The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday started a training session for twenty female employees working in the engineering, customer service, commercial, and revenue departments at Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO).
The training aimed to promote the role of women in the power sectors, the opening ceremony of the training session was held at a local hotel in which the IESCO staff including the United Nations (UN) representatives participated while the wife of US Ambassador Cameron Munter, Dr Marilyn Wyatt, was the chief guest on the occasion. USAID’s Power Distribution Improvement Program is a three-year effort aimed at strengthening government-owned electric power distribution comSpeaking on the occasion Wyatt said the US Government believed that improving Pakistani expertise in energy distribution would lead to a more stable and economically vibrant Pakistan.
The workshop is part of the US commitment to energy reform. The training program caters to more than 1,100 employees of eight DISCOs, and focuses on female staff. More than 450 DISCO employees had already received IT training, she said, and another 700 employees would be trained by mid-November. The US agency was also helping to complete the construction of three dams, renovate power plants, and introduce more efficient technologies that would reduce energy use in the agriculture sector, she concluded.
