President Alvi urges banks to make efforts for PWD’s employability & facilitation

KARACHI, Feb 15 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi has urged the banking sector and state institutions to make collective efforts for the employability, facilitation and acceptability of differently-abled people (DAPs) to make our society more inclusive, besides making DAPs active and productive citizens of society. He suggested that the banking sector should devise an annual reward mechanism to encourage those banks which were performing well in the areas of women empowerment and financial inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs).

President Dr. Arif Alvi gave these remarks during a follow-up meeting on women empowerment and inclusion of persons with different abilities (PDAs) with representatives of banks, State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, FIA and others, at the Governor House, Karachi, on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the President said that businesses should not solely focus on enhancing their profitability but should also dispense their responsibilities towards society to help the marginalized segments of society, especially persons with disabilities. Banking Industry should develop win-win partnerships with NGOs or private organizations to promote inclusiveness and development in society through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes, he added.

President Dr. Arif Alvi also called for hiring focal persons on sign language in each bank to provide assistance to visually and hearing-impaired persons. He said that all government and private organizations, civil society, chambers of commerce and industry, banks etc would have to play a key role in ensuring the acceptability and employability of differently-abled persons. He appreciated the role of banks in improving the indicators of women empowerment and addressing issues of differently-abled people.

The President advised all the stakeholders to come up with a calculated and time-bound approach to address issues and challenges relating to women’s empowerment and the financial inclusion of differently-abled persons.

The President appreciated the role of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in creating mass awareness regarding persons with disabilities.  He said that around 24% of the population in Pakistan suffered from some form of mental stress, adding that PTA would also be asked to create mass awareness about issues related to mental health through mobile service messages. 

Talking on the occasion, First Lady Begum Samina Alvi urged that promoting self-reliance and employment of differently-abled persons should go hand in hand with charity. The training could also be provided to differently-abled persons to make them skilled and self-reliant in society, she added. She also stressed the need for improving the accessibility of differently-abled people, especially to shopping centres, banks, restaurants, educational institutions and hospitals.