Monday, August 31, 2009

Ministry of Women Development, Social Welfare & Special Education

Who We Are ?
The Ministry of Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education is a national focal Ministry for the advancement of women, social welfare and special education. It plays the role of advocate, planner and coordinator of women, children, elderly and special person. It is responsible for formulation of policies and laws to meet the special needs of women ensuring that women interests and needs are adequately represented in public policy formulation by various organizations and agencies of government, promotion and undertaking of projects for development of women, matters relating to equality of opportunity in education, training, employment and facilities in health care and community development. The Ministry has a similar mandate for the children, elderly, special person and destitute. Whilst the Ministry of Women’s Development promotes gender equality and upholds the status of women in Pakistan at the Federal level, Women’s Development Departments (WDD) also exists at the local government level.
Our Products & Services
The functions of the Ministry include:
Ensuring that women’s needs and interests are represented in laws and public policy by various government bodies and agencies
Registrations of and assistance to women’s organization
Promotion and undertaking of projects that provide special facilities for women
Promotion and undertaking of research o the conditions and problems of women
Pakistan’s representation in international organizations dealing with problems of women National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women
The goal of National Policy for Development and Empowerment of women as envisaged by the Federal Ministry of Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education is;“Empowerment of Pakistani women, irrespective of caste, religion, or other consideration for the realization of their full potential in all spheres of life, especially social, economic, personal and political and in keeping with our way of Islamic way of life.”It aims & objectives are:
To remove inequities and imbalances in all sectors of socio-economic development and to ensure women’s equal access to all development benefits and social services
To ensure the participation of women as equal partners in national development and decision making processes in the community and society
To ensure the full participation of women in all political processes and to enhance women’s representation in all elective bodies
To safeguard and ensure the protection of women’s human rights including economic, legal, political and social rights, especially the rights of minority women, rural and poor women, girls and women with disabilities, elderly women and women in vulnerable circumstances and situations
To provide women and girls access to quality health care services and all other prerequisites to enjoying full health, including reproductive and mental health
To expeditiously and substantially enhance women’s literacy rates, improve attainment levels of girls and women at all levels of education (both academic and professional) to reduce the gender gap, and to reorient existing curricula by making them gender sensitive
To provide equality of opportunity and to create space for women to realize their full potential
The Ministry of Women’s Development is responsible for the implementation of the NPA as well as coordinating, monitoring and evaluating progress in the advancement of women. The NPA directs actions to advance gender equality according to the strategic objectives set out under the Beijing Platform for Action. Important measures for the world of work include:
Adopting macro and micro-economic policies and Sectoral policies
Developing gender sensitive economic growth indicators
Mainstreaming women in the productive sectors and ensure their equitable participation
Cushioning against the negative aspects of the structural adjustment package on women
Reviewing the impact of existing policies, labour laws, factories on women workers, identify gender-biased rules and regulations and suggesting modifications. This includes areas such as private and public, formal and informal sectors employing women
Increasing women’ access to ownership, control and management of productive assets e.g. land, and formal credit sectors employing women
Creating awareness of legal and constitutional rights of women, related to land and asset ownership and legislation for equitable distribution of assets
Training women in financial and land management
Adopting affirmative action in recruitment of women
Eliminating the gender gap in access to education by actions concerning statistics, training female trainers and a number of institutional and women specific positive actions
Increasing women’s access to scientific, technical and vocational education and linking training with the employment needs of women
Ensuring assessment of the benchmark data for projection of women’s contribution to the national economy
What we can do for women entrepreneurs
The different departments of the MoWD and their activities for the benfit of women entrepreneurs are as follows:
Women Development WingWomen Development Wing is the principal institutional structure established to promote the integration of women in the planning & development process. This section also includes a comprehensive document enlisting Major Activities Initiated for Women Rights.
Special Education WingIn order to spearhead pioneering work in the challenging area of Special Education and rehabilitation of disabled persons, it was considered necessary to create a new organization to take up this task. Accordingly, the Directorate General of Special Education was created under the then Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education.
Social Welfare Wing The main goals of Social Welfare Wing may include; provision of sustained growth in the status and participation of women in all spheres, capacity building and skills development and poverty alleviation. This section is enriched with informaton on National Council of Social Welfare, Women Welfare & Development Centre, Social Welfare Training Institute, Social Welfare Programme Officer, National Commission for Child Welfare & Development, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, National Trust for the Disabled, National Council for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons.
Books and Articles on Women's Issues in Pakistan This section has a comprehensive listing of a host of documents, reports and articles written on Women issues in Pakistan by various individuals, agencies and organizations.

source: www.win.org.pk

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