British Council celebrates International Women’s Day in Islamabad

Islamabad: British Council Pakistan Tuesday celebrated International Women’s Day this year with a special event in Islamabad. The event was attended by British Chargé d’affaires Andrew Dalgleish, Country Director British Council Pakistan Amir Ramzan and other stakeholders from a cross section of society.

The event gave an overview of the Women in Leadership Programme (WIL) partnership with CLORE Social Leadership (UK) and SEED Ventures (Pakistan). The programme offered emerging women leaders from across Pakistan a lifetime opportunity to develop their leadership capacity and skills through a five week online, self-access leadership course in February 2023.

The event also launched the partnership of British Council with the popular YouTube series ‘Conversations with Kanwal’. The 5th Season of the show was launched at the event to commemorate the UN Theme of International Women’s Day: ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.’

It also featured panel sessions on: ‘Feminist Leadership: dismantling bias and barriers’ and ‘Looking Ahead: what will ensure inclusive decision making in Pakistan’ and featured a closing musical performance by Pakistani popular singer Kaifi Khalil.

Amir Ramzan, Country Director, British Council Pakistan, said: “Empowering women and girls and achieving gender equality are crucial to creating inclusive, open and prosperous societies. At the British Council we are focused on progressing gender equality and addressing the gender gaps in leadership. Programmes like Women in Leadership and our partnership with Conversations with Kanwal will help take this work forward.”

Wajiha Irfan, Head of Non-Formal Education, British Council Pakistan, said: “We are excited to be partnering with the brilliant Conversations with Kanwal show. This partnership will enhance gender leadership and linkages with the next generation of Pakistan. Our Women in Leadership programme continues our work on dialogue and actions around gender equality, leadership, and inclusive spaces for emerging women leaders.”