DNA

Islamabad: 12 Aug: “To strengthen women’s voice and agency in electoral processes, it is crucial to ensure women’s participation, maximize it and remove hurdles which bar them to play their vibrant role play in the progress and development of the country”, said Ms. Sameena Nazir, President-CEO Potohar Organization for Development Organization (PODA) on the occasion of the training of trainers held on Saturday in Islamabad.

One-Day Training of Trainers for Building the Capacity of Rural Women Leaders to Promote Votes without Violence was organized here in a local hotel which was attended by 15 promising rural women leaders belonging to different tehsils of district Rawalpindi. Imparting knowledge and skills to enhance capacity building of rural women, at the initial stage PODA with the support of NDI aims to empower a batch of 240 women from four provinces across the country.

Ms. Nazir further elaborated that strengthening human rights knowledge of rural women leaders based on our constitutional rights envisioned in the constitution of Pakistan will support them to take on leadership role in politics. “We need to tackle the issue of violence and its alarming severity by enhancing women’s capacity to deal with it at all levels to encourage more women to participate in politics actively,” Ms. Nazir added.

“It is an acknowledged fact that when more women are elected it is directly linked with better policy-making that favors communities and marginalized segments of the society at large,” CEO-PODA said.

The trainers who imparted different sessions were, Ms. Sameena Nazir, Mr. Zafarullah Khan (Convener, Parliamentary Research Group) and Ms. Nabeela Aslam. The training sessions were focused on the thematic areas including Universal system of human rights and women’s rights in the constitution of Pakistan; Constitutional rights and political rights of women; women’s struggle for their political rights and laws protecting women; and awareness on relevant clauses of the Elections’ Act 2017 and NADRA’s procedure for the documentation. At the end of the training, awards were distributed among the participants who showed commitment to enhance awareness of rural women about their constitutional, political as well as human rights ensuring peaceful electoral process with their active participation. The participants seemed confident and excited to replicate these trainings in their respective areas. They appreciated efforts of PODA for taking the initiative at grassroots level to ensure inclusivity for a better tomorrow half of the population of the country is able to utilize its full potential and lead a valued life.