MUZAFFARGARH: The United Nations Resident Coordination Office (UNRCO) office will facilitate dialogue between the south Punjab administration and key development partners, such as country heads of the UN agencies and the development sector, for the financial and technical support.

UNRCO representative in Pakistan Shah Nasir Khan said this in a meeting with South Punjab Additional Chief Secretary retired Capt Saqib Zaffar on Sunday. South Punjab Secretary for Planning and Development Syed Shoeb Iqbal was also present in the meeting.

The UNRCO team said the south Punjab deep dive session aimed at bringing together the government officials of federal, Punjab and south Punjab and development partners for a discussion on administrative, development, and governance challenges being faced in south Punjab, and to plan how development partners can provide technical and financial support for improving the development indicators of south Punjab.

He said the objective and expected outcome of the session would be discussing the major challenges of south Punjab and planning a way forward required for addressing those challenges through the development and humanitarian interventions.

Various aspects of the event management, such as security and participants related matters were also discussed in the meeting. The additional chief secretary said that development partners would visit projects being implemented by the development partners or the government for the understanding of the challenges.

Mr Zaffar assured the delegation of the provision of all administrative support for the success of the deep dive session.

VISIT: An 18-member delegation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department visited the School Education Department, south Punjab, on weekend to observe and learn from the initiatives which the former department had taken in its area of jurisdiction.

The two-day visit was arranged under the auspices of UNESCO, which was represented by senior staff members, Imtiaz Alam and Sadia Bangash. Dr Ehtasham Anwar, secretary to the School Education Department, South Punjab, said that it was probably the first time that one provincial department had formally undertaken a visit of its counterpart department in another province.

He was of the view that such interactions would lead to an exchange of ideas as well as sharing of the learnings, and should therefore be arranged more often. A detailed presentation was made on all initiatives currently underway in the schools of south Punjab, followed by a question-answer session.

The visitors were also gifted with copies of Roshni – a monthly magazine initiated by the School Education Department, south Punjab, in order to promote reading and writing habits among the young children.

In the end, while thanking the hosts for their hospitality, and UNESCO - for having arranged the visit, the delegation invited the officers of the South Punjab School Education Department to visit the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department and see the good work which was being done there.

Later, the delegation went to visit the first school for the transgenders in the country that had been established at Multan. Earlier in the day, they also visited Subeh-Nau School where working children are being taught early in the morning before proceeding to their respective workplaces.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2022