WILL campaign to empower women politicians

The initiativeby Search for Common Grounds looks towards more inclusive governance

Women politicians from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa shared progress on their strategies to address the needs of the people living in the province at the concluding event of Women’s Initiative for Learning and Leadership (WILL).

Initiated by the NGO Search for Common Grounds (SFCG), the WILL campaign aims at helping women participate more in Pakistan’s political landscape by understanding their constituents’ needs and concerns.

“The WILL campaign is aimed at empowering women politicians to proactively seek opportunities to improve government services through legislation for their local communities,” said SFCG Programme Manager Sarah Kakakhel. “Once they are well-equipped they can help locals by providing them with basic needs such as those of health and education - services that remain unmet.”

Participants at the event were from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamat-e-Islami, Awami National Party and Qaumi Watan Party. They were also given feedback on their strategies by Kaneez Fatima from University of Peshawar, former MPA Meher Sultana and UoP’s Basharat Khan.

The chief guest on the occasion, Special Adviser to Chief Minister on Social Welfare Meher Taj Roghani, stressed the importance of such initiatives. In her concluding remarks she said, "Welfare work is a diverse field where people with disabilities should also be considered."

WILL works on bolstering the participation of women parliamentarians and councillors in policy-making. Not only from K-P, WILL helps politicians from other provinces as well to support them with the necessary capacities and mechanisms to collaborate with government officials and representatives.

SFCG Pakistan has been successfully working with women politicians at all tiers of governance since the last three years and engaging them in a series of training workshops, leadership forums and networking summits.