Chairman National Disaster Management Authority highlights mainstreaming of gender in disaster situations

Islamabad: The Chairman National Disaster Management Authority, Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qadir has underlined the need of gender mainstreaming in disaster situations and taking into account gender considerations for the benefit of vulnerable groups, women and children.

He was addressing the prize distribution ceremony of International Women at Work festival, organized jointly by NDMA and other partner organizations here today on the concluding day of the event that was held to highlight the efforts and achievements on livelihood, health and media reporting during disasters from the gender perspective.

Dr. Zafar Qadir said that NDMA was aiming to integrate gender equality and build its capacity to institutionally mainstream the gender perspective in management of various phases of the disaster management. He stressed on the importance of gender mainstreaming in disaster situations. He said that gender considerations needed to be taken into account for increasing the likelihood of benefiting women and children as well as other members of vulnerable groups.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Network (NHEPRN), and other partner organizations; UN Women, UNICEF, Save the Children, UNDP, WHO, FAO including academia (International Islamic University, Shifa Medical College, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi, and Faroughe Saher) as well as Family Planning Association of Pakistan marked the International Women’s Day by participating in a five days’ festival at the Lok Virsa Islamabad, that ended today with the prize distribution ceremony.

An array of activities were organized by NDMA in cooperation with the above-mentioned partners that reflected upon the needs and issues related to women, young girls, children and other vulnerable groups during the disasters in Pakistan.

These activities included a display of informational material, documentaries, and demonstrations on how to deal with disasters as well as awareness sessions on health and hygiene during disasters. A number of competitions were also convened on disaster related topics through creative activities e.g. poster, painting, and debate competitions. Musical performances on folk and sufi themes were also performed by young and emerging singers. Dr. Zafar Qadir awarded shields to the partner organizations and certificates and prizes to the winners of various events.

For more information, contact:
Ahmed Kamal
Spokesperson
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
Tel: +9251 9215412
Cell: +92300 5278981 and +92331-5657779
Email: maf@ndma.gov.pk