Policy matters: FATA Secretariat decides to set rules for youth

To ensure the policy was broad and acceptable to people of Fata, they had uploaded it online.

PESHAWAR:

It is up on Facebook, it is available on the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) Secretariat’s website – the Fata Youth Policy draft is here for feedback.

In a vital step, FATA Secretariat has decided to share a draft of the youth policy to interact and receive a response from stakeholders, including lawyers, activists, parents and the youth, before they finalise it.



The draft covers topics ranging from terrorism, radical ideology to education, health, development and economic challenges. It also talks about growing up, demographic transition, social empowerment, political participation and minority rights in Fata. An official from the secretariat told The Express Tribune that in order to ensure the policy was broad and acceptable to the people of Fata, they had uploaded it online.

The secretariat also plans to hold a workshop in the last week of January to discuss the policy draft with young people, journalists, lawyers and tribesmen.

While talking about the draft, the official said that many times religious minorities were excluded from society and one of their aims was to ensure equal opportunities in education and employment. He added that the draft also looked at policies which would help differently-abled young people.

The official said that in the section which deals with gender discrimination in Fata, it was noted that educated women had limited employment opportunities in the area, particularly the government sector. He added that the literacy rate for women in Fata was 3% while countrywide it was 32.02% and 18.82% in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The objectives

According to the policy’s draft, the secretariat wants to promote and support youth development organisations. They plan to do this by recognising and helping them out by networking and better coordination.

The draft states that young leaders will be promoted and taught how to network by businesses, the community, the academia and politicians.

A programme will be launched to promote technical and entrepreneurial education for the youth to help them become self-employed – this includes a 20% quota for women.

The list goes on to add economic empowerment of the youth, job placements, implementation of new business ideas and a youth venture capital fund to support new development. The eligibility criteria will ensure that each and every member of the youth gets an equal opportunity to avail this financial support.

The young leaders

The draft states that political parties should elaborate on their youth development agendas for Fata for better communication and create an awareness through the media. It added that student unions and councils with pro-peace, women-friendly and student centred politics needed to be established at colleges and universities.

How do they plan to do this

To get the ball rolling, they need to rely on support from government departments, organisations, international donors, philanthropists, corporate bodies and non-governmental organisations in the region. A youth commission will also be set up to give strategic directions and submit an annual report to the governor of K-P

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2014.