In order to inform decision-making for rural development and local development in Balochistan, Advocacy Workshops on Poverty Dynamics, Inclusive Development and Women’s Empowerment in Balochistan was held at Quetta Serena hotel. The advocacy workshop was jointly organized by Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN), Balochistan Rural Support Program (BRSP), National Rural Support Programmes (NRSP), Human Dynamics under the Balochistan Rural Development and Community Empowerment (BRACE) Programme.

The main objective of the workshop was to share the evidence-based research findings with the key stakeholders especially the Government of Balochistan, Civil Society, academics, private sector, UN agencies, and international development organisations. The event was attended by a large number of policymakers, government officials, professionals, and academics. The event was inaugurated by Minister Finance Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi and guests of honour were Deputy Speaker Balochistan Assembly Sardar Babar Khan Musakhel, Member National Assembly – Maulvi Kamal ud Din, Minister Excise & Taxation Malik Naeem Khan Bazai, Minister Livestock, and Dairy Development, Mitta Khan Kakar, MPA Abdul Qadir Nail, MPA – Ms. Zeenat Shahwani, MPA Maulana Abdul Wahid Siddiqui, MPA Zabid Reki, MPA Ms. Shaheena Mehterzai, Chairman Public Accounts Committee Mir Akhtar Hussain Langove, , Ex- MNA – Khalil George, Additional Chief Secretary Abdul Rehman Buzdar, Secretary Health Dostain Jamaldini, Secretary Local Government Ahmed Raza, Chief Foreign Aid Rab Nawaz Khetran, Provincial Coordinator Human Dynamics – Qaiser Jamali, Nadir Gul Barech CEO BRSP, Ms. Shandana Khan CEO RSPN, Maulana Anwar Ul Haq Haqqani, Dr. Atta Ur Rehman were key speakers of the event. They all reiterated that poverty needs to be addressed at the household level and that women’s inclusive development is the way forward to sustainable development. It was also agreed the social focus needs to be on women’s literacy and upskilling the youth of Balochistan in order to employ them during China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) so that investors do not outsource skilled labour from other parts of the country and local skilled youth gets employed.

The presenters oriented the audience about the key findings of the first wave of the study that was followed by a presentation on ‘Institutional Maturity Index’ which showed that Community institutions fostered under the BRACE Programme are being operated and sustained by the local communities in Balochistan. These institutions will make an effort to strengthen the relationship between the state and the citizens. At the end, researchers talked about the ‘Emerging Outcomes of Adult Literacy and Numeracy Skills study from Khuzdar district’ where uneducated adult women are being taught about life skills including literacy and numeracy.

Some of the recommendations given by the researchers to improve conditions at the local level was to introduce inclusive growth-based policies in Balochistan for poverty alleviation. Government should adopt a bottom-up policy design approach, girls’ education, youth skill development and adult literacy programmes should be introduced and further strengthened, Government departments should be strengthened through a consistent policy of inducting, retaining and competence development of human resource involved in service delivery for basic services (health, education, skill development, mining, agriculture & livestock, public health engineering). The workshop was concluded by Minister Finance Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi as he appreciated the efforts of the implementers and emphasized the role of social mobilisation in the rural and local development of Balochistan.