Under the Women’s Income Growth and Self-Reliance (WINGS) Programme, the Punjab government will receive up to £36 million from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in order to guarantee the economic empowerment of women.
The Punjab government and DFID signed a memorandum on this topic. The signing event was seen by Punjab Social Protection Authority CEO Shahenshah Faisal, P&D member Khalid Sultan, DFID Head of Economic Growth Group Anqa Butt, and Chairman of the Planning and Development Board, Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh.
The goal of the WINGS program is to assist women who are extremely impoverished in making the shift from social protection to prosperous, self-sufficient lives.
A number of government-led delivery channels would be created as part of the initiative, and legislative changes would be made to allow women to rely on social safety nets and guarantee their participation in income-generating enterprises.
The initiative is part of DFID Pakistan’s broader portfolio transformation for social protection, reducing poverty, promoting gender equality, and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index areas, which include Bahawalnagar, Bhawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Lodhran, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, and Rajanpur, are where the aforementioned initiative will be launched, a P&D official told this scribe in a conversation.
P&D Board Chairman Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh announced during the ceremony that DFID would provide up to £36 million, of which £28.5 million would be used for financial assistance and £7.5 million for technical support.
“The Punjab Social Protection Authority (PSPA) will manage a challenge fund that will be used to run the program.”
The head of DFID’s Economic Growth Group, Anqa Butt, gave a speech at the event and stated, “The WINGS program complements the fourth pillar of the Ehsaas Program, which is jobs and livelihood for low-income households.”
“As creating jobs is a primary goal of the Punjab Ehsaas Program’s larger economic reform agenda, WINGS also focuses on giving vulnerable groups opportunities to generate income.”
