‘Women empowerment centres on cards’

The Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) has decided to expand its network of Women Empowerment Centres (WECs) from the district to tehsil level.

An official said the aim behind the step was to accommodate a maximum number of women and impart vocational training to them in order to make them financially empowered.

When asked about the project, PBM Managing Director Amir Fida Paracha said that currently, around163 WECs were operating across the country to provide free vocational training to widows, orphans and less privileged girls in trades like dress designing, embroidery, basic and advanced computer courses, fabric painting, etc.

He said they were being paid a stipend of Rs50 per day on an attendance basis through biometric system. Considering the importance of this project for making women self-sufficient, the PBM MD said the scope of WECs, earlier established at the district level, will be expanded to the tehsil level.

Paracha also pointed out that the PBM has also started a process of certification with the help of the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission so that women who complete the courses and qualify the tests can get a proper certificate for employment purposes.

He said through a public-private partnership, PBM is establishing a WEC in the suburb of Islamabad for which land has been provided by a donor while computers by another.

“Now PBM will deploy its own employees in the centre for the sustainability of this initiative”, he said.

Through the support of a Turkish NGO, Amir Fida Paracha mentioned that a special course of stone cutting and polishing is being added in the WEC of Gilgit Baltistan which would generate earning opportunities.

He announced to launch a pilot project to facilitate Sweet Home children across the country to pursue their education up to graduation level.

“Earlier, the Sweet Homes (Orphanages) were catering to the educational needs of these children till matric level but now the pilot project is being launched to help them acquire education till graduation level”, he said.

Presently, 51 Sweet Homes operating across the country are accommodating around 4,355 orphans.

Fida Paracha also revealed that PBM has planned to set up a technical school in each Sweet Home so that those children who could not get education or lack the tendency to get formal education can be equipped with vocational and technical skills.

To address the issue of increasing child labour in the country, the PBM MD said 159 schools were currently functioning for rehabilitation of kids subjected to child labour

The children passing out from SRCLs are admitted to the government schools for education up to grade VIII through a PBM grant of Rs4,100, he said. About the Orphan and Widow Support Program (OWSP), he said the program was designed to provide financial assistance to widows with a focus on the education of orphans.

The OWSP provides Rs8,000 and Rs16,000 per month to families having one child or more respectively, he said adding that a total of 692 families have been paid an amount of Rs23,598 million since December 2020.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2022.