Parliamentary Internship Programme has served as a spring board for talent and for youth�s interaction with the legislatures, said Chairman Senate Mr. Mohammedmian Soomro while addressing the Certificates Distribution Ceremony of the Parliamentary Internship Programme for Senate on May 30, 2005.

The Parliamentary Internship Programme for Senate was implemented by PILDAT, in association with the Senate Secretariat and with support provided from USAID under its project of Strengthening National and Provincial Legislative Governance. The Internship Programme spanned over the duration of 3 months from March to May 2005. A total of 25 interns were placed under this programme. These interns included 10 females and 15 males. During the internship process 3 interns dropped out and 22 successfully completed the internship. Since all drop-outs were male, the female participation ratio further improved towards the completion of the programme which is 45 % female and 55 % male. These interns came from geographical locations all across Pakistan and belonged to various disciplines ranging from Social Sciences to Engineering, Law, Business Administration and Information Technology.

While addressing the ceremony, Mr. Soomro said that the Senate of Pakistan has been greatly supported by the research provided by interns during the internship period. He said that Senate would welcome such support in the future and he would encourage interns to apply for research posts in the Senate for which they will be given a preference, he promised. Mr. Soomro thanked USAID for its support while PILDAT for the implementation of the programme.

Addressing the successful interns on behalf of USAID, Ms. Patricia Radar, Acting Deputy Mission Director of USAID, said that USAID was happy to support a programme that involved youth in public service. She said that the interns should encourage other members of the society to closely interact with the legislatures as well.

Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director PILDAT said that through the successful completion of the Phase 2 of the Parliamentary Internship Programme, PILDAT has achieved two main objectives. The first objective was to underscore the need for research support for the committees and the Senate in general which has been very successfully highlighted. It is the legislators who are now demanding a continuous Research Service. He said that PILDAT anticipates, therefore, that future assistance in this regard will be more demand-driven rather than packaged on supply side considerations as had been the case in some of the similar efforts in the past. The second objective was to expose the young generation to the operations of the Parliament so that the public-parliament inter-action is strengthened. PILDAT believes that a modest but successful effort has been made in this direction by exposing these young men and women to the working of the parliament, he added. He hoped that Phase III of the Internship programme will build on the lessons learnt during the first two phases and will cater for the long-term research needs of the Parliament. This internship, he suggested, may take the form of a 1-year fellowship or a permanent full-time job basically supported by the Parliament itself with agencies such as USAID playing a facilitating role, he said.

Sharing their experiences at the ceremony, the interns thanked Senate and its committees for the support. They highlighted areas such as computer and internet facilities as well as research data that require further attention of the Senate before a new internship batch is brought in. Interns also expressed their interest in placement and job opportunities in the Senate and with its committees if such a possibility arises.

Senator S. M. Zafar, Chairman Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, Senator Dilawar Abbas, Chairman Senate Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, Senator Tanvir Khalid, Chairperson Senate Committee on Cabinet, Establishment and Management Sciences as well as Senator Razina Alam, Chairperson Senate Committee on Education and Scientific and Technological Research also participated in the Certificates Distribution Ceremony.