NCSW holds digitalisation & women national conference

ISLAMABAD: The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA & Jazz held a two-day conference to create a national policy framework and launch the report ‘Digitalisation & Women in Pakistan’ , says a press release.

NCSW with its consortium partners, UNDP, UN-WOMEN, UNFPA and Jazz produced a comprehensive report “Digitalization and Women in Pakistan” as a result of a rigorous country-wide consultative process, engaging public and private sectors, civil society, academia, media and think tanks etc. The report was presented at the 67th session of the Global Commission on the Status of Women during the 8th March 2023 celebrations in New York

On the first day of the conference i.e. August 1st, provincial representatives of relevant government departments were invited to develop a National Policy Framework on the gender and the digital divide. Representatives were be present from the Women Development Departments, the Social Welfare Departments, Provincial Commission on the Status of Women (PCSWs), the Information and Technology departments, Planning and Development Departments and the Technical Education Departments of all provinces of Pakistan.

The second day of the conference i.e. August 2nd, began with a welcome note by Ms Nilofar Bhaktair, Chairperson NCSW, “this national policy framework based on the Digitalization Report helps us create a pathway way forward to overcome the challenges highlighted in the report and will be hugely beneficial to for each province to firm up policies by learning through experience of other provinces” she stated.

The Secretary NCSW Khawaja Imran Raza conducted the group work of all the provinces and areas including GB and AJK to frame Action Plans so that the Report could be seen rolled out. He said that gender and digitalization are cross cutting themes so NCSW plays a vital role to help provinces in have a National Policy landscape comprising programmatic interventions based on gender-digital lens.

Each Province including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir presented their respective policy frameworks in light of the challenges faced by women viz a viz digitalization in Pakistan. After the presentations, Country Representatives of UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA and CEO of Jazz Mobilink shared their remarks on the policies presented and ensured their cooperation within their capacity to work towards reducing the gender disparity in the country. “Under representation of women in technology related fields and decision making positions is a glaring reality. UNDP Pakistan is firm in supporting NCSW’s mandate to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.” Said by Samuel Rizk, Resident Representative, UNDP Pakistan. In the end, the report “Digitalization & Women in Pakistan” was launched by the Chairperson NCSW and in partnership with UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women, IUCN and Jazz.