'Local government system yielding positive results'

The devolution of power plan, introduced by President Pervez Musharraf, is meant to empower the general public, particularly the women, of the country to involve them in political and economic activities, said Rawalpindi City District Nazim Javed Ikhlas, here on Monday.
"Women's empowerment is the priority of the government, and the local government system is yielding positive results", he said while addressing the inaugural session of the 15-day workshop on 'Gender Sensitisation'.
The workshop is being organised by Rawalpindi City District Government in collaboration with the World Bank (WB), Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Ministry of Women Development.
The aim of the workshop is to educate union council representatives about various aspects of power devolution system and to ensure active and maximum involvement of women in the local government system.
Javed said that after devolution of power at the grass-roots level, women now feel more secure and empowered than ever before. He said that the city district government had initiated several programmes for the welfare of women. The participation of women in every filed of life would be ensured for progress and prosperity of the country, he added.
He said that the city district government had provided funds to the tune of Rs 0.5 million to Rs 1 million to women members of the district council to carry out development projects in their areas. 'It is the need of the hour that people join hands with each other for the welfare and progress of the country," he said.
Earlier, briefing about the salient features of the workshop, Additional Director, Local Government, Mian Akram, said that there would be ten sessions of the workshop. Four sessions would be held in the office of city district Nazim, five at the office of Naib Nazim and one in Murree Town. He said that nazims and naib nazims of 175 union councils of the district would attend the workshop. He said that such workshops would be conducted throughout the province to achieve the objectives of devolution power system.