Women empowerment: EU offers support for initiatives

KARACHI: The European Union has offered support to women empowerment initiatives in Pakistan through a team of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce of the United Kingdom.

Women Association of Fashion Designers (WAFD) chairperson Huma Nasir told APP her association was pursuing different projects to support womenfolk, especially in rural areas, which included proper projection of their products in the main cities of the country.

EU has assigned the Birmingham Chamber the task of pursuing the European Union programme of modernisation and skill development of the secretariat staff of chambers and trade associations of Asia, aimed at helping explore economic potential of the region, she said.

Through the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), she said the EU-sponsored visiting team would be forwarding a list of conceived projects and initiatives meant to promote women entrepreneurship in Pakistan over the next five years.

EU has advised that these projects should be supplemented with detailed studies and feasibilities to qualify for EU financial and technical support. EU, through the Birmingham Chamber, has already completed a skill development and training programme for the secretariat staff of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Nasir urged the government to set up display centres, galleries and liaison offices down to district headquarters level to encourage poor women, engaged in making traditional goods and representing the culture of particular areas and products.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2011.