During their mission, they visited various Skills Development interventions of the ILO. The team also visited women’s vocational training center where local ladies are being trained to make “bridal or party dresses”. The mission was impressed with the quality of products produced by trainees and noted with satisfaction the employment outcome of such training programmes. The community members expressed their gratitude to the visiting mission and appreciated the services provided by the Project after the devastating earthquake of October 2005.
While in Naran, the mission participated in a Round Table Discussion on “Promoting Livelihoods through Employment Intensive Tourism” on August 2, 2008. The event was organized by ILO that brought together all relevant stakeholders involved in the promotion of tourism in Kaghan Valley. The objective of the event was to make the ongoing as well as future tourism development interventions more “employment” oriented.
The NWFP Minister for Industries, Mr. Ahmad Hussain Shah, was the Chief Guest of the Seminar. The participants discussed the global, national and local situations of tourism and evolved a joint plan for future development interventions in this regard. Key speakers of the seminar were Dr. Sabur Ghayur, Chairman Policy Planning Cell, Ministry of Labour, Mr. Aftab-ur-Rehman Rana, Tourism Industry Specialist, Malik Sajjad Awan, President Naran Hotel Association and Mr. Zahoor Awan, Deputy General Secretary of the Pakistan Workers Federation.
The Country Representatives of ILO and UNIDO expressed keen interest in upgrading tourism-related facilities in the area in order to promote more and better employment opportunities. They also pledged to support any initiative that is within the mandate of their respective agencies. The Chief Guest highly appreciated the presence of all relevant stakeholders and particularly the representatives from ILO, UNIDO, UNDP and FAO. He also presented an overview of the development plan of the Government in this area. He said that around 60 percent of the local population are employed in tourism of industry and accordingly promoting tourism in this area is the government’s priority.
The ILO organized the event under the Community-Based Livelihood Recovery Project (CBLRP) jointly funded by UNDP and European Commission (EC) and implemented by ILO, UNDP, FAO and UNIDO.
For more information on UNIDO's activities in Pakistan, please contact:
Ms. Shadia Yousif, UNIDO Representative in Pakistan
For more information on ILO's activities in the earthquake affected areas, please contact:
Mr. Manzoor Khaliq, Senior Programme Officer, ILO Islamabad