Sindh govt, JICA to boost female home-based workers

Japanese agency agrees to assist provincial govt in setting up maternal, child health centre

KARACHI: The Sindh government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have agreed to launch two different projects, aimed at improving the livelihood and well-being of female home-based workers and establishing a maternal and child health centre at the Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro.

The decision was taken in a meeting between Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka, accompanied by Japanese Consul-General Toshikazu Isomura and other Japanese officials.

The two projects will reportedly cost Rs4.16 billion. JICA will also provide technical and engineering assistance in resolving traffic congestion in Karachi.

Shah said during the meeting that the Sindh government had submitted a concept paper to improve the circumstances of female home-based workers, which had been improved. As a result, he said, he wanted the project to now be approved so that it could be initiated this year.

Kitaoka gave his approval for the project to be started in 2020, with its completion in 2023. The estimated cost is Rs541.1 million, of which JICA will contribute Rs435.7 million while the Sindh government will add the remainder.

Sindh committed to increase women participation with the inclusion of home-based workers

The project aims to enhance the livelihood and managerial skills of such workers, and bring them into the formal labour market.

Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed the establishment of a maternal and child health centre in Jamshoro, which is to cost Rs3.6 billion and be completed in 2022. JICA will provide Rs181.2 million towards this project, and the rest of the amount will be provided by the Sindh government.

Resolving congestion

Informing the Japanese delegation about the city's traffic woes, Shah said that the widening of roads and construction of flyovers and underpasses in the metropolis have done little to resolve the issue. He added that the only solution was better traffic engineering.

At this, the JICA president assured him that the agency's experts would provide their assistance, surveying the city's roads and conducting a study to come up with an answer for the congestion.

The delegation also told the CM that it would support the Sindh government in urban transport development.

Reviewing the progress of other JICA-sponsored projects, planning and development department chairperson Mohammad Waseem said that a project for sustainable livestock development in Sindh's rural areas, which aimed to increase incomes and assets of rural farmers by boosting dairy and meat production, was close to completion. He added that it had been able to achieve the intended objectives of higher yields.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2020.