Steering committee meeting discusses social protection initiatives with EU support

The social protection department of the Sindh government, in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), convened the inaugural Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting of the Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) initiative at the Planning & Development Board in Karachi.

Officials said the social protection department reaffirmed its commitment to institutionalising a proactive, data-driven approach to social protection, addressing vulnerabilities caused by poverty, climate change and disasters.

The steering committee reached a consensus on the critical need for inter-agency data sharing to enable anticipatory action and ensure that the province was prepared to support vulnerable populations before calamities such as floods and droughts caused severe disruptions.

The body also approved piloting of innovative social protection interventions in selected districts, including Badin, Sanghar, Sujawal, Thatta and Karachi. These pilot projects aim at evaluating effective poverty alleviation models that could later be scaled across Sindh under the leadership of the social protection department.

With technical support from the GIZ Pakistan, the ASP programme has been designed to enhance Sindh’s capacity to implement adaptive, inclusive and climate-resilient social protection strategies. The social protection department has made efforts to ensure that these strategies are equitable and aligned with long-term development goals.

Speaking at the meeting, Sindh Social Protection Secretary Muzamil Hussain Halepoto emphasised the importance of defining expected outcomes and developing a structured work plan along with a clear framework for future operations.

The secretary also informed the meeting that KfW, a German bank, had expressed interest in working in informal urban settings and rural areas of Karachi, particularly for family planning and reproductive health initiatives targeting informal workers.

He confirmed that a dedicated follow-up meeting with KfW had been scheduled for next week to explore opportunities for collaboration.

Furthermore, the social protection secretary highlighted that many past and current programmes had largely targeted landowning agricultural workers — both male and female. Moving forward, he stressed that the focus must shift towards extending social protection to landless workers who remained among the most vulnerable and underserved segments of Sindh’s population.

Chief Economist of the Planning and Development Board Aslam Soomro stated that embedding adaptive social protection into Sindh’s development agenda was essential for addressing multifaceted challenges, particularly climate change and disaster risk.

He acknowledged the social protection department’s central role in ensuring coordinated delivery across government agencies.

Jeroen Willems, head of cooperation at the European Union, expressed strong support for the department’s leadership and reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to strengthening adaptive social protection.

Wolfgang Hesse, cluster coordinator at GIZ Pakistan, commended the social protection department’s leadership and reiterated that linking social protection with climate adaptation reflected the broader Pakistan-Germany development cooperation strategy.

Johanna Knoess, head of the ASP programme at GIZ, highlighted three key pilot interventions led by the social protection department. They included supporting 40,000 women agricultural workers with registration, financial literacy and livelihood investments; the Mamta Plus programme targeting 250,000 pregnant and lactating women with digital and financial literacy and matched savings; and enabling 10,000 informal urban workers in Karachi to access bank accounts, enrol in savings programmes and access microfinance facilities for small enterprises.

Looking ahead, the social protection department and its partners committed to scaling successful interventions and expanding coordination under the Team Europe framework.