ISLAMABAD, April 27: Canadian International Development Agency (Cida) will provide $3 million to International Labour Organization (ILO) to execute a women employment project in Pakistan. Douglas Williams, Director Pakistan and Central Asia Programme, Asia Desk of the Cida, and Donglin Li, Country Director, ILO, signed the agreement at the labour ministry here on Wednesday.

Labour Secretary Asif Hayat Malik and Canadian High Commissioner in Islamabad Margaret Huber were also present on the occasion.

The project entitled “Women’s Employment Concerns and Working Conditions (WEC-PK)” will focus on gender equality and empowerment of women.

With a total budget of $3 million, the project spans over 36 months adopting the ILO ‘Decent Work Agenda’ which includes promotion of fundamental principles and rights at work; productive employment creation; enhancing the coverage and effectiveness of social protection and promoting tripartism and social dialogue.

The project would be executed by the ILO and aims to build national institutional capacity, provide policy and legislative development advice and extend direct support to women for income generation by working with key ILO partners including the government, workers, employers organisation and the civil society.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Huber said: “Pakistan has immense human resource, however, it is under-utilised. Half of the talent lies with female population which needs to be streamlined.” This is a good beginning and with the help of such projects things will definitely move in the right direction, the high commissioner said.

The ILO director remarked that signing of the project showed commitment both on the part of the Canadian government and the ILO for the good cause of women emancipation in Pakistan.

“I am really delighted to sign this project and hope that it will deliver the desired results,” Mr Li said. The project’s approach is unified, integrated and holistic towards the economic empowerment of women.

It seeks to ensure their rights by ensuring non- discrimination and equality at the workplace through national application of ILO conventions 100 and 111 pertaining to equal wages for equal value of work and equality and non-discrimination at the workplace. It is worth-mentioning here that both these core ILO conventions had been ratified by Pakistan.

In his remarks, Mr Williams said the project would help develop their (women) skill levels for an effective participation in the wage labour market, especially by developing their entrepreneurial capabilities.

In the concluding remarks, labour secretary said the project was integrally linked to the macroeconomic planning framework of the country as articulated in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.