake gender analysis in order to meet national and international commitments on gender equality. Main objective of the training course was to enhance the capacity of government officials to mainstream gender in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of government plans and policies. The four-day training included relevant and pertinent sessions on gender roles and issues, mainstreaming gender in policies, programmes and projects, public policy and gender sensitisation, and gender responsive budgeting.
Including the gender aspect in PC-1 of any project would help the government to minimise discrimination against women. "Gender is a serious issue because in all major indicators including unemployment, wages, poverty and nutrition, female were mainly suffering," Dr Rashid Amjad, Chief Economist and Vice Chancellor Pakistan Institute of Development Economics told Daily Times.
He said females played an important role in the economic development of any country. Without proper participation of women in the economic arena, the country could not improve on the development indicators.
Arranging such type of workshops on gender issues would help the government in provision of analytical tools for preparation of such policies. Earlier, participants at the workshop on "Gender Sensitive Project Planning Skills" claimed that gender equality was key to national progress. Secretary Planning and Development Division, Suhail Safdar, chaired the four-day workshop.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Suhail Safdar said gender mainstreaming was in line with the broader policy initiatives conceived in the Medium Term Development Framework and the Gender Reform Action Plans of the government. He said that in future it would be ensured that gender impact is properly considered in the formulation of PC-1 for every development project of the government. He apprised the participants that the government of Pakistan was fully committed to international commitments on gender equality and was pursuing the goal by mainstreaming gender in all its policies, programmes and projects.
The secretary said women elected representatives at national, provincial and district levels were involved in decision-making and programme development. He termed the capacity building of government officers as an important initiative to sensitise the government machinery in order to achieve gender equality goals. He further said that the direct beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme, worth Rs34 billion, are women and it was a major step by the government towards empowering women in Pakistan.
Dr Rashid Amjad said that women in Pakistan as well as in most of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) remained an overworked and underpaid resource whose real potential to contribute for development and growth has never been sufficiently tapped. The female literacy rate for women stands at 41 percent as compared to 65 percent for men in Pakistan. "Consequently women earn significantly less than men," he added.
While emphasising the need for taking into account the gender perspective of development projects and policies, he quoted Dr Mehboob-ul-Haq: "Without engendering development, development is endangered."
Country Director UNDP, Alvaro Rodriguez said that UNDP in collaboration with the Planning and Development division was supporting the government in capacity enhancement and policy support. He said that capacity building support was provided to influence the government policy on making public sector programmes and projects more gender sensitive and improve capacity to undertake gender analysis in order to meet national and international commitments on gender equality. Main objective of the training course was to enhance the capacity of government officials to mainstream gender in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of government plans and policies. The four-day training included relevant and pertinent sessions on gender roles and issues, mainstreaming gender in policies, programmes and projects, public policy and gender sensitisation, and gender responsive budgeting.
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/
