Project profile — Promoting Gender Inclusive and Equitable Growth – Women’s Economic Empowerment & Recovery

• Pakistan (100.00%)

• Secondary Education: Vocational training (11330) (13.00%)
• Government And Civil Society, General: Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (15.00%)
• Communication: Radio/television/print media (22030) (20.00%)
• Banking And Financial Services: Education/training in banking and financial services (24081) (52.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project enables women and girls to exercise their decision-making capacity and agency as entrepreneurs, and contributes to addressing social and cultural norms related to women’s and girls’ economic roles in communities by raising awareness and changing perceptions of women’s formal participation in the workforce. The project builds the capacity of women to succeed as micro-entrepreneurs in Pakistan’s economy, including by providing them with the tools they need to adapt and recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will also look to address the dimensions of unpaid care and care-related work. Project activities include: (1) conducting a large-scale multi-faceted awareness campaign that promotes positive images of women’s formal participation in the work force; (2) providing business management skills training to women micro-entrepreneurs to improve their business practices and opportunities; and (3) providing financial skills training to women and girls to improve their financial management capacity.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased recognition of women’s and girls’ social and economic recovery roles within communities; and (2) increased household income contributions by women micro-entrepreneurs.

Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) trained 156,413 women and girl micro-entrepreneurs on financial and business management to help them expand their businesses, increase their household income, and increase their participation in the economy; (2) produced and aired 2 television drama series, entitled Kuch Ankahi and Zard Patton Ka Bunn, focused on women’s social progress, family planning and maternal health; (3) trained 74 women in a non-vocational skills training program on shoe making, 53 obtained employment as a direct result; (4) held 3 public service awareness campaigns across Pakistan on social issues impacting women including, the burden of unpaid and care work on women, child and early marriage, (5) developed a digital web series entitled House Full Batti Gul to increase awareness of Pakistan’s population growth and its impacts; and (6) trained 60,727 participants on maternal and reproductive health.

• Proactive disclosure