table of contents - search for common ground · table of contents 1. ... 2. project overview ......

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1

2. Project Overview .................................................................................................................................... 2

2.1. Need Assessment Objectives ......................................................................................................... 2

2.2. Methodology & Demographical Information......................................................................... 4

3. Women’s Involvement in Decision Making Processes .............................................................. 7

3.1. Women’s Involvement in Government ..................................................................................... 7

3.2. An Overview of Select Women and Leadership Initiatives ............................................. 8

4. Media and Leadership Trainings ................................................................................................... 12

4.1. Capacity Assessment of Partner Training Organizations ............................................. 12

4.2. Media & Women Leadership Trainings: Potential, Focus & Strengthening ........ 14

5. Media and Effective Political Leadership Skills: Current Status ........................................ 17

5.1. Provincial Women MPAs .............................................................................................................. 17

5.2. District Women Councilors ......................................................................................................... 20

6. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................. 25

7. Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 28

BASE LINE SURVEY FOR STRENGTHENING WOMEN

PARLIAMENTARIANS IN PAKISTAN

Page 1

1. Introduction

Pakistan is culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse. Economic and social class, tribe,

castes, clans further contribute to disparities in society. Culture, custom and tradition are

entrenched with patriarchal ideologies. Politically, Pakistan has seen much political instability,

since its independence in 1947. All these factors have negatively impacted in the flourishing of indigenous democratic practices and traditions, including mainstreamed participation of

women in politics and critical decision making processes.

In 2000, under General Musharraf, political and electoral reforms provided women structured opportunities to have their own independent political voices, by the reservation of

approximately 17% of seats for women in the senate, national and provincial assemblies, and

33% in local government. From 2000-2006, various initiatives lead by the Government,

bilateral, multilateral and civil society organizations have focused on improving the technical

skill and capacity of elected women to ensure both their qualitative and quantitative

involvement in political decision making. Since 2001, research and documentation has been

undertaken to document the performance of women in politics. Subsequently, since 2008, donor organizations have also supported women in politics by focusing on women’s wings of political

parties and strengthening the capacities of women parliamentarians.

After the 18th Amendment, (devolution of central power to the provinces) the relationship of provinces with the federal government is being redefined both administratively and

strategically across sectors. Respective roles of the provincial assemblies in terms of policy

formulation and legislation are also being revisited. Having a significant representation of

national and provincial parliamentary bodies, there is potential for women to have a strong voice in the political process from the district to the national level.

The Search for Common Ground’s (SFCG) project Strengthening Women Parliamentarians in

Pakistan for Effective Government aims to support current women parliamentarians

(provincial level) and aspiring women councilors (at local level) for effective leadership.

Through effective and transformative leadership training in political advocacy, coalition and

consensus building, SFCG and its partners will seek to strengthen women‘s voices to better represent the interests of their constituencies across Pakistan. Additionally, media

programming will work to shift attitudes toward women‘s participation in government and

create greater awareness of issues effecting women.

SFCG intends to support elected provincial women parliamentarians, aspiring local and

provincial women political workers by contributing to developing their capacity and skills to be

effective leaders and stakeholders. This report provides a baseline of information for training

needs of these women political workers for SFCG to design a project for the skill and capacity development of women parliamentarians.



Page 2

2. Project Overview

This study employs both primary and secondary research methods for the analysis of the

current situation of elected women representatives. The study had two major components. The

first component focused on assessing the capacity of elected women representatives at the

provincial and district levels, while also attempting to assess whether these representatives felt

they were empowered within their party platforms at the decision making level, leading to

increased potential leadership of women in the future. The second component of the study looks at the capacity and skill set of these elected women representatives in terms of

communication skills, perceptions of the term ‘conflict’ and their understanding and use of

various types of media. Training needs will be assessed from the data collected to contribute to

the development of trainings to hone communication skills, increased use of media and

understanding of relevant issues for elected women representatives to be effective and

communicative leaders.

The media has played an important role in the public projection of elected women

representatives and remains to be an effective integration tool. In this context, the efficacy and

effectiveness of trainers and training organization is also important, in order to gauge their

professional skill in terms of contextual understanding and delivery tools for communication.

2.1. Need Assessment Objectives

Specific objectives of the research include the:

1. Review of secondary data to provide an overview of the current status of provincial

women parliamentarians and female political worker’s involvement in decision making

process, with the type and level of their involvement. 2. Collection of primary data on the immediate leadership skills required for provincial

women parliamentarians and female political workers to play their role effectively.

3. Collection of primary data on the current skills of provincial women parliamentarians

and female political workers on dealing with issues on media. 4. Assess the current capacity of trainers/facilitators from national women’s organizations

to conduct trainings at provincial and district level to equip women parliamentarians

and female political workers with leadership, advocacy, skills, etc.

The following table lays out the landscape of specific tasks mode of primary and secondary

data collection.

Table 1

Specific Tasks Mode of Data Collection

Primary Secondary Interview FGD Provide overview of

current status of

provincial women

parliamentarians and

female political

worker’s

involvement in

decision making

process, with the

type and level of

their involvement

Findings of

UNDP projects

W3P, Women

Political Schools,

SDPD and GRAP

& NDI political

party training

programme



Page 3

Specific Tasks Mode of Data Collection

Primary Secondary Interview FGD Provide primary

information on the

immediate

leadership skills

required for

provincial women


female political

workers to play their

role effectively.

Structured

survey

focusing

elected women

at provincial

assemblies.

Ex-women

district

councilors

Through TR’s

network of

local focal

Organizations

Select sample by

drawing

reference from

2008 Election

Report of women

contested

constituencies

Consolidate

previous data to

co-relate with

current primary

data to arrive at

empirical

evidence

1. Naeem Mirza, CEO,

Aurat Foundation

2. Farzana Bari,

Director Gender

Studies Department,

Quaid-e-Azam

University

3. Fauzia Saeed, Ex

member NCSW

4. Musarrat Qadeem,

PAIMAN

5. Shahnaz Wazir Ali,

MNA

6. Shazia Abbasi,

Media Expert

7. Ijaz Haider,

Journalist

8. Daniyal Aziz, Ex-

Chairperson NRB

9. Marvi Sirmed,

Project Manger,

Strengthening

Parliamentary

Democracy

Programme (SDPD)

10. Sandra Houston,

Representative

National Democratic

Institute (NDI)

Provide primary

information on the

current skills of

provincial women


female political

workers on dealing

with issues on media

Provide information

on the current

capacity of

trainers/facilitators

from national women

organizations to

conduct trainings at

provincial and

district level to equip

women


female political

workers with

leadership, advocacy,

etc. skills

SFCG to share

data of partner

organizations.

Training

information to be

collected from

the NDI

SFCG to arrange

for / agree with

partner

organizations to

provide trainers

to hold a FGD in

Islamabad

Secondary data analysis was based on a broad literature review of past and current initiatives,

research, and projects concerning technical trainings and capacity building of women

politicians. A list of reviewed initiatives can be found at Annex -1. This analysis is incorporated

in the relevant section of the report.



Page 4

2.2. Methodology & Demographical Information

Primary data started with 11 key informant interviews, as indicated above. A Focus Group

Discussion (FGD) was held with the Master Trainers from SFCG’s training partner

organizations, to assess the capacity of the trainers, organization and how to improve focus and delivery of subsequent training both by SFCG and respective partner organizations to the

identified stakeholders. Data was collected for the Master Trainers (Annex-2) and their

respective organizations (Annex-3) through a structured questionnaire-This capacity

assessment and FGD analysis is incorporated in the relevant section of the report.

Next component of primary data collection comprised of structured surveys of elected women

representative at the district and Provincial level. The two questionnaires, for MPAs, and ex-

district councilors, were designed and developed by TR in consultation with SFCG. The

questionnaires aimed to illustrate the respondents understanding and level of involvement in

politics and the electoral process, and assess the level of their current capacities. The surveys

also focused on the respondents understanding of the role and utility of media. In addition, the survey intended to capture the respondents’ understanding around ongoing issues and

definitions of conflict in their respective provinces and districts. Lastly, the questionnaire

sought to bring to light the respondents’ perception and practices of how to handle media,

conflict and working of their respective house as elected women politicians.

a) Structured Survey of Elected Women MPAs: A questionnaire with 55 main questions and

461 sub variables was designed to collect information from provincial level women MPAs

across party lines. The sample was drawn from elected women both on direct and reserved seats. The total number of elected women in all four Provincial Assemblies is 139 (directly

elected on general seats 9 and on reserved seats 130) as illustrated in the following table

(Table 2). The structured data collection form is at Annex-4.

Table 2

2008 Party-Wise Women on Direct & Reserved Seats at Provincial Assemblies

Political

Parties

Punjab Sindh KPK Balochistan Total

DS RS DS RS DS RS DS RS Direct Reserved

PPPP 1 19 1 16 - 6 - 2 2 43

PML-N 5 30 - 0 - 2 - 0 5 32

PML-Q 1 16 - 2 - 1 1 4 2 23

ANP - 0 - 0 - 9 - 1 - 10

MQM - - - 9 - - - - - 9

PML-F - 1 - 2 - - - - - 3

MMA - - - - - 3 - 2 - 5

PPP-SP - - - - - 1 - 2 - 3

BNP-A - - - - - - - 2 - 2

Total 7 66 1 29 - 22 1 13 9 130

Out of this universe, a sample was selected to reach out to 9 directly elected women MPAs and

46 women MPAs elected on reserved seats. The survey team was able to collect data from 8

directly elected and 50 elected on reserve seats. The detailed list of MPAs interviewed is

attached in Annex-5. Following table 3 elaborates the distribution of sample size



Page 5

Table 3

Sample size of Women MPAs on Direct & Reserved Seats at Provincial Assemblies

Political

Parties

Punjab Sindh KPK Balochistan Total

DS RS DS RS DS RS DS RS Direct Reserved

PPPP 6 - 8 - 2 - 1 17

PML-N 6 8 - - - 1 - 0 6 09

PML-Q - 3 - 1 - 1 1 2 1 07

ANP - 0 - 0 - 4 - 1 - 5

MQM - - - 5 - - - - - 5

PML-F - 1 - 1 - - - - - 2

MMA - - - - - 1 - 1* - 2

PPP-SP - - - - - - - -

BNP-A - - - - - - - 2 - 2

Independent 1 1

Like Minded

Group 1 1

Total 7 18 - 15 - 09 1 8 8 50

* Jamat-e-Islami

b) Structured Survey of Ex-Women District Councilors: A questionnaire with 60 main

questions and 580 sub variables was designed to collect information from the respondents.

At district level the target was to collect data of 180 ex- local government councilors,

preferably at district level from 40 districts from all four provinces as shown in Table 4. The

last Local Government was suspended upon completion of its tenure in 2010 which was elected on the basis of 110 districts nation wide. Currently there are 133 districts in

Pakistan. In order to be consistent the sample universe for women district councilors was

taken as 110 out of which 40 district were identified for this base line that roughly covered

33% of the districts.

The selection criteria for identification of districts included conflict, disaster and political

sensitivities both in terms of its recent occurrence or future possibility. These are three times

which require the elected representatives to have effective leadership, get most of its

interaction with media and has in-house pressure at the elected and political party level to be

responsive. A balance between urban and rural districts was also maintained. Table-4

illustrates the sample size district wise distribution.

The data collection for district level was undertaken on a separate questionnaire that had 60

main questions with most divided into 2001 and 2005 tenure specific multiple layered

variables. Out of 200 targeted respondents 196 responses were received. The data collection form is placed at Annex-6.



Page 6

Table 4 Punjab Sindh Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Balochistan

Districts

Re

spo

nd

en

ts

Districts

Re

spo

nd

en

ts

Districts

Re

spo

nd

en

ts

Districts

Re

spo

nd

en

ts

Bhawalnagar 5 Badin 3 Abbottabad 5 Dera Bugti 4

Bahawalpur 4 Hyderabad 4 Peshawar 8 Kohlu 4

Muzaffargarh 4 Karachi 18 Kohat 5 Nasirabad 4

Multan 4 Benazirabad 5 D.I. Khan 5 Sibi 4

Rahimyar Khan 4 Sukkur 4 Lower Dir 5 Quetta 6

Dera Ghazi Khan 5 Jacobabad 3 Upper Dir 5 Loralai 3

Lahore 6 Larkana 4 Chitral 5 Killa Abdullah 4

Sialkot 5 Shikarpur 5 Swat 4 Khuzdar 5

Faisalabad 6 Tharparkar 4 Kharan 4

Jhnag 5 Gawadar 4

Chinniot 3 Turbat 5

Rawalpindi 6

57 50 42 47

Collection & Processing of Data: Trained teams of TR’s local focal organizations network

based in districts did the data collection that were given re-orientation to collect this data

through one on one sessions from TR. The questionnaires were first developed in English, then

translated to Urdu and then re-translated to English after completion from respondents. The

tabulation process included checking of questionnaire for completed and/or missing

information. After the first level of cleaning, the data was tabulated in to two separate

customized software programs, through double entry data process and further cleaned. The data was then imported into SPSS for the next level for co-relation of variables and data

assessment. The TR Team undertook quality control of data cleaning and processing to ensure

streamlined flow of information at all steps.

Format of the Report: The report consists of a broad overview of current and past training

initiatives for women politicians that relate to proposed SFCG work. The desk review included

substantial literature review that was guided by the key informant interviews to contextualize

and subsequently contribute to the design of the questionnaires for the MPAs and ex-district

councilors. Simultaneously, the FGD with SFCGs partner organizations, also enriched both, in

addition to focusing on needs and structure of future trainings for elected women

representatives.

The detailed data is presented in tables and graphs format. This data is presented in a simple

format so that SFCG may glean relevant data points to inform the design of their future

programming. This is annexed to the main report for clarity of utilization along with key findings for both district and provincial level respondents. Finally, the main report concludes

with a short conclusion and has indicated annexes.



Page 7

3. Women’s Involvement in Decision Making Processes

3.1. Women’s Involvement in Government

The following is an overview of select initiatives, which have focused on strengthening elected women representatives, from district to national level, in the process of decision making

processes.

Under the Constitution, Article 25, both men and women have equality of citizenship without any discrimination on the basis of sex. Article 27 further safeguards against discrimination in

services on the basis of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth. The Constitution

also allows for affirmative action for women by the State. Article 34 emphasizes on the full

participation of women in all spheres of national life. Whereas, article 32 of the Constitution

promotes local government institutions composed of elected representatives with special

representation to peasants, workers and women.

The history of politics and privileges for women in Pakistan has been checkered because the

political empowerment for them has been either (a) inherited – belonging to apolitical family

(b) acquired – having struggled as political activist (c) grabbed – being promoted and/or part of

a vested group like military and/or (d) legally dished out through reservation mechanism. Role of women in politics cannot be understood without drawing a reference to our constitutional

and electoral developments. The 1935 Government of India Act was the interim Constitution of

Pakistan which had reserved seats for women on the principle of female suffrage. The first

Constituent Assembly had only two women representatives and in 1954 no women was elected.

The Constitution of 1956 maintained female suffrage and had 15 women’s reserved seats. The

Constitution of 1956 was abolished in 1958. The Constitution of 1962 abolished female suffrage

and introduced reservation of seats for women i.e., 8 in the national assembly and 5 in each

provincial assembly. The Constitution Committee of 1972 had three women members. The

Constitution of 1973 maintained reservation to 10 seats for women at national level and 5 in

each provincial assembly that lapsed in 1988. Between 1988 and 2002, women’s representation

in assemblies was reduced to a negligible 3-4 seats who could manage an open seat with the

support of their strong political house hold. In 2002, electoral reforms increased reserved seats

to 60 at national and provincial level and 17 in Senate, which is maintained to date. Women’s

presence in mainstream politics remained weak but reservation maintained their political existence. Pakistan was the first country the in the Islamic world to have a female Prime

Minister and now a Speaker to National Assembly.

In March 2000, the Government of Pakistan issued the Local Governance Ordinance (LGO) to

initiate decentralization of power from national to local government. A thirty three per cent

quota for women at the District, Tehsil and Union councils was adopted, resulting in an

unprecedented number of almost 40,000 women councilors in Pakistan. With the devolution

process, this level of government was expected to have the most impact on people’s lives and

offered the greatest hope for social change. The basic question was how women could use this

critical mass to affect public policy, particularly policies affecting gender issues especially

related to poverty reduction, the biggest challenge in Pakistan and mainstream them selves in

political arena. The local government is under suspension since 2010 and respective provincial

assemblies are in the process of finalizing the provincial laws which will be the basis for the

next local government elections. The level of reservation for women is expected to be

maintained at 33%, however, the size of the Union Council may be reduced.



Page 8

In Pakistan’s political history, many events have led to change in its democratic discourses for

better or worse; one of them was the military coup of October 1999, which may have been

detrimental for the democratic journey of Pakistan, but proved to be a blessing in disguise for

women in Pakistan.

Pakistan ratified CEDAW and formally endorsed Platform of Actions, adopted at the 4th World

Conference for Women in Beijing in 1995. The GOP’s national commitments are stated through

its National Plan of Action (NPA) for women launched in 1999, which includes promoting

women’s political empowerment. Building on Pakistan’s international commitment and decades

long efforts of the civil society for empowerment of women, the National Commission on

Status of Women (NCSW) was established in 2000. The National Policy for the Development

and Empowerment of Women (NPDEW) launched in 2002, elaborated on the National Plan of

Action and focuses on the empowerment of Pakistani women, building on Articles 25 and 37 of the Constitution. The Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) was initiated in 2002 to translate

international commitments into national responses. The International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights (ICCPR) was also signed by the GOP in 2010.

Key informant interviews and literature review reveal that despite the increase in the

percentage of women’s seats, women’s political participation and representation continues to

be inadequate. The reasons can be assessed at different levels: at social level women and politics

remain a profession or priority for political elite than common person. Second, women as voters

are categorized as passive stakeholders having limited interest in politics and choice of vote

being influenced by the family or the trends set by the males in their tribe. All the interviewees

endorse that as political stakeholders; political parties as well maintain a step down and

categorized space for women members and reach out to women voters. Women Wings and

members are used for election canvassing and political campaigning yet their representation in

party’s decision-making forum is negligible.

Key informants and literature substantiate that after the year 2000, women’s political

participation has increased primarily due to Local government. It created more political space

for women. The Ministry of Women’s Development, international development partners and

national civil society organizations further have invested in comprehensive programs for

training of women councilors, focusing on capacity development, and their ability to formulate,

advocate and implement pro-poor and gender sensitive policies and strategies1 that resulted in

their political visibility and a step towards mainstreaming.

3.2. An Overview of Select Women and Leadership Initiatives

Key informant interviews were held with the civil society activists and team leads that

spearheaded women political support projects. Following is an overview of select initiatives,

which have focused on strengthening, elected women representatives, from district to national

level, in the process of decision-making processes. It brings out the gist from the interviews and

related project specific documentation review.

The electoral reform of 2000 translated into the Government of Pakistan to initiate the capacity

building initiatives for the women through the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) and

later complemented by the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD). The NRB, through national civil society organizations, provided orientation training to elected local

government councilors.

1 PRSP II, p206



Page 9

The Aurat Foundation, in the year 2001-2002, as part of a consortium, mobilized the national

public advocacy and out reach campaign that concluded into the training of elected women

councilors with the financial support of international development partners.

The Gender Reforms Action Plan (GRAP) was proposed as a national gender reform agenda to

align policies, structures and procedures for enabling the government to implement its national

and international commitments on gender equality. The reforms were designed within

contemporary development paradigms with women’s empowerment at its centre, and with a

view to enhancing the participation of women political participation. The GRAP focused on

the six strategic Ministries/Divisions (Finance, Labour, Information, Planning and Development,

Law, and Establishment Division) to support dedicated institutional mechanisms for gender

mainstreaming the sectoral policies and plans in addition to taking a number of affirmative

actions for women’s development and empowerment. GRAP as a concept could neither mature as an ostensible policy framework nor as a tool for the GOP, for its executing agency – the

MOWD; its stakeholders – its Federal Implementing Partners (FIP); its Implementer – GRAP; or

by donors. Lack of ownership, institutional weaknesses and disconnects, systemic gaps and PC-

1-based design flaws contributed to the closure of the program.

The Gender Support Programme (GSP), 2003-2010, was one of the pioneer programs for

gender mainstreaming, comprising of 11 projects, out of which 4 focused on women political

participation. They are:

1. Gender Based Governance systems project (GBG)

2. Women Political School (WPS)

3. Gender Mainstreaming and Institutional Strengthening:

4. Gender Justice through Musalihat Anjuman project (GJTMAP)

The GSP has contributed to a more open discourse on democratization and women’s human rights by keeping gender equality visible on the national agenda. GSP has provided extensive

capacity building at various levels of the government structure. It adopted mentoring and

nurturing approach where women learn from and enrich each other by sharing insights,

experiences, perspectives and skills. The programme has contributed to the training contents

and practices on gender integration for selected training institutes. Existing documentation as

well as interviews conducted confirms that this has in turn led to greater awareness about

gender issues among the civil servants and policy makers who have benefited from the variety

of training programs.

In the context of political participation, under the Women Political Participation Project

(W3P) the single greatest achievement was the capacity building of over 50,000 women councilors enabling them to contribute to gender sensitive public policy and its implementation.

The goal of the Women’s Political School (WPS), 2004-2007, WPS was to work towards the

attainment of gender equality in the political sphere by empowering women in public office so that their issues and concerns were raised in the policy agenda and were addressed through

public policy. This project provided elected women with a needs-based capacity building

program at the local government level to address the problem of poverty reduction at the local

level. Under the WPS project, capacity building trainings were given to more than 30,000 newly

elected women councilors at the District, Tehsil and Union Council levels. Over 12,000 Nazims

(Mayors) and Naib Nazims (Deputy Mayors) were also trained to facilitate gender sensitive

decision making. Additionally, a cohort of 500 master trainers was established and used by the

local government to conduct gender trainings for male councilors at the district level. Capacity

building for local government officers was given to ensure a gender sensitive lens when

addressing policy and programmatic issues. A training curriculum for women councilors was

adopted in major training and research institutions for government officers in all four



Page 10

provinces. The curriculum was reportedly used by other organizations involved in training

councilors as well.

The Gender Based Governance (GBG) Project focused on training of Nazims, Naib Nazims,

and women councilors, to enhance their capacity in local governance and gender sensitization.

Women councilors were capacitated to perform their roles effectively and meaningfully

participate in council sessions. The trainings were delivered through public sector/private

sector reputable institutes with the help of provincial Planning & Development Departments

and local government departments.

The GSP also contributed to the mobilization of 1050 Musalihati Anjumans (Alternative dispute

resolution mechanisms) under its project Gender Justice Through Musalihat Anjuman

Project (GJTMAP) offering alternative dispute resolution services at the community level for settlement of issues relating to violence, custody and inheritance. The GJTMAP aimed at

promoting non-formal community supported alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for

settlement of issues particularly relating to violence, custody and inheritance. All MAs included

elected women representatives in the committees as women feel more comfortable discussing

their issues with other women. Both male and female MA members were trained in dispute

resolution at the beginning of the project.

In addition, the UNDP’s Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development

(SPDP) in Pakistan assisted the Women Parliamentary Caucus in envisioning its strategic plan.

It focuses on Parliament to strengthen its oversight and other constitutional functions more

efficiently especially for the two secretariats. It also provides them an opportunity to link with

CSOs focusing on the advocacy role.

National Democratic Institute (NDI) initiated the Supporting Women’s Participation in

Political Parties component of the Party Strengthening Program in November 2008. The program objective was to assist women in parties to create sustainable change to strengthen

women’s participation in political parties. The program provided support to women’s wings,

assistance in developing plans to advocate for more representation within party decision-

making bodies, as well as policy and election platform development. NDI, working with the

women’s wings formed a multi-party steering committee, with two members of each party’s

women’s wing, to design the program and recruit participants. The steering committee

concluded that the new program should focus on:

• Strengthening the organization and structure of women’s wings to assist them in playing

a greater role in their parties and;

• Increasing women's representation on decision-making bodies of the parties.

Its key activities since 2008 included National Action Plan, December 2008, focused on 90 representatives from the women’s wings of five participating political parties to prepare a draft

National Action Plan (NAP). Single Party Workshops and review meetings were organized with

participants from all four provinces, including the National Capital, to review progress on

implementation of the NAP. NDI also assisted each party in developing a set of Rules and Regulations appropriate for their party, assisted in having the rules reviewed for consistency

with the party by-laws and helped the women’s wings develop advocacy plan to promote the

approval of the rules by the party’s senior leadership.

To increase the women’s representation in the decision-making bodies of the mother party, an

assessment of women’s representation on the party’s decision-making bodies was undertaken

that called for a minimum quota of 30% female participation on these bodies. NDI, in 2010, conducted a multiparty training workshop with 55 women from four parties: ANP, PML-Q, PML-



Page 11

N and PPP focusing knowledge about fundraising and tools to budget wing expenses besides

holding policy development workshops.

In 2011, a two day multi party workshop was conducted to help participants develop basic

internal and external communications skills. The workshop covered the fundamentals of

positioning, message development, and message delivery, getting attention for a message,

ensuring activists speak with one voice “on message” and developing communications plans. In

2012, NDI will conduct a workshop for women’s wing participants to learn the basics of

election campaign preparations including building a team, conducting outreach to voters,

fundraising, delivering a message and gaining support for a party and candidate.

Apart from the initiatives mentioned above, at the civil society level, organizations such as the

Aurat Foundation, Pattan, Savera, SUNGI, SAP-PK, SPO, FAFEN, and PAIMAN, among others, worked to orient women to their elected offices and duties. However, many of these

trainings were conducted without proper needs assessments and more on the basis of the

perceived needs of women elected officials.



Page 12

4. Media and Leadership Trainings

The SFCG has identified three organizations to be their project partners: Insan Foundation

Trust (IFT), UKS Resources and PAIMAN Alumni Trust. TR designed the Organizational and

Master Trainers Capacity Assessment Forms to capture the need, learning and expectation from

their personal and organizational perspectives to assess how the same can be effectively put to

use for SFCG projects. The respective Master Trainers completed data forms which can be

found in Annex 2. PAIMAN has not filled their Master Trainer forms therefore the data has been

generated on the basis of their available CVs. Similarly, structured questionnaires were

circulated to the SFCG partners for organizational data-set. Completed forms can be found in

Annex 3.

4.1. Capacity Assessment of Partner Training Organizations

IFT, PAIMAN and UKS have been working since 1990, 1997 and 2004 respectively, with nation-

wide coverage (except for UKS which doesn’t cover Gilgit-Baltistan and FATA). Trainings have

been part of their organization’s’ focus from their inception, except for IFT, which started conducting trainings in 1998.The areas of work for each of the organization are tabulated

below:

Organizations Preferred Subject / Sector of Work

Insan Foundation Trust

� Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

� Child Development and Youth Leadership for peace

� Social and cultural development

� Human centered governance

UKS

� Women's positive portrayal in the media

� Women's issues

� Women's achievements and success stories

PAIMAN

� Governance and Democracy

� Gender and Development

� Health and Education

� Peace building and Conflict Transformation

� Human and Institutional Development

� Livelihood and Enterprise Development

� Disaster and crises Management

� Community Infrastructure Development

IFT has 3 in-house trainers and 6 in their associates’ pool. UKS similarly has 3 in-house trainers

and 10 trainers in their associates’ pool. This information is not available for PAIMAN. All in-house trainers have the capacity to be master trainers. All three organizations follow a regular

regime of having technical orientation for its trainers including focused sessions before specific

trainings. Trainers also receive refresher trainings and subject specific trainings, both in-house

and externally, in all three organizations. The following table illustrates the range of trainings

conducted by the partner organization, on various subjects, during the last two years along with

its beneficiaries.



Page 13

Partner No. of Training Trainees Level Subject

IFT

5

University

Students &

Teachers

Provincial Peace, ethnic & Religious

Diversity, Media Analysis

8 NGOs

&Teachers National

Security Mapping, Peace,

Democracy, Protection

6 NGOs & Media

Personnel National 3 Ps

1

University

Students &

Teachers

Provincial

Media for rights of

religious minorities and

women: technical and

conceptual training

UKS

Structured/customized

training have been

conducted

Women

Journalists Senior Journalists

CIPE 3-Day Training on

Economic Reporting-

University

Students Beginners NED - Media Literacy-

Media Persons

Journalists

Lawyers

Advanced

CARE - Media Trainings

for Promoting Human

Rights and Fundamental

Freedoms-

Radio

Producers Senior level

SFCG - ToT on Peace

building and conflict

resolution

University

Students Beginner

DANIDA - More Women

in Media

Students Beginner UNFPA - Gender Based

Violence

PAIMAN

Peace Building &

Conflict Transformation � Local

Stakeholders

� Village

Committee

Members

� Duty Bearers

� Vulnerable

� Youth Peace

Groups

� Women, Girls

and Mothers

Students-

- -

Gender Based Violence - -

Advocacy on

Governance Issues - -

Disaster & Crisis

Management - -

Mine Risk Education - -

Women Moderating

Extremism - -

Livelihood and

Enterprise

Development

- -

Health & Education - -

PAIMAN has trained both male and female elected representatives on national, provincial and

district levels, whereas IFT has focused on provincial and district levels. UKS has not

previously trained elected representatives.

In the experience of IFT and PAIMAN, elected representatives are more receptive towards

structured training format. Ideally such trainings in their experience have to be held outside

the resident station and at least for 3 day duration. UKS on the other hand informed that a FGD

of 2 hours or seminar may have more receptivity by the elected representatives.

All the partner organizations have different experiences when it comes to feed back, and

comments collection processes. In PAIMAN’s experience, informal feedback works better; for

UKS informal and written surveys serve better; whereas in IFT’s experience in addition to the

previous two approaches, capturing discussions in between the sessions through placards, flip

charts, etc. is also helpful.



Page 14

The partner organizations were requested to elaborate on the preferred format of their training

design. UKS prefers to follow a structured training approach with customized modules and

delivery patterns, which have an in-built flow to lead on to each targeted sub-subject, including

its own set of examples and question and answer sessions. For FGDs, their preferred approach is

to have set sessions and sub-group formation, interactive and ending with group work

presentation. PAIMAN follows the structured approach as well, as described above. For IFT, it

depends upon the group of trainees and availability of time. They prefer set objectives and

methodologies on the basis of which training material is developed.

Both PAIMAN and UKS informed that they have undertaken research on the subject of women in

politics, women in media; women and IDPs; and women in conflict and peace building. However,

IFT elaborates more on their research portfolio as shown in the following table.

TRAININGS

Partners Women &Politics Women & Media

Role of Women in

Conflict & Peace

building Processes

Women & IDP

IFT Gender Analysis of

Parliament,

constitution and

manifestos of

political parties

KAP Survey is in

process on women

and peace - 25

districts

2 year analysis of

parliament business

on rights

KAP on Perspective of

Communities on

Peace, Democracy

and Rights-Peshawar

and Mansehra

Environmental

Scanning: Gender

Sensitivity in

Government

Employment Sector

UKS Yes Yes Yes (in-house) Yes (in-house)

PAIMAN Yes - Yes Yes

4.2. Media & Women Leadership Trainings: Potential, Focus & Strengthening

A comprehensive FGD was held with the SFCG partner organizations UKS, Insan Foundation

Trust and PAIMAN. The list of participants can be found in Annex 7. TR developed information

collection questionnaires that were shared in advance with SFCG’s partner organizations, as elaborated in the section above. These questionnaires were meant to ascertain the training

capacity of the trainer and related organizational profile. Information gathered through UKS and

Insan Foundation’s questionnaires is enclosed as raw data. Information from PAIMAN is

pending. The FGD was an intense interactive session that could broadly be divided into two

parts, as follows:

Part 1: What is important in a training package?

(a) Capacity of trainer: The demand for a trainer to be a subject specialist is dependent on

the subject of training and target group of trainees. For others, general understanding

and related work experience coupled with short term subject training helps better equip a master trainer. A trainer is also expected to perform the role of a facilitator as well in

most cases. However a trainer must have the following: (i) knowledge base & skill set

(ii) inter and intra personal skills (iii) communication skills (iv) ability to comprehend



Page 15

and decipher sensitivities and level of target group and (v) personal and professional

credibility of the trainer, in case of politicians and media trainings

(b) Designing of training and mode of execution of training: The designing is directly

dependent on the target group which is generally done on the basis of past experiences

of trainers and organizations. The first important thing is content development coupled

with linguistic presentation. The trainers’ compatibility with training content is of

importance to enable his effectiveness and increase receptivity of training. Mode of

training for target group like media & politicians is largely interactive and semi

structured that dispel the air of ‘one being taught’. The most important things while

designing a training are (i) know your target group and its dynamics (ii) content

development (iii) selection of correct mix of presentation skills to deliver training (iv) be

aware of professional and ethnic sensitivities of the group and (v) interactive.

(c) Logistics and venue of trainings: For politicians and media personnel its important to

have ‘power add-ons’ like an upscale venue, appropriate setting of room to give training

recipients an equal feeling for seating, structured duration and selection of a cohesive

group. Both these groups prefer to be out station. The nature of their work makes them

more responsive to training when taken out of their regular setting. Target group

dynamics must be given due priority from designing to norm setting on the training day;

this includes the dress code, appearance and conduct of trainer – which can either

become a barrier to reaching the target audience, or actually facilitate the effectiveness

of a trainer.

(d) Language of training: Language is an important tool. The national language is usually

better received than English as per the experience of the partners. Secondly, if the target

is to have increased retention and participation of the group, trainings need to be in

local/ provincial language, resulting in increased acceptability. This would also require that material for dissemination also be shared in the national/local language, for

optimum effectiveness.

(e) Target group/ trainees: The target group is the crux of the training as it determines

the quality of trainer, need of its subject specialization and profile of trainer.

Customization of training, therefore, becomes very important. For both politicians and

media at the district level, trainings would require longer durations (at least 2 days), as

well as a structured format in order to provide more exposure and information on the

subject. Whereas at the provincial level, appropriate tools for trainings would include

semi-structured FGD approaches along with strong facilitation and communication skills

of a trainer. The duration of training at the provincial level is ideally one day, which practically gets only 3 hours productive out put.

Part 2: Understanding of the Subject

Topics of training identified by the SFCG were shared with the participants. Appreciative of the

master training, partners were very wary of the long duration and heavy content packaging for

the upcoming training.

The partners were of the view that the topics on which they will be required to engage with

politicians and media should be multi-dimensional in nature, needing careful and crafted

handling. Trainings will need customization from province to province as topics like Conflict

Resolution / Moderate Approaches for example, Common Ground Approach to Peace

Building, Conflict Styles, Interest Based Negotiation/Advocacy, Collaborative Decision Making

and Consensus Building, Building Effective Issues-based Caucuses; Media for example, Common



Page 16

Ground Approach to the Media, Message Development and Delivery, Reaching Out to the Media,

Defining Success, Better Practices in Effective Use of the Media and Crafting Media Messages.

The above subjects need simplification of understanding, contextualization of the terms with

regards to provincial and district levels as well as attention to the independent and dependent

variables attached to them. In addition, attention must also be paid to categorization and

construct of subject and their related impact and effect on provincial and district level.

The partner trainers were of the view that the potential target group dynamics are such that

designing and imparting training on these subjects require careful handling that may also

require over all programme flexibility as well. This is for the reason that the current potential

group of female politicians at provincial level is due for turn over that may occur in the mid-life

of the project. This will have consequent impact on the overall program outcome, which requires identification and strengthening of political change agents.

Furthermore, June 2012 onwards is an election campaign year. This impacts the time and

interest of potential trainees as well as their receptivity to accept any concepts that may not be a

priority for their party. Moreover, strengthening of democratic norms is the basic entry point

for effective women political leadership that requires relationship building on time series basis

as one day training will not yield any impact and the desired retention effect will also is limited.

In addition, each province has different dynamics and interpretation on the key topics of

training both for and by media and female politicians. A selection year gets rolling conflict, e.g.,

would generically be taken as provincial autonomy, clash of institutions and civil military

relation, etc.

After sharing experiences of earlier related programs, the participants were of the view that

selection of target group should be done from the women’s wing of political party, which is a designated nursery, and house both provincial and district level elected members as well as

party workers and activists, with potential to be mainstreamed. This was more so for the reason

that sitting reserved seats MPA’s likelihood of being back into assembly can not be estimated

more that 50%.

Key recommendations from the FGD with partner organizations include encouraging SFCG to

support program flexibility to allow selection of potential target group from the women’s wing

of political parties that can be trained over a period of a year on the said topics by packaging

them in to small bites. Partners expressed their concern that one day and rigid or limited time

durations, will have limiting results. Addressing this by allowing for flexibility in trainings will

result in relationship building that can be an entry point for range of subjects.



Page 17

5. Media and Effective Political Leadership Skills: Current Status

5.1. Provincial Women MPAs

A comprehensive survey of 58 women MPAs was undertaken at the provincial level. Of these, 8 were directly elected, and 50 elected on reserved seats. The survey consisted of 55 questions

and aimed to collect information about women representatives, as well as of their

understanding of ‘leadership’, ‘media’, and ‘conflict’.

Of the 58 respondent women MPAs, about 48% hold Masters Degrees, 31% hold Bachelor’s

degrees and about 10% are lawyers and another 10% are medical doctors. Approximately

69% of women MPAs identified themselves as professionals, while 31% identified themselves

as homemakers. Of those who responded as professionals, almost 90% are still working. Of

those respondents still working, almost 19% are business women, and almost 19% are social

workers. Other professions identified are doctors, lawyers, and teachers, at 14% each.

About 29% of total respondents held positions at the district or tehsil levels prior to becoming

MPAs, while almost 71% did not. Out of those 29%, approximately 59% were councilors in 2001

and 2005 both. Whereas, almost 24% were councilors only in 2001 and about 18% were

councilors in only 2005.

About 86% hold reserved seats while about 14% are members of the Assembly on a general

seat. Almost 91% of the MPAs indicated that this was their first term. Of the almost 9% who

had served before, 60% had served one term before and 40% had served 2 terms before. About 41% of the respondents have served as Members of Standing Committees, almost 9% as

Ministers, about 3% as Chairperson of a Standing Committee, and another 3% as a

Chairperson of a Task Force.

The majority of the respondents, almost 95%, said they were registered with a political party.

About 31% of these respondents said they were registered with the PPP, another 29% with the

PML-N, 9% with the PML-Q, almost 9% with the MQM, almost 9% with the Awami National

Party and about 4% with the JUI-F. Ninety eight per cent of respondents said they were still

with the same parties that they started their political careers with.

When asked what the main reason for entering politics was, almost 65% said it was self-motivated, whereas 28% said because of a family seat, and another 7% said because of an in-

laws seat.

Almost 45% of MPAs surveyed felt that the Women’s Wings of their party was not represented

at the party’s decision making level.

Of the 58 MPAs, almost 74% stated that they received no political or related trainings before

entering politics. However, 85% indicated that they received trainings after being elected,

mostly by NGOs. However, almost 67% MPAs did not indicate the type of trainings they

received.

Almost 64% MPAs indicated that they did not have decision making powers. Only 36% MPAs

felt that they had decision making powers, of which 67% said at the Assembly level, 24% said in

the Government, and about 10% said in their party. When asked which issues were most

important, 26% said raising women’s issues, 10% said budgetary matters, and 7% said supporting issues important to their party’s agenda.



Page 18

With regards to feeling satisfied in their roles, about 60% were satisfied in their roles in the

Assembly, 35% with their role in their political party, and 29% were satisfied in their roles in

the Government.

At the provincial level, respondents indicated that among important issues raised within their

party were issues about women, introducing and amending legislature, supporting policy

stances, and influencing policy debates.

According to the survey, the best practice for building consensus on issues was by lobbying

among male and female members, followed by decisions by the central leadership, and

lobbying at the Central Executive Committee level and lobbying at the Provincial Executive

Committee level.

About 57% respondents said there was no cross party women’s caucus in their provincial

assembly, while 43% said there was. About 62% are not members of the women’s caucus. Of

the MPAs who did belong to a caucus (38%), stated that consensus was built within the caucus

by either networking with other members, or by lobbying with the chairperson. About 10%

agreed that the caucus pursues issues on the floor by building cross party alliances, and almost

9% said by networking among party members. The majority of respondents, at 52%, felt that

these were effective strategies.

Approximately 82% of respondents felt they needed further trainings to become effective

elected members. Almost three quarters of the respondents, at 72% said they intended to

contest the upcoming elections, out which 71% are on reserved seats and almost 29% on

general seats. Sixty per cent are certain of being nominated again for the next elections. Of the

40% that said they were uncertain of their re-nomination, 90% said they would lobby with the

provincial leadership, federal leadership, or leadership of the women’s wing, to be nominated

again.

A majority of the respondent women MPAs, 35% did not answer the question of what they hope

to accomplish as politicians. About 31% respondents want to accomplish the task of ‘solving

people’s problems’ followed by ‘work for women rights & problems’ at 17%, ‘transparency of

system and eradication of poverty’ at 9 %, ‘bring change in society’ jointly with ‘legislation for

the benefit of people’ at 4% and ‘create political awareness’ at 2%.

Media

When asked about what comes to mind when they hear the word ‘media’, about 24% of

respondents said TV, 22% said newspapers, 12% said radio, and 10% each said magazine, internet or social media. Forty per cent respondents stated newspaper was the most

important type of media, followed by 30% saying TV and about 36% saying all media was

important. As far as public opinion is concerned, almost 45% respondents felt that newspaper

and TV had the greatest impact. About 55% of respondents stated that they interacted with newspapers, 30% with TV, and 26% with radio. Most respondents, about 81%, indicated that

their mode of interaction with the media was TV talk shows, while another 19% said it was

with radio talk shows.

A majority of the MPA respondents, at 93% indicated they read newspapers regularly. About

50% of respondents read DAWN and 24% read the NEWS, followed by DAILY TIMES and THE

NATION at 13% each. JANG and the DAILY EXPRESS were shown to be the most popular Urdu

newspapers at 48% and 30% respectively, followed by NAWA-E-WAQT at 24%.

Almost 69% of respondents said they didn’t listen to the radio. Of the 30% who said yes, about

11% listed frequently, about 50% listened occasionally, 39% rarely. The most popular stations



Page 19

were indicated as FM101, Radio Pakistan, FM 99, FM89 and FM 104. About 67% of

respondents listened to music on the radio, whereas, about 28% listened to talk shows. Of the

58 respondents, 91% stated that they watch TV, of which 79% watch it frequently. The most

popular TV station is GEO NEWS, followed by EXPRESS, and DUNYA. About 47% respondents

watch TV dramas, 38% watch films, and 32% watch TV talk shows. Only about 28% indicated

they watched the news on TV. The most watched talk shows are Capital Talk at 49%, Apas ki

Baat, at 28% and Lakin at 24%, all on GEO TV.

About 71% of the respondents said they used the internet while 29% said they did not. Of those

who do use the internet, about 66% use it to surf the web, about 46% use it for social

networking, and approximately 93% respondents from all four provinces use e-mail. Only

about 15% women MPAs use blogs frequently, occasionally, or rarely. Only about 20% MPAs

get their news from the internet.

At the political party level, 57% of the respondents said that all media is used by their party,

while 29% stated newspapers. Only about 9% indicated the use of radio. Women MPAs

represented their parties as panelists in newspapers, at 52%, TV talk shows at 33% and radio

talk shows at 10%.

Conflict

About 41% of the respondents, perceived the meaning of the word ‘conflict’ to be

war/fight/quarreling’, 20% as ‘difference of opinion/disagreement/misunderstanding’, 17% as

conflict is meant conflict’, and almost 9% said ‘don’t know’. Almost 12% did not respond to the

question.

Out of the sample of 58 women MPAs, almost 71% said that conflict can be categorized at

different levels. A majority of the respondents (74%) are of the view that conflict is highest at the provincial level, followed by constituency (69%), district (67%) and at the national level

(62%). At the national level, about 72% of the respondents perceive conflict as external,

followed by 62% as political, 53% as religious, 45% as economic, and 31% as social. At the

district level 45% of respondents perceived conflict as ‘social’, followed by ‘political’ and

‘religious’ each at 40%’, ‘economic’ at 26% and ‘external’ at 21%. At the constituency level 67%

of respondents perceived conflict as ‘social’ followed by ‘religious’ at 36%, ‘economic’ at 35%,

‘political’ at 31% and ‘external’ at 21%.

Out of the sample of 58 women MPAs, from all the four provinces women said that collective

political discourse is the best way to address conflict at national and provincial level by 72%

and 45% respectively. Indigenous solutions cultivated by local politicians as a preferred method of dealing with conflict was agreed to be appropriate at the district level 52% respondents. For

constituency level conflict resolution, about 48% women MPAs felt that conflict was best

resolved through local stakeholders to ensure indigenous solutions.

Almost 77% of respondents agreed that elected women have role in peace building, followed by

crisis prevention with 67%, consensus building with 66% and conflict resolution with 62%.

Approximately 62% of respondents said that women are involved in the functioning of

government or assembly. About 39% said that they were involved or interested in legislation,

followed by 31% stating they had equal participation in house, and 28% each said that they

integrated women’s issues across board and as well as raised women issues on floor.

When asked if they felt discriminated against, 76% said they felt discriminated against on the

allocation of development funds, 72% felt discriminated against on the allocation of



Page 20

governmental roles and responsibilities and 69% said they felt discrimination in terms of equal

participation in in-house proceedings.

The respondents identified the following as obstacles that prevented them from being effective

politicians: lack of knowledge of legislative drafting as the top obstacle for elected women at

16%, followed by lack of leadership skills at 14%, and discrimination and lack of self confidence

both at 10% each.

Leadership

According to almost 90% of the respondents, trainings for elected women representatives

for effective political participation should be given to members of the women’s wings.

Eighty eight per cent felt that these trainings would be beneficial for elected women representatives, while 85% felt that these trainings would also benefit potential candidates.

When asked about what topics should be covered in trainings, almost 91% responded ‘gender

budgeting’, followed by ‘drafting legislation’ (86)%, ‘being an effective female political

leader’ and ‘dealing with media’ both (about 83% each).

Of the 58 respondents, approximately 55% of respondents agreed that male politicians play a

role in supporting the political mainstreaming of women. A majority of respondents (86%)

supported including Good Governance Modules in the leadership training program. When asked

about their perceptions of good governance, respondents stated the following characteristics

as priority: ‘transparency’ (24%), ’protection of human rights’ and ‘legitimacy’ (22% each),

‘equitable and inclusive’, ‘following the rule of law’ and ‘competence’ (effective

policymaking)’ (12% each).

5.2. District Women Councilors

A comprehensive survey of 196 women who had been councilors in the past was undertaken in

at the local government level. The survey consisted of 60 questions, aimed to collect

information about women representatives, as well as of their understanding of ‘leadership’,

‘media’, and ‘conflict’.

Profile of Respondents

The average age of the respondents from all 4 provinces was 42 years. Nationally, 60% of respondent MPAs were either Matriculated or below, and 40% hold Bachelor’s degrees or

higher. Of the 196 respondents, approximately 69% started their political career in 2001 and

31% started their careers in 2005.

In 2001, Balochistan had the highest number of elected women representatives at the district

level, with Punjab having the highest number of women joining at the tehsil and union levels. A

higher percentage of women from Punjab, KPK and Balochistan contested for general seats, while more women contested for reserved seats from Sindh. Both in 2001 and 2005, the

majority of respondents served as members of different LG committees, and none were at

decision making levels such as, Nazim or Naib Nazim. Most of the respondents served as

members of the committee.

Out of 136 women district councilors who started their career as councilors in 2001,

approximately 52% were professionals, and 49% homemakers. Out of 60 women district

councilors who started their career as councilors in 2005, about 53% stated they were professionals and about 47% said they were homemakers, with no previous professional



Page 21

experience. Approximately 97% women councilors that started their career as councilor in

2001 and 2005 are still working.

Of the women representatives elected in 2001, who stated they were professionals, the majority

of respondents from Punjab, KP and Balochistan, stated their occupation to be social worker,

while from Sindh, the majority of respondent were doctors and lawyers. Whereas for 2005,

most respondents said they worked as social workers.

Most of the women elected in 2001, at 63%, stated that the most important reason for entering

politics was self-motivation, and 55% of those elected in 2005 said the same. The second

most popular reason for joining politics was contesting on a family seat.

About 80% of all respondents entering politics in 2001 stated they received some form of training. Of respondents entering politics in 2005, 25% from Punjab said that they have

received training, whereas respondents from Balochistan said they did not receive any training.

The majority of trainings for women representatives were conducted by NGOs, at 484 trainings

pre and post election 2001, and 282 trainings pre and post election 2005. The majority of

respondents, entering 2001 and 2005, said that trainings focused on effective leadership,

writing and presenting bills and resolutions, and budgetary matters.

Approximately 68% of all respondents from both 20012 and 2005 said they attended council

meetings regularly. Almost all respondents elected in 2001, about 96 percent stated that they

themselves attended meetings, rather than a male family member attending in their place. Of

women elected in 2005, 75% of the respondents chose not to answer the question. Of women

elected in 2001, 63.2% said they felt they were able to speak at and participate in meetings.

For women elected in the year 2001, 28% claimed they were always able to obtain and utilize funds, with 29% saying mostly, and another 27% saying rarely and almost 16% said never. In

contrast, 18% women elected in 2005 said that they were always able to obtain and utilize

funds, 23% said mostly, 35% said rarely and 23% said never.

Approximately 54% of all respondents said they were satisfied with their respective roles in

the councils. Twenty three per cent of women elected in 2001 stated they moved resolutions

individually and 41% said they moved resolutions collectively. Almost 35% said they didn’t

move resolutions at all. Whereas in 2005, only 10% said they moved resolutions individually,

almost 52% collectively, and 35% said never. From those elected in 2001, 14% stated they felt

they had decision making powers in an individual capacity, while 44% said they felt they had

some decision making powers within a group. Thirty eight per cent said they felt they had no decision making powers. Almost the same trend followed with women elected in 2005, with

15% stating some level of individual decision making, 50% collective decision making, and 32%

saying they felt they had no decision making powers. Out of the 79 women councilors in 2001

who collectively or individually have decision-making powers3 almost 39% said women’s issues and 20% said budgetary matters were crucial.

About 53% of the respondents were of the opinion that lobbying with Nazim was the most

common practice for building consensus, while about 43% felt that networking with other

female members was the most effective way to build consensus.

2 Refer to Table2a

3 Refer to Table 17a-1; in 2001



Page 22

The majority of respondents, almost 91%, identified the need for training in some specific skills

to be more effective elected members. Among the top areas for trainings needed were

advocacy, strengthening understanding of political concepts, and legislation development.

Out of the total sample of 196 women district councilors, almost 45% did not intend to contest

elections as an MPA in the future. Almost 26% said they would contest elections on a reserved

seat, with almost 20% saying that they would not contest at all. Of the 196 respondents, almost

40% said they were not interested in contesting elections at the local level.

Almost 59% of the 196 respondents said they were registered with a political party, whereas

41% said they were not registered with a political party. Of those registered with political

parties, 32% were registered with the PPP, 19% with the PML-N and 17% with the PML-Q, 7%

with the MQM, 7% with PTI. Almost 4% were registered with the JUI, Jamat Islami, and the BNP-A respectively. Almost 3% said they were registered with the ANP. Most of the

respondents did not change party affiliations since the start of their careers. Out of the total 196

respondents 72.4% said that they do not hold a party position. At the local government level,

almost 10% said they were President of their party, 6% General Secretary, and almost 7% said

they were President of the Women’s Wing of the Party.

Almost 55% said that the Women’s Wing within their parties was active on the local

government level, with 55% them saying that meetings were held when required. Furthermore,

52% are of the opinion that it has decision making cadre at district level.

Respondents indicated that the within the women’s wings of their parties, priority was given to

women’s issues, supporting their party’s resolutions, and networking amongst other

members. Respondents were of the opinion that mostly the issues were raised by female

members of their women’s wings meetings, individually or at the recommendation of a male

district level party leader. Furthermore, the most pursued practice of consensus building on any issues is through lobbying with district women wing leadership was identified by 23% and

lobbying with male members by almost 14%.

Media

When asked about their perception of media, of the total respondents, almost 60% said

newspapers, and almost 58% said TV, 16% said radio, and almost 8% said internet or social

media. Almost 58% viewed TV as the most important form of media, with 47% saying

newspapers were the most important. Almost 48% felt that messages given through

newspapers and TV combined had the most influence on the public. Similarly, for raising

political awareness in the public, most of the respondents felt that TV and newspapers had the most potential to influence public opinion.

Almost 36% of all respondents said they interact with newspapers and almost 5% said they

interacted with the media through the internet. Almost 41% said they took part in TV talk shows, with almost 35% claiming that their interaction involved writing in through

newspapers. Almost 15% said they interacted with the media through radio talk shows.

Almost 80% of respondents said they read newspapers either regularly or occasionally, mostly

in Urdu (57%) and in Urdu and English (34%). English newspaper readership was indicated at

only about 8%.

Of English newspapers, DAWN, the NATION, and the NEWS were the most widely read by

respondents. Whereas of the Urdu newspapers, JANG, DAILY EXPRESS and NAWA-E-WAQT

were most widely read. Most of the respondents stated that they did not listen to the radio

(56%), while 44% did. The most popular radio station amongst the respondents was Radio



Page 23

Pakistan at 57%, while 19, 25 and 12 per cent listened to FM 89, FM 99 and FM 101

respectively. About 41% of them said the listened mostly to talk shows. About 54% of

respondents said they watched TV while 46% said they did not. Respondents ranked GEO

NEWS, as the top channel for news, followed by EXPRESS and ARY.

The majority of all respondents, 76%, said that they did not use the internet. Of those who

answered yes, 19% surf the web occasionally, and 15%, frequently. Approximately 63% of

respondents who use the internet from all four provinces frequently use e-mail. Of the

respondents, almost 40% access news on the internet.

The respondents from all four provinces stated that their party uses newspapers and TV as their

main form of media to interact with the public. However, almost 72% said that they had never

represented their political party (i.e., as a panelist on a poltical talk show).

Conflict

When asked about their perception or understanding of the term ‘conflict’, almost 43% of the

respondents did not answer. Almost 10% of respondents perceive conflict to mean ‘difference

of opinion/misunderstanding’, while about another 10% perceived the term to mean

‘differences on the basis of social, political, cultural, economic and religious’ and

‘problems, quarreling or fighting’, for about 7% of respondents, conflict denotes

‘disagreement between two parties or individuals’, while about 5% perceived it as a social

problem. Almost 85% of respondents from all four provinces have categorized it as ‘social’,

followed by ‘religious’ at 77%, ‘political’ at 75%, ‘economic’ at 60% and ‘external’ at 51%.

The majority of the respondents (70%) agree that conflict can be at different levels. Women

representatives from Punjab and Sindh saw conflict at a national level, whereas KPK defined

conflict at the district level, and Balochistan at the constituency level.

In terms of addressing issues of conflict at the national level, almost 57% of respondents have

identified collective political discourse as a preferred method. Almost 23% identified

engaging religious groups. At provincial level, almost 33% respondents have also identified

collective political discourse as their preferred method to address conflict, followed by engaging

religious groups at about 21%.

At the district level, almost 32% of respondents have identified indigenous solutions

cultivated by local politicians as the measure to address conflict, followed by about 27%

stating indigenous solutions by local stakeholders and 24% indicating that collective

political discourse was the best way to address issues of conflict. Similarly at the constituency

level, about 32% respondents have also identified local stakeholders to cultivate indigenous solutions as the measure to address conflict followed by local politicians to cultivate indigenous

solutions at 26.5%.

In terms of conflict resolution, according to about 43% of respondents, elected women representatives do not play a role in conflict resolution, while almost 30% did not respond to

the question. In contrast, about 44% of respondents felt that women representatives could play

a role in peace building initiatives. Another 40% felt that women representatives could assist

in crisis prevention. However, 36% respondents felt that women representatives could not

assist in consensus building.

Leadership

About 73% of the respondents are of the view that women are an integral part of effective

functioning, while 27% did not feel that women play an effective role.



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Moreover, 58% of the respondents are of the opinion that elected women representatives have

a responsibility towards representing women’s perspectives, while paying attention to

women’s rights. About 46 % felt that women representatives should highlight women’s issues;

another 39% felt that women representatives should have equal participation in meetings and

almost 33% of respondents felt that formulating laws for women’s rights.

The majority of respondents at 73% feel that elected women representatives are discriminated

in council meetings, while 27% of respondents felt that there was no discrimination against

women members. On the matter of ‘equality in business matters of council’ 41% respondents

felt that they were discriminated against while 44 % did not feel there was any discrimination.

About 49% of respondents did not feel that they had an equal share in power. About 49% of

respondents felt that they did not have an equal share in the development budget.

Approximately 34% of respondents identified lack of leadership qualities as the primary

obstacle in preventing women representatives from being effective leaders, followed by about

22% stating lack of political awareness, and about 20% stating lack of self determination as

subsequent reasons.

According to the survey, 81% of women representatives identified a need for trainings focused

on effective political participation for potential women candidates, about 69% for elected

women, and about 65% for women representatives of the women’s wing. Furthermore,

respondents stated either ‘interested’ or ‘very interested’ in trainings to develop effective

communication skills of women representatives (77%), problem solving skills (77%),

developing skills to be effective women political leaders (72%), trainings to enhance

decision making skills (67%), developing capacities to understand and frame political

issues (65%), developing capacities for conflict resolution and dealing with media (64%

each). Furthermore, approximately 90% of respondents from all four provinces have supported

inclusion of Good Governance Modules to be part of the leadership training program.

Fifty one per cent of respondents feel that their male counterparts do not play a supporting

role in mainstreaming of women in politics, while 49% felt they were supportive.

When asked about their perceptions of good governance, respondents stated the following

characteristics as priority: participatory, about 32%, consensus at about 29%, transparency

at 27%, and responsiveness at about 26%. About 29% did not provide a response.



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6. Conclusion

The World Development Report 2011 on Conflict, Security and Development indicates that

institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When State institutions do not adequately protect

citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice, when markets do not provide job

opportunities or when communities have lost social cohesion – the likelihood of violent conflict

increases. The report presents recommendations that encourage investing in citizen security,

justice, and jobs as one way of preventing or preempting conflict. In addition, the report highlights the importance of the involvement of women in political coalitions, security and

justice reform, and economic empowerment.

This report focused on elected women representatives to assess capacity and strengthening

needs, while attempting to capture perceptions and understanding of media. Conflict and its

related dynamics, at a macro level, were also explored in an attempt to get both individual and

collective understanding of the issue at provincial and national levels, along with an assessment

of how elected women representatives view themselves when it comes to media and conflict

handling. The data collected also depicts existing opportunities within the representatives’

political parties, both at internal and external level.

Within this context, the undertaken baseline also reflects an interesting mix that ranges from

illiterate, nationwide, elected women representatives to professionals, and those who hold

Masters level degrees. The majority of respondents claim their entry into politics as self

motivation despite the fact that for most it has been a political family supported career

trajectory. Many of the respondents have been in politics for more than one term, enabling them

to claim their political space. While effective leadership skill building has been the most



Page 26

invested external part of women representatives’ political career, and has provided them

political voice and visibility, it has collectively not affected the institutional practice of having

women mainstreamed in political parties or their respective houses of representation, from

district to provincial level.

This requires that that political institutions and stakeholders need to change as well in their

practice to accept another trained set of human resources. On the other hand, ever changing

political dynamics, laws and institutional developments warrant women representatives to be

trained on competitive and functional skills, in order to handle institutional interactions. The

baseline findings further indicate that organizations wishing to build capacity of women

representatives need to adopt a layered approach, equipping the representatives to address

issues pertaining to inter and intra council/assemblies; political parties, social interaction and

especially handling of media messages.

The role of the media has been documented to be larger than necessarily required in Pakistan,

particularly after un-regulated growth since 2000. It has become a medium that has taken upon

itself to go beyond the call of duty of providing unbiased and contextualized information and

opinion and has since become a vigilante. On a positive note, the media has contributed heavily

in highlighting the inequality of gender, and the need for socio-political and economic equity, as

well as providing political visibility for women representatives.

Electronic media, especially TV, as per baseline findings as well, has over shadowed other

mediums despite the trend that newspapers are given great consideration to re-confirm news

obtained by electronic media. Social media is yet to be popular with elected women

representatives especially at district level. It has become the tool for youth. The short time span

of a talk show has been identified to have highest attitudinal impact. However, women are at a

double disadvantage, especially at the district level, when they struggle to be part of panel on a

TV talk show, yet stumbling because of not having enough communication skills. Yet most follow them despite being aired at prime entertainment time to be politically updated. Beyond

few mainstream women politicians women are yet to be integrated in electronic media based

political discussion due to not being articulate enough in communication techniques.

Elected women need to be trained in capitalizing their time on air that will help to establish

themselves both as an integral and productive part of political landscape. These skills will help

them support the need for internal democratization of their respective political parties and

organized party structures from the district level upwards so that they can raise the issues to

the highest level of party echelons. It will also help them to focus on the institutional

strengthening of women’s wings of their political parties, with individual and collective support

through lobbying and advocacy skills, so that they contribute in agenda setting and are integrated in highest decision making forums and not taken as superficial members of the party.

A civil conflict costs the average developing country roughly 30 years of GDP growth, Pakistan

has been in protracted crisis since 1979, which has only intensified since the events of 9/11. The understanding of conflict is largely that it is between internal and external actors, and from

which internal religious and ethnic lines becomes visible. However, the perception that it can be

handled locally is a healthy indicator despite the fact that it is undetermined how. This provides

an opportunity for the organizations who aim to strengthen women parliamentarians to

highlight them within the given institutional mandate of political representation and anchor the

skill development with available social networking.

Elected women representatives have been seen to have limited input in peace building

initiatives and crisis prevention political dialogue; primarily due to lack of confidence and

dimensional understanding of the issues. Suspension of Local Government System since 2009

has further reduced that space for women that could have been used through activation of range



Page 27

of LG committees having mandatory women membership. Capacity building of women

representatives requires a fundamental rethinking, including how we assess and manage risk

especially with regards to elected women representatives. While strengthening their capacity, it

must be cautioned that any proposed change must be contextualized based on a clear roadmap,

and on strong social and political incentives. Media in this instance can play an important role

by ensuring that women are highlighted both as participant and decision maker in conflict/

crisis resolution that will lead to behavioral change in society to incorporate women and their

role in all such processes.



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7. Bibliography

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Pakistan, 2007

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Achieving%20Gender%20Equality%20in%20Public%20Offices%20in%20Pakistan.pdf

Aurat Foundation http://www.af.org.pk

Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, Government of Pakistan

Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE)

http://www.dtce.org.pk

Evaluation of the Women’s Political School (WPS) and Gender Mainstreaming through the

Planning and Development Department Projects, Hussein, M. H. and Khan, A. H., Poverty

Reduction Unit, UNDP Pakistan, July 2007

Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN)

www.fafen.org

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Gender Justice and Protection Project, GJP, Annual Progress Report, UNDP Pakistan, 2008

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Project Management Unit (FPMU), Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development

(MoLG&RD), Government of Pakistan, Islamabad, 2008

Gender Support Programme (GSP) Project Document, UNDP Pakistan and the Government of

Pakistan, 2003

Local Government Ordinance 2001, Government of Pakistan, 2001

National Commission on Human Development (NCHD)

http://www.nchd.org.pk/

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http://www.ncsw.gov.pk/

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http://www.nrb.gov.pk/publications/SBNP_Local_Govt_Ordinance_2001.pdf

PC-1 for Implementation of National Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP), Ministry of Women

Development, Government of Pakistan. October, 2005



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Political & Legislative Participation of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Perspectives, UNDP

Pakistan, 2005.

http://undp.org.pk/images/publications/Political_Legislative_Participation_Women_Pakistan.p

df

Review of the Implementation of Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) Phase I, Jawad, S. and

Yazdani, F., March 2010

Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development (SPDP)

http://www.sdpd.org.pk/

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Progress Report, National Democratic Institute, July 2010 UNDP Pakistan

www.undp.org.pk

Women Political Participation Project (WP3)

http://undp.org.pk/ministry-of-women-development.html

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