ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: The ministry of women development and special education during 2002 focused on the welfare and empowerment of women, children, special people, elderly and the destitute.

This was stated by Parveen Qadir Agha, federal secretary for women development, social welfare and special education while briefing the press on the policies and programmes of the ministry in 2002.

Discussing the ministry’s policy and plan of action, she said efforts were made for the development and empowerment of the vulnerable segments of the society.

Ms Agha said the ministry achieved some important land marks as for the first time in the history of Pakistan, a national policy on the development and empowerment of women was formulated.

When asked to elaborate on the salient features of the policy the secretary said the policy focused on social, economic and political empowerment of women by setting directions for each areas. It suggested measures in the field of education, health, law and access to justice, violence against women, women in the family and community, and the girl child, she added.

She said for the economic empowerment of women the policy addresses such issues as poverty, access to credit, remunerated work, women in rural economy and informal sector. Four projects of the ministry initiated this year were in line with the empowerment and development focus of the ministry, she added.

She said the Women in Political Participation Project (W3P) aimed at making the presence of women in political power effective training and education of 40,000 women councillors.

“The purpose of this training is to enable women in skills of advocacy, budget making and administration besides making their male colleagues aware of needs and role of women in achieving sustainable development.

“This training also incorporates the component of poverty alleviation,” she said.

Ms Agha said, under the family protection project, crises centres and shelter homes provide help to the women in the difficult circumstances. At present, about 2,000 women were at the crisis centre in Islamabad, she said.

Ms Agha said attention was paid to ensure the active participation of children in all the relevant events. During the formulation of the national and provincial plans of actions and national policy, input from children of all the regions of Pakistan and socio-economic background was being sought through their involvement in the workshops designed for this purpose, she added.

In June, 2002 four Pakistani children participated in the United Nations General Assembly special session on children.