Directing resources: NGO urges govt to increase budgetary allocation for women

Pak Women starts project to empower women and include them in decision making.

PESHAWAR:

A project titled Women Empowerment and Political Participation has been started by NGO Pak Women to cater to the needs of women by increasing their share in the annual budget.

The project aims to promote women’s rights and make them leaders in the local decision making process in the province.

Seventy per cent of the total budget is spent on salaries and pensions of civil servants while 30% of the annual budget remains for other administrative costs, said the manager of the organisation, Muhammad Yar, at a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Friday. Only 3% of the budget caters to the needs of women and girls.

“We have formed a pressure group to work in coordination with women parliamentarians. We have also conducted a women leader’s assembly through which a contract of demand was developed to present to K-P Assembly,” said Yar.

“The organisation has formed a network of 150 female political and human rights activists in 25 districts of K-P. It has connected them through cell phones to keep them informed on the progress in the parliament of their demands,” he added.

The finance manager of Pak Women, Masood Jan, said the government can allocate money in the budget for small businesses for women, like handicrafts and tailoring shops. If women start doing business they can be active members of the economy and generate opportunities for others, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2014.