Workshops To Train LG Reps On Gender-Responsive Budgeting

News Desk

Peshawar: A series of five training workshops was organized to educate 150 local government (LG) representatives on the importance and practice of gender-responsive budgeting and tracking to improve girls’ secondary education.

Blue Veins Program Manager Qamar Naseem stated that through this strategic capacity-building, we aim to equip our local government representatives with the knowledge and tools to effectively allocate, implement, and monitor budgets.

It was organized by Blue Veins–a local non-profit organization working to improve girls’ secondary education in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa– in collaboration with the Pakistan Education Champions Network (PECN), on Tuesday.

Organizers stated that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa faces a significant educational disparity with 4.7 million children out of school, 2.9 million of whom are girls, which means that 52 percent of girls aged 5-16 are missing out on school.

They noted that in order to achieve gender parity in education, the provincial government must commit itself more politically, boost budget allocations and spend money efficiently.

Addressing this issue is a crucial component of regional socioeconomic development and the path towards equitable education demands an inclusive approach involving all stakeholders, including educators, policymakers, parents, and community leaders; the organizers added.

The training sessions provided valuable insights into the preparation and implementation of gender-sensitive budgets and underscored the urgency of prioritizing girl’s secondary education schemes in the respective Annual Development Programs (ADPs) of their tehsils and districts, they further said.

Neighborhood Council Chairman Intezar Khalil stated, our local government representatives can play a pivotal role in advancing girls secondary education by conscientiously prioritizing and monitoring the allocation of funds in their budgets.

Reaffirming their dedication to the cause of girls’ education, Blue Veins and the PECN initiative propose a replicable model that local government bodies can implement nationwide.

Both organizations urge local government representatives to utilize the knowledge gained from these training sessions to significantly improve the secondary education of girls in their communities, paving the way for a more promising and inclusive future for the entire country.