Japan grants $87,200 to strengthening democratic process
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—The Japan Government will grant financial support of US$ 87,200 under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP Program) to PATTAN Development Organization for implementing two projects for strengthen democratic process.
The amount worth Rs.5.27 million would be spent on two projects; Enhancement of Women Participation in Sindh and Outreach and Education for First Time Voters in Balochistan, both regarding the Pakistan General Election 2008.
The agreement for the projects was signed here between Seiji Kojima, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan and Sarwar Bari, National Coordinator PATTAN. This grant will be utilized to support the democratic process in Pakistan and the projects will focus on women and youth which form two important segments of the society and needed more attention for effective participation in general elections.
The first project is expected to enhance women participation rate in Sindh, enabling them to raise their voice on women social, cultural and economic issues.
Main objective of these projects is to motivate women and first time voters, who are a large population to participate in the election and the political process.
Although the proportion of first time voters at the last elections held in 2002 was 11.30%, now more than eight million new voters are expected to join the political process. The specific project activities include holding of 150 motivational seminars for women, the formation of youth groups and the arrangement of essay/speech competitions in colleges and schools, the youth will also be trained to perform educational and motivational plays/skits on the streets. These activities will give valuable opportunities to these young people. Ambassador Seiji Kojima, speaking at the signing ceremony said that Japan has been supporting the democratization of Pakistan and decided to extend assistance to these two projects, in addition to financial support to the Pakistan Government for purchase of ballot boxes, polling booths and tamper-resistant seals.