ISLAMABAD, June 29: The Senate Standing Committee on Women Development on Tuesday was given a comprehensive briefing on the salient features, performance and the activities of Tawana Pakistan Programme.

According to a press release, the committee, headed by Senator Zafar Chaudhary, was informed that under the Tawana Pakistan Programme an amount of Rs3,600 million had been earmarked for the School Nutrition Package for 530,000 rural girls of 5-12 age group in 29 high-poverty districts across the country.

The committee was told that the project was aimed at social development, besides improving enrolment, attendance and nutritional status through sustainable community participation in the rural and remote areas of the country.

It was told that the target of actual functional schools to be achieved up to June 2004 was 4,786, out of which fieldwork had been completed on 4,325 schools and feeding had started in 3,359 schools all over the country.

The committee was also briefed in detail on potential benefits of the project, its implementation process and progress made so far. Under this programme, 450 girls have been trained as field workers, 4,200 as community organizers and approximately 40,000 women as School Tawana Committee members to highlight the importance of nutrition and education in the rural areas.

The standing committee chairman, in his remarks, emphasized the need for creating awareness among the masses about the Tawana Pakistan Programme. He also called for involvement of the provinces in order to ensure effective implementation of this programme.

He said the funds allocated for various activities of the project should be utilized in a judicious manner. The ministry of women development secretary also gave a brief overview of the project.

The Pakistan Baitul Mal director- general briefed the committee on the role of social mobilizers, disbursement and utilization of funds, and monitoring and evaluation of the project.

The committee members took keen interest in the deliberations and raised a number of questions, besides putting forward proposals for the successful implementation of the programme.