June Issue 2010

“Helping the country through research” is the Social Policy and Development Centre’s (SPDC) mantra. At a seminar last month they displayed a penchant for doing so with innovative new programmes when they launched two reports — Public Expenditure on Education and Health: a Dynamic Analysis Through the Gender Lens and Trade Liberalisation and Gender Dynamics of Employment in Pakistan. This was done as part of their gender programme funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy Pakistan.

The reports offer policy guidelines to the government on social sector issues, such as health and education, as well as economic issues with a focus on how to prioritise gender-specific initiatives. The government was urged to take concrete measures in this regard.

SPDC’s managing director, Khalida Ghaus, said that these two reports are part of a series that has been launched through the aforementioned programme to help the government build policy initiatives regarding women.

She also thanked the Norwegian ambassador to Pakistan, Robert Kvile, for his country’s funding and support. Kvile lauded SPDC’s efforts and asserted that Norwegian aid is aimed at helping women in Pakistan. Women’s issues are, in fact, highest on their agenda.

The event held at a hotel in Karachi was attended by academicians, media personnel, parliamentarians and mostly by prominent women activists along with members of SPDC’s board, such as Dr Hafiz Pasha and Javed Jabbar. The authors of the reports made presentations that were well-received by the audience.