Training workshop held for KP women lawmakers

PESHAWAR: Members of the Women Parliamentary Caucus (WPC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assembly attended a workshop on “Increased Leadership Skills for Effective Policy Making and Reforms.”

Among the participants were Mahmood Jan, Deputy Speaker & Patron-in-Chief Women WPC, KP and women lawmakers from the KP Assembly. Rights activist Qamar Naseem facilitated the training. Organized by a civil society organization Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA), the one-day workshop was under the initiative supported by the Australian High Commission, “Mainstreaming Women-centric Policy Making in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by Strengthening Provincial Parliamentary Caucus”.

It aimed to provide a platform for discussion on key parliamentary skills, to impart key skills needed for effective leadership and explore how the acquired knowledge could be used to facilitate the passage of women-centric legislation. Talking about the intervention Areebah Shahid, Executive Director of PYCA said: “Women parliamentarians are uniquely positioned to shape, advance and implement pro-people laws and policies, especially those that can benefit women and girls. This workshop is an effort to strengthen this potential.”

Lead facilitator, Qamar Naseem said: “Well informed parliamentarians can guarantee that the voices of citizens are heard, particularly the voices of children, women and other vulnerable groups, in order to mobilize political will and commitment to empowering them.”

Maliha Ali Asghar, MPA and Chairperson of the Women Parliamentary Caucus while commenting on the workshop stated, “We agreed upon and signed three resolutions at the end of the workshop.

The first resolution will pave the way for an equal number of girls’ and boys’ schools in the province while the other two focus on greater investment in girls’ education and ensuring better nutrition for female students across the province.”