INITIATIVES IN PAKISTAN TO ENHANCE THE WOMEN’S ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT:

Economic Census of
Pakistan – women owned businesses represents only
3% of total enterprises
(3.2 million enterprises) in
Pakistan.
 Most of women owned businesses are really small
i.e. turnover < 1 million and/or investment < 0.5 millioMost women-headed businesses operate from home
 Financial matters are handled by male family members
 Women entrepreneurs are seen in subordinate roles
 little education, skills, and exposure to business; negligible peer support and business association, low capitalization and poor investment capacity
 60% of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan opt for traditional business i.e. beauty parlors, bakeries, boutiques with largest number in garments and handicrafts sectorn.
Role of SMEDA for WE Development
“The word entrepreneur is derived from the French verb enterprendre that means to undertake”. We can define an entrepreneur as “……One who undertakes a commercial enterprise and who is an organisational creator and innovator” (Gartner.) “Female entrepreneurs are defined as those who use their knowledge and resources to develop or create new business opportunities, who are actively involved in managing their businesses, and own at least 50 per cent of the business and have been in operation for longer than a year” (Moore and Buttner, 1997)
International development programs on female entrepreneurship involve all the efforts made by developed nations, world financial institutions and other organizations working world-wide.
They include financial & technical aid, assistance to managerial skills and other opportunities to grow business. USAID (Ibrahim, 2009) and World Bank (McLymont, 2008) are forerunners in this category. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is working actively in
Pakistan for female entrepreneurs. They assist women in running small businesses in far-flung areas and provide them opportunity to improve the standard of their products and enable their Female Entrepreneurs 11
Proceedings of 2 nd International Conference on Business Management entrance into potentially profitable markets (USAID Web-blog). USAID also initiates programs to develop basic management skills among female entrepreneurs in collaboration with local institutions. Considerable efforts have been made by the governmental & non-governmental sectors to provide micro-finance in Pakistan, and females are key targets of such programmes. Khushhali
Bank (established by the Government of Pakistan), Kashaf Bank and National Rural Support
Program (NRSP) are the leading micro-financiers in Pakistan (Microwatch, 2008).
The First Women Bank Limited is also an initiative by the Government of Pakistan for the welfare of female entrepreneurs. The main idea behind it was to improve the socio-economic life of women in Pakistan. It provides loans to female entrepreneurs, training & advisory services to better manage their business, and other market opportunities (International Labor Organization
(ILO), 2003). Shell Tameer and SMEDA are also doing valuable work to foster entrepreneurship
– both for males and females.
 Women Entrepreneur Development Cell 2002
 Provide a formal platform for understanding the nature
 Support Women’s entrepreneurial activities
 Create a network for sharing experiences
 Services in business management
 Promote efficient, innovative and export oriented enterpriseswww.smeda.org.pk Objectives of Women Entrepreneurship
Development CELL @ SMEDA
 Assessment of WE needs
 Support research for WEs development
 Establish & maintain linkages with WEs,
Institutions Chambers and Associations
 Ensure coordination of activities
 Identify actions and projects
 Training for skill development
 Developing business plans
 Develop linkages How SMEDA is helping WEs?
 SMEDA conducted a study in collaboration with ILO on “Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan- A Study to understand and improve their Bargaining Power”. It is a study of 150 Women entrepreneurs in Pakistan.
Comprehensive Database of WEs
Establishing/ Strengthening Women
Business Forums & more effective
Information Dissemination Channels.
 Women Entrepreneurs Information Network
(win.org.pk)
 A Web Portal designed to bridge information resource gap
 Independent Websites
 Training Programs
 More than 300 participants, covering management, technical and skill development
 Pre-feasibility Studies
 Encourage business start-ups i.e. Day Care Center,
Montessori, Boutique, Flower Shop, Beauty Clinic etc.
 Facilitation for Financing
 Assistance for securing finance/credit (Failure)
 Business Plan Development
 Customized business plans for a specific business idea
 Marketing/ Networking
 Product showcasing and participation in Exhibitions.
Women Business Incubation Center
 Basic Business infrastructure:
Selection Criteria
 Business owned and controlled by a woman or women, either startup or existing, fulfilling the following criteria:
 More than 50% of the business is owned by woman or women;  the management and daily business operations are controlled by woman or women;
 Employs less than 30 persons
 Investment in the business is preferably less than Rs. 2 million (to encourage startups)
 Well developed Business Plan
 Doesn't have any other office / branch
 Retail not allowed
 Clinical Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, and NGOs not allowed.
Preferred Businesses
 Services Sectors
 Professional/ Business Development and Management Consultancy
 Architecture, Interior Designers, Landscaping & Plantation Services
 Accounting, Auditing, Taxation and Financial Consultants
 Engineering & Construction,
 Personal Care, Para-medical personnel, Nutritionist services
 Graphic Designing, Advertising & Marketing, Website Development
 Placement, Education and HR Consultancy Services
 House /Building Cleaning, Nanny, Housekeeping & Janitorial Services
 Photographic services,
 Packaging, Printing & Publishing, Journalists and News Agency
 Event (weddings, conference etc) Management & Planner
 Real Estate Services.
WBIC Inauguration on June 23, 2007
Business Development
Services Offered at
WBIC
Training Programmes
 Small Business Management
 Customer Centered Product Development for Effective marketing  Effective selling Techniques for Small Businesses.
A Modest but Positive First Step
WBIC is a pilot project and the first of its kind in the country
Based on the success of this project similar
Centres are opening soon in Peshawar followed by Karachi and Quetta. The entire effort is focused at encouraging new business start-ups and support to existing businesses including the right environment for nurturing women owned and managed businesses to an extent that these become sustainable, specifically, in start-up period (first 5 years) when they are most vulnerable. Female entrepreneurship has long been associated with concepts such as female empowerment and emancipation. Increasingly, it has also been marketed as crucial for increasing the quality of life of women in the developing world. Post 9/11, it has also been encouraged as a way of making changes to the status-quo of women in the Muslim world and re-addressing the balance of power within the family unit. More research is needed in both the urban and rural areas of Pakistan to understand the phenomenon of female entrepreneurship and also to understand the differences in home-based Female Entrepreneurs 23
Proceedings of 2 nd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-06-6) versus non-home-based female entrepreneurs. Although access to home-based female entrepreneurs may be difficult to obtain, especially for male researchers, it is still an area where efforts need to be focused. This is important not just for altruistic reasons of humanitarian support for these women, but also to gain knowledge that may be helpful in realizing their full economic potential as well. The long term developmental strategy of a country is incomplete without giving adequate thought to this sector and obtaining adequate information about them before making policy decisions.

Women inheritance and property

INTRODUCTION
Inheritance is defined as “a perpetual or continuing right which a man and his heirs have to an estate; an estate which a man has by descent as heir to another, or he may transmit to another as his heir; an estate derived from ancestor to a heir in course of law “(Accurate and Reliable Dictionary, 2008).
The practice of Inheritance in all kinds of movable and immovable parental property is a global practice, but some of the traditional societies are characterized by gender discrimination in the form of either total deprivation or partial deprivation. The exploitation of women in the matter of inheritance is not an odd event of human history; rather it is one of the disparities perpetuating women’s suffocation in different compartments of life throughout the world. Inheritance is an integral part of the family life, and depriving a child of each gender from entitlement in parental property is tantamount to diminish the conception of family as a social unit (Leach, 1982). Legacy determines the legitimacy of a child in human community (Beattie, 1964). It is the cultural environment that degrades the status of women in all walks of life including inheritance (Dascalopoulos, 1990). Marx considers women as a separate class of society and further makes the statement that they are vulnerable to various kinds of exploitation of men’s dominance (Abraham, 1990).
Marriage is a mixed activity of religious influence and legal heritage in the island of Mauritius (Angelo, 1970). If a man fails to decide the distribution of his estate or leaves a will before he dies, the state stands with responsibility to do it as per its framed law (Simon, 1978). Women have no customary rights in estate in the northeastern and southwestern parts of India. Customary ways such as female seclusion, mental and physical torture against women, and other gender based practices have blocked their access to legal rights in the backward pars of India (Agarwal,
1988). Among Swazi people women are culturally not entitled for their share in lands. The local practices regarding women‘s rights over property contradicted the existing customary law in the communities of Pakistan. The customary law had a provision of share in land but the people denied this right of women, and somewhere in the same communities people substituted it with dowry (Dascalpoulos, 1990).
The two studies, conducted in Peshawar and
Malakand areas, concluded that women are not given their due share in property for many reasons like cultural restriction, women’s illiterate status, fragmentation of landholdings and dowry articles as substitute of their share in parental lands (Wisal and Inam, 2006, and Aisha, 2008). In the religion of Islam women are entitled to inherit as heirs in the lands left behind by ancestors, and the followers have been asked to adhere to it strictly. After the appearance of Islam, a great change has occurred in the mental outlook of people by establishing the rights of women in all enterprises of life; Islam banished the inhuman practice of not remarrying of widows in view of apprehension of property transference. In the Holy book of Qur’an Allah Almighty says that “To everyone, we have appointed the shares and heirs to property left by parents and relatives (Surah Nisa: 33). Even in the life time of our
Holy Prophet ‘Hazrat Muhammad (SAW)’, women got their determined shares in lands. Pakhtunwali (a set of codes of pakhtun’s life) is also in favor of inheriting women but local practices are going in contrast for the perceived reason of their no bread earning role in the community (Wisal, 2006). In Pakistan in general, women are discriminated in respect of legacy in spite of the presence of the sate legislation on it. Various organizations of the private sector are also in the field to combat gender based discrimination in the inheritance.

Reasons fot majority of the landowners deprived their women of share in property, and this deprivation was mainly observed among the owners of those categories who possessed big pieces of land.
There also appeared a contradiction in the data of male and female respondents because the women in majority asked for their shares but the male respondents denied that their women never put forward such demand. Besides, the women did not agree to this stance of their males that they gave them shares in property willingly. In brief, the sampled community was not looking in favor of giving share to women for many reasons. However, 22% owners, who gave shares to their women, were either religious minded or had endogamous marriages.

Non-Receipt of Shares: t the marriages solemnized among the people of kin groups (endogamy) had an apparent role in the receipt of share. Table III shows that majority of the discriminated women (53%) practiced exogamous marriages (marriages outside family) and 47% had endogamy. Exogamy was relatively practiced in greater number in category ‘A’ for the apparent reason of possessing small pieces of land by the owners. The data on nature of marriage support the preceding lines that women who practiced marriage outside families confronted numerous difficulties in getting their shares. It is a long standing perception in Pukhtun society that outside marriages weaken the traditionally strong position of families by fragmenting and transferring the landholdings to others’ families.
Such established perception is further supported by a continuous practice that an uneducated or even physically disabled member of the same patrilineage takes preference in marriage over an educated, normal and handsome boy hailing from an outside family in sampled community. This is not odd in Pukhtun society; rather most of the traditional families across the country have such priorities in marriage.
Another
reason behind the non-receipt of share was to substitute it with dowry. Majority of the women (53%) regarded it as a responsible reason for their deprivation in the land. The sampled women admitted that the dowry articles accompanied them at the time of their marriages, but that time they were not told so. Besides, the males of their parental families used the revenues of the lands including their shares also. The customary practice to substitute dowry with share in favor of women does not come to surface in this study only, but the studies carried out earlier by Dascalopoulos (1990) in Car pathos and Sopoto communities, Wisal and Mateen (2006) in the outskirts of
Peshawar and Aisha (2008) in the periphery of Malakand have also found the same reason obstructing women’s share as heirs. A reasonable number of the female respondents (34%) were intimidated of snapping the relations if they ever demanded for share. This has been a common practice of our society that women, who ever got shares, experienced tense relations with their fraternities.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
It was observed that women were mostly deprived of shares in agricultural property for the socio-cultural and economic reasons. The deprived women were either illiterate or less educated or insufficiently aware about their religious, moral and legal rights which played an important role in their deprivation. Provision of dowry articles to married females was perceived as substitute of their shares, and they were intimidated with dire consequences regarding family relations on production of demand for share. It was further observed that people with big land holding size exploited women at maximum in view of the expected land fragmentation in case of share giving. Exogamous marriages (marriages outside families) were also seen as an apparent cause of deprivation. The study recommends that the religious scholars ought to come to forefront and disseminate the message of Islam on the issue of inheritance in conceivable and arguable way on the eve of Juma (Friday) sermons or on other occasions, emphasizing the people to ensure the provision of shares to women. The state law also needs to be implemented in letter and spirit and by this way the degree of discrimination will reduce. INTRODUCTION
Youth constitute a formidable force for sustainable agricultural development of any nation particularly the agrarian ones including Nigeria. This is because youths possess a lot of energies and other inestimable assets for productivity and general sustainable socio-economic development (Iwala 2006). The poor state of youth participation in agricultural activities in Nigeria has been a matter of great concern among agriculturists, agricultural researchers as well as administrators. This is because the present poor state of decline in agricultural production was dimmed the hope of raising the level of agricultural production to ensure sustainable food security for the ever increasing population of Nigeria. (Daudu et al 2009). With fewer youth into agriculture, the long-term future of the agricultural sector is in question. The development of the agricultural sector of the Nigerian economy therefore depends on the young people, more especially the rural youths. This is because a large population of youth represents the link between the present and the future as well as a reservoir of labour (Muhammad-Lawal et al 2009). Indeed, since the youths are the future of any country, it is useful to develop them into patriotic citizens, future progressive famers and better citizens. The youth clubs are the nurseries for them
(Ajayi, 2006). The poor state of agricultural productivity and low esteem of agriculture as manifested in rural-urban migration, youths’ low interest in farming, lack of industrial firms to process agricultural products and skilled labour among others has led to worsening Nigerian food deficit (NDE, 2006). The Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE)
2006-2015
1. The Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE) 2006-2015 is an overarching implementation agenda that provides a blue print for youth development.
It is relevant for governments, development partners, youth networks and young women and men who are valued partners in the process.
2. The PAYE 2006-2015 was developed through a wide-ranging consultative process with key stakeholders in all regions of the Commonwealth, building upon the lessons learnt from the implementation of the PAYE 2000-2005. It seeks to assist member governments in establishing and maintaining the enabling conditions that will allow young men and women in the Commonwealth to be empowered through to the next decade and beyond. At its core is the rights-based approach to development where the participation of young women and men across the Commonwealth is a fundamental asset in the development process.
3. The document consists of four sections. Section 1 introduces the Commonwealth
PAYE, explaining its background and achievements and its place in the Commonwealth’s overall framework and agenda for development, democracy and human rights. Section 2 discusses the context and rationale for youth empowerment and youth mainstreaming and identifies a context for achieving youth empowerment in line with MDGs targets for young women and men. Section 3 analyses the 10 critical areas for Commonwealth action covered by the PAYE, and makes recommendations for strategic action by
Commonwealth member governments and the Secretariat in relation to these areas.
Section 4 outlines how governments and the Secretariat will implement these recommendations, in collaboration with partners, and how accountability will be ensured through monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
4. The PAYE responds to the Commonwealth mission to empower, engage and create value so that young women and men can contribute to the economic, social and cultural advancement of their families and countries and to their own fulfilment. Youth empowerment has two dimensions:
• Young people are empowered when they acknowledge that they have or can create choices in life, are aware of the implications of those choices, make an informed decision freely, take action based on that decision and accept responsibility for the consequences of these actions.
• Empowering young people means creating and supporting the enabling conditions under which young people can act on their own behalf, and on their own terms, rather than at the directions of others. These enabling conditions fall into four broad categories:
1. an economic and social base;
2. political will, adequate resource allocation and supportive legal and administrative frameworks; 3. a stable environment of equality, peace and democracy; and
4. access to knowledge, information and skills, and a positive value system. 5. The Plan of Action 2006-2015 contains 10 strategic objectives designed to engage governments, strategic partners and young people themselves on the transformational agenda of youth empowerment. These are:
PAYE 1 – Develop and implement measures to promote the economic enfranchisement of young people and their participation in the economy;
PAYE 2 – Strengthen social support systems and collaboration between key stakeholders in youth empowerment;
PAYE 3 – Develop and strengthen youth ministries/departments, national youth policies, and legislative and constitutional provisions impacting on youth affairs;
PAYE 4 – Promote positive national role models and self-images for young people, and foster their sense of responsibility and self-esteem;
PAYE 5 – Promote the full participation of young people in decision-making at all levels, including at community, local, provincial and national levels;
PAYE 6 – Take affirmative and direct action to establish gender equity for all young people, and equality of treatment and outcomes for youth in special circumstances;
PAYE 7 – Promote a democratic, stable and peaceful environment in which young people’s human rights, as defined in international covenants, can be exercised fully and in which they can fully accept their responsibilities;
PAYE 8 – Take action to promote the development and maintenance of human resources and intellectual capital;
PAYE 9 – Adopt measures to improve access to information and communications technology (ICT) and to provide young people with the skills to make use of it;
PAYE 10 – Identify and implement measures to broaden youth participation in sporting and cultural activities as a means of promoting positive values, healthy lifestyles and behaviour and advancing human development.
6. Governments can benefit from the youth empowerment action points and indicators in the PAYE programmes to empower young people to participate in achievement of their development. The PAYE indicators will also be useful in helping Governments to achieve MDG targets for young people.
7. The Plan of Action focuses on the human resource and life skills needs of
Commonwealth youth consistent with the life–cycle approach. It encourages the creation of opportunities for training in leadership, management, community mobilisation, organisational development and communications skills, along with other core competencies necessary to build and sustain robust youth governance structures and networks. It also emphasises the importance of the holistic development of young women and men so that they can participate fully in decision-making, advocacy and other democratic processes at community, national, regional and international levels.
8. PAYE will take place primarily at the national level. Implementation of the Plan of
Action will rely heavily on mainstreaming youth issues into the national development agenda and will require real participation by young women and men in operational and governance issues across all sectors. It will also depend on the integration of programme budgeting, planning, implementation and co-ordination of youth development into the overall national development framework. This will maximise the use of scarce human and financial resources and optimise the delivery, review and evaluation of youth policy initiatives. Youth ministries and departments must be strengthened as part of this equation to ensure effective research, planning, target-setting, monitoring and evaluating progress on youth issues.
9. The effectiveness of the PAYE as a tool for advocacy, brokerage and catalytic youth development and its potential as the key reference point for youth networks and communities across the Commonwealth will also depend on the widest communication, distribution and marketing of PAYE publications and a thorough process of public sensitisation, awareness-raising and social marketing. The Secretariat will work with member governments and other partners to support this objective, through the strategic use of youth-friendly information and communications technologies (ICTs) and other media, supported by a programme of development and training.
10. The Secretariat will also work in close collaboration with the Commonwealth Youth
Caucus to ensure that young women and men in the Commonwealth participate in national and regional efforts to implement the PAYE and that their implementation priorities and concerns are taken into consideration.
11. The Secretariat will provide overall increased support to governments in the implementation of the PAYE and provide policy advice and technical assistance on the implementation of youth development mainstreaming. Governments will also need to review their resource allocations in support of the implementation of the PAYE. The
Secretariat will also maintain close collaboration with key stakeholders to influence better donor community support and investments for young women and men.
12. Monitoring and Evaluation of the Plan of Action will be managed by governments who should put internal mechanisms in place to assess progress made and lessons learned and to re-align implementation programmes to take into consideration any countryspecific issues that apply. The Commonwealth Secretariat will develop and circulate standard reporting formats on PAYE targets and outcomes, and will continue to work in collaboration with other relevant partners to develop the Youth Development Index
(YDI), which will serve as the primary evaluation tool of the PAYE. The SecretaryGeneral will also regularly report on the implementation of the PAYE.

Youth empowerment covers a wide array of issues and concerns, but when it comes down to it, youth empowerment is one of the best ways to ensure that children and youth across the nation receive the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed now and in the future. And while many youth empowerment programs are designed to help youth who have dropped out of school of find themselves in difficult situations, youth everywhere—no matter what their situation—can benefit for these successful and educational programs.

One of the reasons that youth empowerment is so important is because it helps children and teens realize how important their success is. It helps both at-risk youth and other children look forward to a productive future where they can actually achieve and live their hopes and dreams. Youth empowerment helps teens and young adults discover what they enjoy doing and helps them to learn more about the subjects that they are interested in. Once this is established, youth empowerment helps these individuals set goals and make a plan to succeed in what they most desire. Most of all, youth empowerment helps provide our youth with practical skills that they can use each and every day of their lives to enjoy a greater quality of life and become tomorrow’s leaders.

So whether you are a parent looking to help your child, a guardian who is concerned about a teen or young adult, or anyone else, youth empowerment is one of the best ways to ensure that the youth of our nation enjoy a successful future.