BISP to bring in eight million more beneficiaries

Islamabad: Benazir Income Support programme (BISP) intends to bring in 8 million beneficiaries to its fold after update of the National Socio Economic Registry (NSER).

This was shared in a briefing to a delegation of International Monetary Fund (IMF) that visited BISP headquarters on Thursday as part of their on-going visit to Pakistan to assess the economic and financial challenges faced by the country.

Talking to the delegation, BISP Chairperson Dr. Sania Nishtar said that she foresees the growth of Data Engine of BISP through NSER in the years to come as the sole source of information sharing to facilitate the national social protection work in the country on a massive scale.

She said that her role is to address the issues of governance and policy matters related to the board meetings. She said, the organisation has zero tolerance for corruption and her job is to make the organisation efficient and transparent.

The IMF delegation was led by Advisor and Team Leader Harald Finger and Deputy Director Middle East and Central Asia Taline Koranchilian whereas Chairperson BISP Dr Sania Nishtar and Secretary BISP Omar Hamid Khan BISP along with senior management represented the BISP.

Secretary, BISP, Omar Hamid Khan, briefed the delegation on various initiatives, programmes and activities of BISP as well as its national and international partnerships. BISP is contributing towards women empowerment by supporting 5.7 Million marginalised women of this country, through Cash Transfer programme (both conditional and unconditional transfers).

He said that BISP strongly believes in imparting International excellence, utilization of modern technology and implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for the marginalized population, in line with international standards.

Secretary informed the delegation that BISP has state-of-the-art social researcher’s team from Harvard, MIT and LSE to develop Social Protection models. They were also apprised of the public private partnerships of BISP which have contributed towards innovative approaches of tackling poverty and providing opportunities to vulnerable women to seek socio-economic empowerment. It was also conveyed to the IMF team that 2.4 million children have been enrolled in schools under the Waseela-e-Taleem programme.

He said that on average, in Pakistan, one out of every three children is suffering from stunted growth. The case in Sindh and Southern Punjab is even worse. There are 2.5 million women affected due to this every year. The rate is all time staggering high and alarming, and demands immediate measures to respond. BISP has formulated the strategy to address the looming issue of stunted growth and related health problems.

Adviser and Team Leader IMF Harald Finger appreciated the BISP performance and contribution towards the national social protection and helping the vulnerable to fight poverty while addressing the issue of malnutrition and stunted growth. He pointed out the overall economic challenges faced by the country and said that social protection is one of the key areas to be focused. He added that BISP has impressive engagement working model to address the wider canvas of social protection.

Seniors officers of BISP also briefed the delegation about the broad contours of their programmes related to NSER, Complementary initiatives and Cash Transfers.