LG training promotes tribal women

Having spent lives inside boundary walls of mud homes, they claim space alongside men

PESHAWAR:

Zuhra Bibi had rarely seen the world outside her mud house in Ghallanai, district Mohmand. Sitting at a table with notepads and documents on the local governance system lying around, the council member stared at the things in front of her through the netted veil of her camel-brown shuttlecock burqa. She did not know how to read and write. Yet here she was, attending a training workshop to learn about her role as a local government representative and serve her community more effectively.

“When my husband first told me he wants me to contest in local elections, I thought he was joking. I don’t know anything about politics. I can’t even read and write! How can I hold a leadership position?” the council member recalled. But Gul Sher, her husband, made a convincing argument. He told her that the seat was lying vacant as no woman from the area had come forward. It would be a great opportunity to make a difference, not only for their family but for women in the community.

“He reassured me that the system is new for everyone. We will learn on the way. And that is why we have come here,” she explained, looking toward the other four burqa-clad women sitting beside her at the table.

Zuhra was among the 135 women who participated in a series of two-day training workshops organized to increase the knowledge of elected representatives from districts Bajaur and Mohmand about the local government system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

She was also one of the few women who participated in the trainings twice; once, when the trainings were held for tehsil council members, and second when they were organized for village and neighbourhood council members.

The workshops were arranged by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Merged Areas

Governance Project (MAGP) in collaboration with the KP Local Government, Elections & Rural Development Department (LGE&RDD) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

For women of merged districts who have spent most of their lives inside the boundary walls of their mud homes, claiming their space in a room alongside men was an enormous achievement itself.

Discussing her personal and professional growth in both trainings, Zuhra said she was experiencing culture shock in the first training. “Everything was new to me. I could not understand what was going on as I was very overwhelmed. But the second time around, I was more relaxed as everything was familiar. We knew what to expect, where we will sit and how our pardah will be facilitated,” she explained. She also commended the trainers for patiently explaining details in simple terms and encouraging the burqa-clad women to make themselves heard. “The activities and discussions helped us learn and absorb the material. Our illiteracy did not hold us back from learning.”

Sitting next to Zuhra was Aiman who was also from district Mohmand. Although they shared the same cultural background and hurdles, Aiman came from a family that encour- aged women’s education. She grew up near Tarbela Dam where her father worked as an engineer.