ISLAMABAD: The launching ceremony of the USAID-funded three-year project of strengthening national and provincial legislative governance in Pakistan was held on Monday.

Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain inaugurated the project while Acting Chairman Senate Khalilur Rehman, Speaker NWFP Assembly Bakht Jahan Khan, Speaker Balochistan Assembly Jamal Shah Kakar and Deputy Speaker Sindh Assembly Raheela Tiwana also spoke on the occasion.

The project is aimed at building the capacity of the members and staff of the National Assembly Senate and the four provincial assemblies of Pakistan Strengthening civil society to effectively engage with the parliament, is also a part of the project objectives.

The project is executed by Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Consortium which is a group of two international organisations namely World Vision and International Foundation for Election System (IFES) and five Pakistani organisations, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), The Researchers, Integrated Research and Development Organisation (IRDO), All Women Advancement and Resources Development (Award) and Citizen Commission for human Development (CCHD). Pildat will lead the legislative training aspect of the project. The Researchers will lead the civil society action group and will also be responsible for activities in Sindh province. The IRDO, Award and CCHD will be responsible for the project activities in Balochistan, NWFP and Punjab respectively. The IFES is responsible for national research and media components of the project while the World Vision is responsible for the management and coordination of the project.

The $14 million project will work in an integrated way with parliament, provincial assemblies, the media and civil society towards the objectives of strengthening national and provincial legislative governance in Pakistan.

The launch of the project will be set off with a dialogues on the issue of first year of Increased Women Representation in the Parliament Lessons Reflection and the Way Forward the main speakers at the dialogues include Sherry Rehman, MNA Gohar Ayub former NA speaker, Justice (retd) Majida Razvi, Chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women, and Senator Dr Kasur Firdous. A panel of discussants comprising selected MNAs senators and MPAs from Balochistan, NWFP Punjab and Sindh provincial assemblies will lead the discussion at the dialogue.