LAHORE: UNESCO and the government of Italy have signed an agreement of approximately USD 1.7 million to enable UNESCO to implement a two-year project titled “Support for girls’ right to education and safeguarding cultural heritage through education in Pakistan.”
Present at the occasion were Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Mohammad Baligh-ur-Rehman, and Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Natural Heritage Additional Secretary Syed Junaid Akhlaq.
The agreement was signed by Italian Ambassador to Pakistan H.E Stefano Pontecorvo, Head of Italian Cooperation Santa Molè and UNESCO Representative Vibeke Jensen.
The project has two components: the first one on education which aims to support the efforts of the government of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in increasing access, retention and improving the quality of girls’ education through capacity building and targeted interventions at both institutional and community levels.
District Bahawalpur in the Punjab and District Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are focus districts.
“The Italian funds allow us to expand our on-going girls’ right to education interventions to more districts, and we are deeply grateful for that,” said Vibeke Jensen, UNESCO representative.
The second component is aimed at supporting the efforts of the government of Pakistan in the protection of cultural heritage through enhancing the role of young people and communities in safeguarding cultural heritage through capacity building in protection.
UNESCO will undertake awareness raising activities among the general public and specifically focus on school going youth and teachers. All four provinces will benefit from the interventions of this component.
