ISLAMABAD, June 14: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will provide a sum of Rs29.2 million for strengthening the organizational capacity of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW).

In this regard, a project was signed between the UNDP and the government of Pakistan at the NCSW's secretariat here on Monday. UNDP resident representative Onder Yucer, NCSW chairperson Justice (retired) Majida Rizvi and the representative of the Economic Affairs Division, Hamad Shamimi, participated in the joint signing ceremony.

Harek Aspenes, first secretary Norwegian Embassy on behalf of the contributing donor NORAD was also present. The project aims to help the NCSW in policy analysis, research and advocacy to enable it to implement its mandate as a policy review and recommending body in the area of gender equality.

Mr Yucer termed the project an "excellent opportunity for us to analyze and examine the status of women in the country in a thorough and detailed manner." He suggested that poverty reduction and democratic governance were possible only when women were empowered, informed and their rights guaranteed.

Justice Rizvi expressed gratitude to the UNDP, NORAD and relevant ministries for their support to the commission and added that the project signalled another step towards empowerment of women.

She said the project would help the NCSW achieve its objective of emancipation of women, equalization of opportunities and socio-economic conditions amongst women and men and elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

She said it would also go a long way to ensure that Pakistan's national action plan for the advancement of women was jointly adopted, implemented and monitored by all tiers of the government and civil society according to time-bound goals.

The NCSW was set up in 2000 in response to the demands of women from a cross section of society for an independent body that could review and recommend policies related to gender-based problems and issues.