Lahore : PSDF women graduates from across the province joined in person and online celebrating their achievements in taking the step towards self-employment in the digital age. At the ceremony 100 women graduated from PSDF’s online courses, designed to empower women for the digital economy. Present as chief guest at the ceremony was Andleeb Abbas, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Member of National Assembly (MNA). 

A study conducted by UNWomen highlights the strong adverse impact of the pandemic on the livelihoods of vulnerable groups like women and recommends financial empowerment and increased labour force participation for women in Pakistan to mitigate the crisis. In light of the multi-faceted challenges brought forward by the pandemic (including loss of jobs and income) PSDF launched specially designed online courses to increase income generation opportunities for women. 

Jawad Khan, CEO PSDF spoke of women’s essential membership of the work force. “The enormous province-wide response that the pilots received combined with the sustained economic success as a result of the trainings are proof points that women can contribute massively to house hold incomes when given the right opportunities. In that endeavour, PSDF plays a front-line role, having graduated over 178,000 women in the past 10 years”. He also reiterated PSDFs commitment to continually grow women trainings portfolio at PSDF in digital, brick and hybrid models across multiple sectors. 

Congratulating the graduates of PSDF under URAAN brand Andleeb Abbas, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Member of National Assembly said “ This is a moment of pride for every woman. Here I would like to appreciate PSDF for empowering women across Punjab where through programs like this women are now more enabled than ever before. They can now learn skills online staying at home and play an instrumental role in digital economy of Pakistan.”

In July 2020, PSDF partnered with Extreme Commerce LLC to launch an online training program for women to acquire skills as Amazon Virtual Assistants. (The ‘Virtual Assistant’ is an independent contractor who provides administrative services to clients while operating outside of the client’s office). The program will enable women to earn and be self-employed, while working remotely, during the current pandemic.  

PSDF also launched a partnership with Foodpanda (largest online food delivery platform/service) to enable female home chefs to sell their products through the FoodPanda platform and envisages the training of women articulate in cooking to become empowered entrepreneurs. 

These programs fall under PSDF’s URAAN brand, representing the moment of lift, of flight for women, unencumbered by burdens and roadblocks, empowering them with the skills training needed to sustain themselves, their families and their dreams.