Population Resource Center to be established in Planning Commission

Islamabad : The Ministry of Planning Development and Reforms has decided to establish a ‘Population Resource Center,’ which would be served as a hub for strengthening the timely availability of demographic and population statistics, improving the quality, reliability of population related data base.

The resource center would also help in provision of information for evidence guided decision making and policy reviews, said Member Social Sector Planning Commission Dr Shabnum Sarfraz.

In a press release issued here Saturday, she said that a high-level consultative meeting would be held at Planning Commission in next week.

Senior officials of Federal Ministry of Health Service, Regulation and Coordination, secretaries of the provincial health departments, population welfare departments, planning and development departments will also attend the meeting.

She said that the meeting would also be attend by the senior technocrats for an interactive dialogue and discussing the modalities for the formulation of population resource center.

The establishment of the Population Resource Center is expected to strengthen the existing mechanisms and processes for evidence guided planning, monitoring and evaluation of population projects, she added.

Besides, it would help in identifying bottlenecks for initiation of timely remedial action, continuously evaluating the population landscape and coordinating forums for generating debate on population policies and frameworks, she remarked.

Dr Shabnum said that the dedicated resources have also been allocated in the Public Sector Development Program for the year 2019-20 for the establishment of resource center, adding that national and international expertise will be engaged for the design and development of the center.

She further informed that the Population Resource Center is expected to enter into active partnership with the public and private sector universities for establishing population policy research units.