The Women Development Department (WDD) Punjab in collaboration with the UN Women launched a pilot project in the provincial capital on Tuesday to make public transport facilities accessible, safe and harassment-free for women. In a ceremony held here on Tuesday, WDD Deputy Secretary Amna Rafique presented the welcome address and briefed the participants about training patterns in detail. Representative of UN Women Hooriya Sayeda also highlighted the importance of the training.
Initially, the project has been launched in Lahore to conduct women's safety audit in public transport and to assess women's perceptions of safety as well as actual safety and increase their participation in decisions. Internationally recognized as a 'best practice', a women's safety audit tool is being introduced in Pakistan for the first time and a Women Safety Audit Report was launched in December 2017, she said.
In this context, the WDD in collaboration with the UN Women plans to enhance the capacity of Punjab-based stakeholders on gender equality. The training is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the concerned officials to ensure promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment agenda committed as enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR).
She said a women safety helpline has also been launched to check harassment against women in public transport. "This campaign will be extended with the help of the Lahore Transport Company (LTC) to create maximum awareness among the women about their rights and protection," she concluded.
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