UNDP, ILO, Spain join hands with govt to help poor women

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the government, Spanish government and ILO have joined hands to implement a new project - SWAPNO - to help the poorest women move out of extreme poverty, reports UNB.

Spanish Ambassador in Dhaka Luis Tejada and UNDP Country Director Pauline Tamesis discussed the various aspects of the new project at the embassy of Spain on Sunday.

UNDP Programme Analyst, Poverty Cluster Majeda Haq, Assistant Country Director, Poverty Cluster Palash Das and International Programme Advisor, UNDP Bangladesh Goran Jonsson were also present.

Expressing satisfaction for being part of the project, the Spanish envoy said, "I'm very glad and we expect a very good result from this project which will help women get involved in sophisticated works."

Luis Tejada also voiced satisfaction over the success of previous projects and said in Bangladesh their projects work very well as the country has got a very talented and hardworking people.

The Spanish government is supporting the programme 'Strengthening Women's Ability for Productive New Opportunities (SWAPNO)' through the Sustainable Development Goals Fund, a cooperation mechanism created in 2014 by Spain government to support sustainable development activities.

Pauline Tamesis described UNDP's engagement with the project and explained why they are investing their resources.

She said the project will give poor women an opportunity to get benefited in many ways through capacity development and helping them graduate from poverty.

The programme will be jointly implemented by UNDP, Local Government Division in Kurigram, the poorest district in Bangladesh. From there, it will be scaled up in other poverty-stricken areas of the country.