ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) will provide £17.25 million to the United Nations (UN) in Pakistan to implement a five-year programme, AAWAZ II, to empower and protect country’s youth, women, girls and boys.
An agreement to this effect was signed on Tuesday between Joanna Reid, head of DFID Pakistan, and Aida Girma, UNICEF representative in Pakistan, at a ceremony here.
AAWAZ II will work with government and local communities to promote the rights of children, youth and women. The programme has a particular focus on the issue of child labour, to which marginalised groups are extremely vulnerable. The programme will reach 7 million people across the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
“The UK and Pakistan have both made a promise to eradicate child labour by signing up to the first universal set of Sustainable Development Goals,” said Joanna Reid, head of DFID in Pakistan, on the occasion. “The Aawaz II programme is an essential component of that success. Together, we can drive the change that is needed at every level of society. Under Aawaz II, we will work to protect vulnerable and marginalised groups. No longer will they be invisible. No longer will their voices not be heard.”
In his message for the occasion, UN Resident Coordinator Neil Bunhe said, “By helping include children, women and youth in Pakistan’s development, this joint programme will benefit all Pakistanis by reducing inequality – a key part of the sustainable development goals.” Dr Asma Haider, Member Social Sector and Devolution, Planning Commission of Pakistan, said, “We hope that the programme will contribute to the Vision 2025, the Five-Year Plan 2018-23 and the 2030 Development Agenda.” Aawaz II will be implemented jointly by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nation’s Fund’s Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women.
Published in Daily Times, May 16th 2018.
