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Women empowerment still huge challengePPI
KARACHI: NGO Hands here on Friday said a challenge to the much-celebrated notion of women empowerment still remains in the provision of basic ownership rights, a sheltered roof, health and education to women. In Pakistan, the notion of women empowerment can become a thronging reality only when the great challenge gathered up against the status quo for women equality and vigilance is channelised. The status quo in Pakistan sets rigid limits on women ownership of productive resources and rights to inherit property, said a Hands release on the eve of International Women Day. It said in terms of integrated development, Hands has effectively mapped rural Pakistan, mostly Sindh, providing women autonomy over land ownership through its Shelter program, supported by Department for International Development (UKAID), Medico International (MI) and several indigenous philanthropists. They have been striving since long for empowering women but in relief intervention this opportunity get doubled through which more than 0.1 million shelters were handed over to flood victims in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan in which female headed households have been given priority. A large number of women now owned their own houses. The development model particularly addresses livelihood enhancement of people in which women are given priority. The target areas of rural Pakistan are generally bound by land values, inheritance traditions, ethnic backgrounds; and a mix of micro, small, and large landholdings. Through intervention, Hands has been able to overcome the bureaucratic roadblocks and medieval record keeping which makes the documentations inaccessible to women in these areas. The authentic and transparent provision of land documentation, social protection documents, building of resilient shelters along with the provision of livelihood opportunities has raised these women to support their families in a protected environment. Hands has also formed 2482 and women CBOs out of a total 5205 in almost 20 districts of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. The best practice models deployed by Hands include service, training and delivery, where after a diligent need assessment, women have been made socially aware to utilize the material resources and initiate their livelihoods on a continuous basis.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk