United Nations Entity of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women 'UN WOMEN' has assured the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) its full support and technical advice about gender equality and empowerment of women; exploring new opportunities to complement ongoing institutional efforts and determine other areas or services where cooperation and support may be mutually beneficial.
The two organisations inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to maximise the technical assistance, cooperation and co-ordination to ensure the commitment for working effectively and in an efficient manner. Alice H. Shackelford, Country Programme Director, UN WOMEN, Pakistan and Tariq Malik, Deputy Chairman Nadra signed the MoU on behalf their organisations on Thursday.
UN WOMEN, as the primary UN Agency within the UN organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, acts as a global champion for women and girls to accelerate progress on meeting their needs world-wide. Tariq Malik, Deputy Chairman Nadra said the MoU would help empower women and ensure the involvement of women in mainstream development activities and to support innovative and experimental activities benefiting women in line with national and regional priorities.
He said that Nadra has been empowering women and ensuring their social, economic and political rights by providing them national computerised identity cards. "CNIC has been made mandatory to register in voters list and vote casting. Women's Right to vote can only be ensured by having a CNIC," he said.
In the past three years, Nadra has increased women registration by 74% while Nadra has already registered 92% population of the country by issuing 86 million CNICs including 37 million women, he added. Malik said Nadra is working as a catalyst in transforming e-Government agenda in Pakistan. It houses world's largest multi-biometric database and has very effectively used it to bring transparency in government's citizen centric initiatives like Benazir Income Support Programme, Cash Disbursement Programme for Internally Displaced People and Citizen Damage Compensation Programme. The programmes have added public convenience, improved service delivery and ensured transparency and above all empowered women, he added.
He said that Nadra ensured women rights in transparent cash disbursement to flood victims by making women as head of family when required. He said that Nadra is working aggressively to increase female registration across the country particularly in far-flung and remote areas through its mobile registration vans, which provide service at the doorsteps.
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