SDNP Peshawar conducts three workshops for PE&D Department

February 15, 2001

Peshawar: Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) Peshawar hereby concluded the third workshop of its series on "Internet access and effective searching techniques" organised for the senior officials of Planning Environment and Development Department (PE&DD), Government of NWFP, Peshawar. In a series of three one-day workshops, the two earlier workshops were conducted on January 18 and 30, 2001.

The aim of these workshops was to build the capacity of PE&DD officials in the proper use of Internet for searching latest sustainable human development information and its customization for the indigenous needs. The workshop was attended by around 50 participants in three different batches in accordance with the level of their requirements and computer literacy. During this series of workshops, the participants were given lectures on the history of Internet, its physical components and effective searching techniques for retrieving the relevant information from the vast sea of data on the web. They were also briefed on the wonders of multimedia and online conferencing minimizing the geographical distances and bringing the diverse experiences to a single net within no time. All the theoretical sessions were duly followed by hands-on sessions which gave the participants a chance to practice what they had learned during the long-day lectures.

The concluding session of the workshop was addressed by Mr. Gul Najam Jamy, Head IUCNP, Sarhad Office, Peshawar. He, in his speech, briefed the participants about the pioneering efforts of SDNP in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and its latest initiatives undertaken for bridging the digital divide between the rural and urban masses. He lauded the role of SDNP for its free-of-cost services of training the development sector organisations in Internet and Web publishing techniques and hosting these sites on its server. Gul Najam Jamy also made a mention of the district websites (like Dadu, Ketch etc.) and some official sites (Sindh Bureau of Statistics etc) that were developed with the technical assistance of SDNP. He said that SDNP can arrange such training facilities and services for all other governmental and non-governmental organisations on their request.

Dr. Imdad Ali Raza Seehar, Chief Economist, PE&D Department, thanked the management of IUCN-SDNP for arranging such training workshops for their senior staff including Additional Secretaries and Chiefs of Sections. Certificates were distributed among the participants at the end of the workshop.