KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry is eyeing to launch a micro-franchising scheme in collaboration with the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry next year.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim, said the ministry aimed to have at least 100 women participants initially in the micro-franchising programme.

“It’s a pilot project...that will have strict procedures that franchisees must adhere to,” she told a press conference after the closing of the 12^th Meeting of the Asean Committee on Women (ACW) here today.

While franchising has been associated with large scale companies such as fast-food firms which needs larger investments, the ministry is targeting smaller scale franchise initiatives.

Rohani noted that the government had launched a number of programmes to empower women economically, such as the 1Azam programme under the Government Transformation Programme to raise the living standards of low income households.

“Since its introduction in 2010 to August this year, a total number of 132,511 participants have enrolled under the 1Azam programme, of which 65.42 per cent of participants are women,” Rohani said.

Earlier, she launched a book titled ‘Good Practices on Eliminating Violence Against Women and Children’, one of the projects under the Asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) 5-year Work Plan (2012-2016).

Comprising good practices by Asean member countries in eliminating violence against women and children, the book will be distributed to non-governmental organisations, embassies, professional bodies, international organisations and  ministries in this country.

“We’ve printed 10,000 copies of the book in hopes of sharing how violence against women and children can be eliminated. The public may also download copies in pdf format from the ministry’s website,” she added. — Bernama