Pakistan's Punjab apparel sector receives funds from PSDF

The contracts for facilitating the funds to 14 different organizations were signed by PSDF CEO Ali Safraz and chief operating officer (COO) Ali Akbar Bosan with representatives of the respective organizations during a signing ceremony at the PSDF Lahore office.

At the ceremony, Mr. Safraz said that the launch of ‘Skills for Garments’ scheme was a continuation of Punjab government’s efforts to improve income-generation opportunities of the people of the province.

The scheme aims at further supplementing the Punjab government’s endeavors for supporting the garment industry of the region, and it will provide ancillary support for provision of required manpower for the industry, he added.

The ‘Skills for Garments’ scheme was developed by the PSDF in November 2013, and was launched officially with the signing of the contracts. The scheme is industry-driven and designed to address the dearth of market-driven skills in the garments sector while addressing human capital deficiencies in the apparel industry, especially at the worker and middle management level.

Under the scheme, PSDF will fund trainings of 9,000 individuals (male and female) from seven districts of Punjab—Lahore, Gujranwala, Sheikkhupura, Narowal, Sargodha, Chiniot, and Faisalabad, in trades such as art and design, industrial stitching, apparel supervising, quality control in garments, fashion design, stitching and knitting machine operation, fabric cutting, merchandize management, production planning and control, industrial engineering, pattern drafting and cutting, computerized designing and industrial machine sewing.

PSDF is a non-profit organization set up by the government of Punjab in collaboration with the Department of International Development of the UK, under the Companies Ordinance of 1984. It aims to provide skills and vocational training opportunities to the unemployed in the districts of Punjab for improving their ability to find work or progress in their current employment or develop an enterprise on their own. 

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India