In a globalising world, gender equality and empowerment of women are vital tools to achieve sustainable development. As a result, women are widely gaining recognition for their contribution in all spheres of life. They are not only viewed as equal partners in development but also agents of change in economic, social and political processes. In the period of digital transformation, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government emphasizes to empower women in digital spheres to end gender disparities in tech-based education, skills and related employment opportunities. For this purpose, KP govt. has launched various programs that aim to improve overall status of women in digital employability skills.

Therefore, adding onto existing actions taken by the Government for women empowerment in KP, Directorate of science and technology under the department of ST&IT has established Creative Innovative Unit that represents a leapfrog opportunity for women to build a more inclusive digital world with the help of new digital tools that can serve to support a new source of inclusive global economic growth. To serve the same purpose, ‘’Creative Innovative Unit’’ has launched ‘Women Empowerment through Digital Skills’ programme that aims to create more digital jobs in the province while facilitating women in the field of Information and science technology while also providing them with employment opportunities. The unit considers women empowerment instrumental in bringing Scientific and technological advancement in the region. It seeks both public and private partnerships to help women enhance their capacities through scientific and technological education, training and employment.

Recently, The unit has successfully developed partnership with Telenor under their program ‘’Girls Learn and Women Earn’’ which aims to train at least 500 women entrepreneurs in KPK. For this purpose, unit has successfully reached out to different educational institutions in KP where potential human resource, specially  women are identified and equipped with necessary knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to take maximum advantage of the opportunities available for freelancing, employment and entrepreneurship.

Initially, the CIU has reached out SBBWU and Rana’a foundation to educate women on digital skills under the mentioned partnership with Telenor. The digital skills training is series of training for women include various sections which mainly includes Product designing, Digital payment and Digital marketing, digital customer channels and digital finance. Furthermore, the unit is seeking partnership with the industry to engage and link the trained human resource, creating better prospects of job opportunities for women to bring scientific and technological revolution in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.