KP Youth Employment Programme empowers 3,000 women

PESHAWAR: While celebrating the success of empowering 3,000 women of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on employable digital skills under the Women Empowerment Through Digital Skills Programme, a graduation ceremony was held at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IT Board, Peshawar, which was attended by hundreds of women from seven districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The event included employers and other notable dignitaries while the chief guest of this event was Minister for Science, Technology and IT, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Atif Khan.

Amid the COVID-19, KP Youth Employment Programme, the flagship programme of KP IT Board, started an initiative named “Women Empowerment through Digital Skills,” which aimed to ensure women’s inclusion in the digital economy.

The project was supported by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IT Board, funded by Multi-Donor Trust Fund and The World Bank.

Tech Valley, along with DEMO, being the advocate of women empowerment in the region and known for its capacity-building programmes, progressed to implement this program in the seven districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The goal was to empower 3,000 women of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with skills - like graphic designing, social media marketing, WordPress design & development, blogging & content writing, and digital tools for productivity - and promote financial independence of these women by providing them employment opportunities through digital jobs.

Apart from designing the content of these courses with the help of known industry experts of their respective fields, Tech Valley also reached out to its partner Google to design the curriculum of “Digital Tools for productivity”. After localizing the content provided by Google, the course was incorporated into the program that consisted of training on project management and collaboration skills using the latest available tools.

“The programme was well-coordinated, the trainers and coordinators were very helpful. The content was structured to keep us engaged throughout the program. The skills I learned from the program have helped me promote my business online”, said one of the programme’s participants.

The programme was delivered through an online management system that consisted of video lessons, assignments, quizzes, and online training sessions that provided a platform for females to interact with the trainers and ask questions.

It included mentorship sessions from human resource experts and career counsellors and freelancing sessions that consisted of tips and techniques to land a gig on different freelancing platforms.

Appreciating the efforts of the team and the success of the program, Minister of Science, Technology and IT, Atif Khan, discussed the government’s plans.

“We are planning to train 100,000 people in multiple levels of digital skills. The government is willing to invest as much as it can in filling the gap in the IT industry by training its youth in IT skills,” he added.

Managing Director Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IT Board, Dr Sahibzada Ali Mahmud, congratulated the programme participants and said: “Our women have unlimited potential, and by learning these skills, they can do jobs at the convenience of their own home.”

He added that “The digital economy has a lot more to offer to the youth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and we are working to bridge this gap by helping youth master different digital skills.”

CEO Tech Valley, Umar Farooq, thanked the KP IT Board and donors of the programme. He stressed the importance of digital skills and nourishing the digital economy.