ISLAMABAD: Chairperson BISP Marvi Memon on Thursday said the goal of Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) was to empower women financially, socially and politically. She expressed these views while chairing the first meeting of BISP Women Empowerment Advisory Forum. The meeting was called to discuss policy guidelines for the social, economic and political empowerment of BISP beneficiaries. The advisory forum comprising of national and international experts discussed gender policy, malnutrition, stunting, reproductive health, girl school enrollment, gender responsive curriculum, E-commerce, financial inclusion of women, workplace gender diversity and violence against women and suggested policy guidelines that will form basis of the social mobilization campaign of BISP on women empowerment. The meeting was attended by Stephen Glunning Deputy Country Director WFP, Vibeke Jensen Director UNESCO, Abbas Rashid Executive Director SAHI, Rosemary Arnott Gender Specialist UNICEF, Jamshed Qazi Country Representative UN Women, Zeba Sathar Country Director Population Council, Rukshana Asghar CEO Fulcrum, Khawar Mumtaz Chairperson National Commission on Status of Women, Ingred Christiance Country Director ILO, Muneeza Hashmi, Jalal-ud-din Director Hashoo Foundation, Muhammad Mudassar ICIMOD, Fatima Akhtar Nestle, Asma Sheikh TCS, Yasmin Masood Secretary BISP and Naveed Akbar Director BISP. During her opening remarks, Chairperson BISP Marvi Memon stated that the goal of BISP is to empower women financially, socially and politically. Having access to poorest women and the presence of mobilization forum of 50,000 BISP Beneficiary Committees (BBCs) provide BISP with the potential and responsibility to work on the human development of its beneficiaries. The feedback of this august forum and the curriculum designed consequently will help BISP educate its beneficiaries, thus leading to real human development in the country. Director BISP Naveed Akbar, while presenting an overview of BISP said that the impact evaluations highlight enhanced mobility, increased participation by women in elections, enhanced school enrollment and financial empowerment of women as 74% of women retain full control over their stipend. He said that BISP has contributed towards reducing malnutrition but the malnutrition rates are still alarming in the BISP community. During session on health, while highlighting WFP commitments Stephen Glunning said that social protection is a tool for women empowerment. It is high time to widen partnership between BISP and WFP for the inculcation of nutrition practices in BISP beneficiaries through BBCs.