ISLAMABAD, Apr 06 (APP):The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), which chairs the National Steering Committee (SC) for the Digitalisation for Women Economic Empowerment (D4WEE) Project, convened a high-level meeting at the UN Women Country Office in Islamabad to review progress and strengthen coordination on the initiative. The D4WEE Project is a four-year programme (2024–2028) funded by KOICA. The Steering Committee serves as the project’s highest governing body, providing …
MoITT reviews progress on women’s digital empowerment project
ISLAMABAD, Apr 06 (APP):The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), which chairs the National Steering Committee (SC) for the Digitalisation for Women Economic Empowerment (D4WEE) Project, convened a high-level meeting at the UN Women Country Office in Islamabad to review progress and strengthen coordination on the initiative.
The D4WEE Project is a four-year programme (2024–2028) funded by KOICA. The Steering Committee serves as the project’s highest governing body, providing strategic oversight, guiding policy integration, and ensuring accountability.
Key government and private sector stakeholders attended the meeting to assess ongoing efforts and ensure the effective delivery of programme objectives.
Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja highlighted the committee’s mandate to embed project outcomes into institutional strategies, ensure sustainability beyond the project cycle, and track gender-disaggregated results in real time.
She noted Pakistan’s progress in digital inclusion, stating that the gender gap in mobile internet usage declined from 36–38 percent to 25 percent over the past year.
She also highlighted the creation of over 800,000 digital wallets by women under the Ramazan digital payments initiative.
Additionally, she emphasized government efforts to expand access to digital services and financial inclusion by providing seven million free SIMs to underserved women.
The minister stressed that integrating women into Pakistan’s digital economy is critical to formalizing the largely informal sector, which accounts for about 50 percent of the country’s GDP. She said greater participation of women would strengthen the workforce, enhance per capita productivity, and help build a sustainable talent pipeline.
She also called for strategic preparedness for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to ensure they serve as equalizers rather than widen existing disparities in access to opportunities.
The meeting concluded with a renewed commitment from all stakeholders to enhance inter-agency collaboration, accelerate programme implementation, and translate progress into lasting policy reforms.
By tracking measurable outcomes and embedding digital inclusion into core strategies, the Steering Committee, chaired by MoITT, aims to ensure women play a central role in Pakistan’s rapidly growing digital economy under the Digital Nation Vision of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.
