BISP, WCCI K-P sign MoU for skill development

About 500 BISP beneficiaries will be trained in various fields

PESHAWAR: Investing in women's economic empowerment sets a direct path towards poverty alleviation and financial inclusiveness and BISP is trying its best to empower its beneficiaries through various initiatives, said Minister of State and Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Marvi Memon on Friday.

"Besides managing poverty through unconditional cash transfers, the BISP has embarked on poverty exit strategies as well as making its beneficiaries self-reliant," she added, during the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between BISP and the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on skill development training for BISP beneficiaries.

The BISP K-P Director General Irfan Yusufzai and WCCI K-P President Shumaima Arbab signed the MoU.

According to the agreement, 500 BISP beneficiaries will be trained in the fields of dress-making, jewellery designing, fashion designing, leather goods, home accessories and woven wool products.

WCCI Chairperson Itrat Bilour, on the occasion, acknowledged the efforts of BISP in making lives of the poorest of the poor better and assured that the cooperation would strengthen further.

"These trainings would open up new avenues of opportunities for BISP beneficiaries and make them financially and economically empowered," remarked Memon.

Highlighting the milestones achieved by BISP, she informed that the gathering about  1,157,483 households of K-P received BISP stipend on a quarterly basis and 252,180 children have been enrolled in Charsadda, Kohat, Mansehra, Malakand, Nowshera, Bannu and Haripur under Waseela-e-Taleem (WeT) initiative.

She said that the pilot phase of the new poverty survey to update National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) includes Haripur, Lakki Marwat, Charsadda and Mohmand Agency, adding that the updated NSER would be an asset for planning and development in the country and the whole of FATA would be covered in the new poverty survey.

While appreciating the role of the government in making BISP a success story, K-P Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said that the BISP was the brainchild of Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar. He praised the BISP efforts to uplift FATA and initiate the new poverty survey for NSER update.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2016.

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