Syllabus for women councillors to be completed by end month

ISLAMABAD—The syllabus of training programme for the newly elected 24,000 women councillors would be finalised by the end of this month, which is hoped to help realize the long-cherished dream of ensuring gender equality in the political sphere.
The course would enable women to overcome biased environment sometimes created in the name of religion, besides discharging duties attached to their offices," Rehana Hashmi in Ministry of Women Development, a National Manager of UNDP project" Women Political Schools(WPS) which is funded with $ 4.5 million by the Norwegian government, told the agency.
She said the ministry was hiring services of technical experts, however, not specifying emoluments for them, from different departments of society to work out a progressive and workable syllabus which the Advisor to Prime Minister on Women Development Nilofar Bakhtiar, when contacted, said would make these brave women more receptive and knowledgeable about their natural and legal rights.
When asked whether efforts were underway to create some sort of linkage through contents of the course between religious opinion leaders being hired by the Ministry of Population Welfare for its own programme and the women councillor in question, Rehana Hashmi retorted saying there was no need as the well-deliberated syllabus would make these councillors capable enough to face the contemporary challenges, no matter these were social, economic or political.
She maintained that syllabus of other organizations that imparted training to women councillors in the past, had been reviewed and consultations were underway with cross-section of the elected councillors, to chalk out a needs-based course.
On insistence, sharing some proposed contents, the woman officer pointed out that Constituency Servicing--how to serve their respective area being a political figure in public office, secondly Networking--coordination with the whole politicalmachinery in the con stituency, thirdly Advocacy--how to achieve their legal and natural rights and issues vis-a-vis interfaith harmony would also be treated under the same.
Moreover, she added they would also be enlightened about concept of development and resource mobilization with respect to local government set up and their responsibilities attached to their offices, besides other formalities. In first phase of the training programme a total of 80 women councillors would be groomed as Master trainers to impart training in 4-day workshop at District level to be extended to lower levels, later.
When hinted that the project might not prove to be a 'white elephant' for the ministry, she passed on a piece of paper of one year performance report of the government from August 2004 to August 2005 non-chalantly, appreciating the project that " An important project(WPS) initiated under the Ministry of Women Development programme helps the women in public offices so that they contribute in raising and addressing issues and concerns in public forums."—APP