The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Country Director in Pakistan, Xiaohong Yang has said that gender inequality is a big challenge for Pakistan, if Pakistan were to close the gender gap, it can increase its GDP by 30 percent.
She was explaining the new Land Partnership Strategy (CPS) for 2021-2025. The CPS 2021-2025 of ADB for Pakistan is for economic and social challenges, the country has been facing after the Covid-19. The ADB supports Pakistan in addressing its structural challenges. It fully aligns with the government of Pakistan’s development strategy, the Asian Development Bank’s strategy 2030, and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs).
ADB’s assistance to Pakistan will focus on three strategic pillars which include improving economic governance, restoring resilience through the development of human capital and social protection, and promoting competitiveness and private sector development so that more jobs could be created and expand economic opportunities.
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The Country Director said that ADB intends to upgrade education and health institutions, improve the quality of health care, strengthen the social protection system and enable the workers to face future crises. Talking about poverty, she said that the Asian Development Bank intends to improve productivity and wellbeing through education, nutrition, health system, clean water and sanitation, affordable housing, and social protection.
She further said that the ADB would promote systematic reforms on skills development and investment in secondary education, with special emphasis on increasing girls’ enrollment. The Bank’s Country Director told that ADB pledged $500 million to fund Pakistan’s anti-cyclical economic activities, focusing on promoting safety for the unemployed and the poor and helping vulnerable people including women and children.
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Xiaohong Yang said that ADB would prioritize intervention to cut women’s time poverty by improving their access to modern technology, particularly in the agriculture sector, connecting them to affordable and reliable energy.
She added that Asian Development Bank would help ensure women’s access to the safe transport system and urban spaces while improving the capacity of executing and implementing agencies to implement gender-inclusive projects.
