Quality data being collected for social security programmes: BISP chief

Master trainers to train supervisors and enumerators in conducting surveys

The chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Marvi Memon, said on Sunday quality data was being collected for designing social security programmes to help make the country a welfare state.

She was speaking at a training workshop organised here by the BISP for master trainers.

It was pointed out that the National Socio Economic Registry (NSER) was a national asset that played a pivotal role in planning targeted subsidies and designing and implementing social protection programmes.

Currently, the NSER data is being employed by more than 40 different governmental initiatives and development organizations that include the Prime Minister’s Health Insurance Programme, the PM Interest Free Loans, Punjab Khidmat Card, KPK Insaf Card and a number of NGOs.

The NSER update would provide quality data to policymakers for designing effective policies on social protection.

The new poverty survey of the BISP is just ahead of the launch of a door-to-door survey of the NSER update. The workshop was conducted to train master trainers from AASA Consulting.

The training session was followed by a field-simulated exercise of the door-to-door survey.

Renowned actor and host Faisal Qureshi accompanied the chairperson during the field exercise.

AASA Consulting is one of the partner firms hired by the BISP to conduct a door-to-door survey in the pilot districts of a new poverty survey.

AASA Consulting will conduct a survey in Cluster C districts in Sindh (Thatta and Jacobabad) and Balochistan (Qilla Saifullah and Kech).

These master trainers will train supervisors and enumerators for conducting surveys. The workshop was attended by area coordinators, programme managers, data managers, enumeration experts and communication and mobilisation experts.

Faisal Qureshi appreciated the BISP chairperson for her untiring effects for the uplift of the poor.

He urged the public to participate and facilitate the new poverty survey as the data collected during this process would be used for designing social safety programmes and help Pakistan in becoming a true welfare state.

He appreciated the BISP IT team for CAPI architecture as for the first time such highly scientific methods are being employed for data collection on such a large scale in Pakistan.

Highlighting the unique features of the NSER update survey, the BISP chairperson said that to overcome data quality errors, the CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews) instead of the PAPI (Paper Assisted Personal Interviews) approach was being adopted.

Similarly, to ensure universal coverage, a systematic approach is being introduced for mapping and route-planning for the survey teams.

The registration application has inbuilt checks and controls capable of identifying errors.

Bluetooth-based synchronisation of the enumerators and supervisors is a quality control feature that will ensure smooth operations without internet connectivity, which is a problem in remote areas of the country.

During the door-to-door survey exercise, Faisal Qureshi along with Marvi Memon observed the data entry procedure. He urged the public to fully participate in the resurvey process, thus helping the BISP in pioneering the best NSER in the world.

He urged the media to support the NSER update as the data collected during the new poverty survey would play a vital role in development planning in future.