ISLAMABAD : August 23,2022. The
first Annual Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Women Conference 2022 Kicks -off in
Islamabad seeking to provide women a platform for a policy dialogue.
The conference emphasizes the role of women, their development needs, and
priorities from both settled and tribal districts and suggests policy recommendations to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for consideration in the annual development
planning 2023.
The conference highlighting women’s roles and needs in development took place in Islamabad with a massive representation of women from around the country and representatives from the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the international development community. GIZ Pakistan, in collaboration with the European Union, the Federal
Republic of Germany, the Government of Canada, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women (KPCSW) have organized this gathering which history will remember
as the First Annual Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women Conference. Many of the participants belonged to the Pakistan’s Merged Areas, to gather under the “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women
Uniting in the Tribal Decade”.
The conference was attended by over 300 participants and women of various backgrounds, this includes women in leadership positions, in politics, in police and civil society organizations.
They gathered to discussed topics like, women leadership, climate change, politics, media, entrepreneurship, girls’ education, digital knowledge and transformation, women rights,
reproductive health, sports, and rule of law.
To build trust between state and citizen, considering the merger of the former Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the conference provided an opportunity to various stakeholders, international partners, and private entities:
Learning more about targeting their support and interventions to meet the needs of KP women,
and to gain knowledge about opportunities in their areas.
Mr. Thomas Seiler, Deputy Head of Delegation to Pakistan in his concluding remarks said that European Union is fully supporting women and gender equality, which is a key element of the
EU development Policy. He said that the first element of modernization is the gender equality to allow more women in economy in lead roles as CEOs, as business owners and entrepreneurs.
He said that despite some progress in gender equality in Pakistan, a lot need
to be done to achieve for empowerment of women. He said the EU Multi-Annual Indicative
Programme (2021-2027) for Pakistan is particularly focusing on women policy, gender equality, women participation, and women in economy to reflect women interests that will be closely monitored during the programme implementation. The programme will equip women with quality skills, grant them more education and vocational training, and thus lead to be
experts to play an important role.
Particularly in KP province, the EU is looking forward to work for the sustainable development of Agriculture food chains with prime focus on women
participation.
Earlier, Chief Guest, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Special Assistant to Chief Minister KPK on Information and PR Department highlighted the important role of women in the society and reflected that women contribution for the society cannot be ignored in
development. He said that the KP Government has taken several initiatives for the socio economic and civil development of women in KP and added that without empowering women, we cannot dream of an empowered society”, he said.
He mentioned that the KPCSW under the leadership of Dr. Riffat Sardar was a great forum for women issues and their development. He said that in the current fiscal budget (2022) of KP, 15 billion rupees have been allocated for women related development projects.
He urged the women entrepreneurs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Merged
Areas, to come up with small, medium and large ideas and share plans with the
government.
In her remarks on the first day of the conference, Ms. Wendy Gilmour, Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan, welcomed the organization of the conference and mentioned that she was happy to support this conference. She said that she travelled across Pakistan including in the Merged Areas and during her travel she realized that there are few women in
the public spaces. We should work for making them more visible in the society. She said that without women inclusion, we cannot make correct decisions. She said that Canada has a feminist policy and Canada is supporting various initiatives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Merged Areas for Girls Education improvement.
She highlighted equal opportunities for female access to education, health, politics, sports and in leadership role.
Mr. Alfred Grannas, Ambassador-Designate of the German Embassy in Islamabad in his opening speech said that it is a moment of great excitement to be a part of this historic event , which will enable women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to engage in policy dialogue and exchange
constructively with the government to strengthen their role in decision making process in their communities.
“This is a first step to achieve gender equality and equity for the women of
Pakistan and we hope that other provinces will follow this example”. Mr. Alfred added.
Mr. Tobias Becker, Country Director GIZ Pakistan highlighted the importance of gender equality which is a precondition to change the world in a better place. From inequality to conflicts, women are playing a crucial role to advance, transform and positively impact their
communities. Gender equality is therefore both, a design principle for developing policies, and a quality feature of GIZ and the German Development Cooperation.
In her remarks, Dr. Riffat Sardar, Chairperson, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women extended her gratitude to GIZ and other dignitaries including representatives
of the EU, Co Water International, German Embassy and all the participants including women from KPK and Merged Areas. She also appreciated the role of steering committees and the
organizers for this successful event. She said that the idea for the women conference was presented by the KPCSW in a bit to presents the talented women from KP and to bring them to the forefront to share their challenges and expectations from the Government in providing women-friendly user environment. She mentioned that the KPCSW is working for Women’s
empowerment and to protect their rights in the province. It works to enhance the role of women in different sectors of society and to engage them to participate and come forward to play an
active role in the development and decision-making process.
This national event has been made possible with the financial support of the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Government of Canada. It has been organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the FATA Development Programme with its partner, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women. As Dr. Peer Gatter, Head of the Programme has pointed out, the KP Women Conference is part of the longstanding technical
assistance provided by GIZ to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in its efforts to implement reforms in the Tribal Districts. This goes together with support to improve local
governance and service provision to the population in the Merged Areas in the field of health and education, as well as with the promotion of women’s rights and the integrating of women’s
needs and priorities into the annual development plans of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Tribal Decade Strategy.