February 10, 2003	Monday	Zul Hijjah 8,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: Participants of the first meeting of the Federal Monitoring Committee for Implementation of National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women have criticized the women development ministry for its lacklustre approach towards achieving objectives set in the policy document.

They were of the view that since the unveiling of the National Policy for Development & Empowerment of Women in March 2002, nothing had been done on ground, except formulation of various follow up policies, and holding discussions.

They called for a comprehensive monitoring mechanism whereby officials concerned were held responsible in case they did not complete their jobs.

About 40 participants, representing federal ministries, provincial departments, and non-government organizations, took part in the meeting held on Saturday. The participants proposed that the women development ministry should hold four such meetings in one year.

The AJK social welfare department director, Sakina Bokhari, said after the announcement of the National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women, regional social welfare departments were not provided any support to active the objectives underlined in the document.

“I arranged a meeting in this regard at Muzzaffarabad, but due to unavailability of financial assistance and officials concerned from the federal ministry, it had to be cancelled,” she said.

Samar Irum Sajjad, assistant director in the women development department of the NWFP government, also came down hard on the federal women development ministry in this regard.

She said: “We neither have capacity nor the required financial assistance for women empowerment in the country, and keep on wasting our time and money on preparing such policies.”

She argued that the National Plan of Action, another document prepared by the women development ministry, was much better than the national policy.

Another participant, representing the NGO sector, said the ministry should set certain indicators to asses the progress made on ground within a certain time frame.

She said: “The government needs a task force or small groups responsible for monitoring various projects, as only a regular monitoring system can help move things in the right direction.”

The advisor to the prime minister on women development, social welfare and special education, Nilofer Bakhtiar, admitted that the policy document had not been followed in the public sector.

She called for expanding the scope of the federal monitoring committee by involving more stakeholders. Frequent meetings of the committee should be held to regularly monitor the implementation of the policy, she added.

The women development ministry secretary, Parveen Qadir Agha, in her opening remarks, said her ministry had ensured that women interests were adequately represented in the formulation of policies and laws.