Ehsaas communications committee meets

Islamabad: The first meeting of the Ehsaas Communications Committee was held Friday in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat to discuss the communications strategic planning process, identify communications needs and priorities for the Ehsaas Programme, and define key respective areas of execution for different organizations involved in the implementation of the program under the umbrella of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD).

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting in which participants discussed the key elements of the Ehsaas communications strategy that is in its final stages of being developed. “The core objective of the strategy is to apprise potential beneficiaries about ways of accessing benefits,” Dr. Nishtar emphasized.

The committee has been constituted with representation from all organizations involved in the execution of Ehsaas under PASSD. The meeting was attended by Shaista Sohail, Secretary PASSD, Asadullah Khan, Additional Secretary, Dr. Arsalan Khalid, Focal Person to the PM on Digital Media, representatives of the ministry of Information and Broadcasting, provincial representatives and communication focal persons from agencies that are involved in implementing Ehsaas.

The committee took important communications-related decisions. It was decided that the committee will be expanded in order to ensure effective participation from provinces.

Dr. Nishtar urged the committee to manage the publicity, communications and media activities of the Ehsaas on print, electronic and social media as a way to share information among opinion makers, influencers and masses and to coordinate outreach and advocacy activities as a way to connect with general public, deprived communities, scholars, researchers, decision-makers, and others among the general public with a main focus on the graduation of poor and marginalized with dignity and respect.

Dr. Nishtar suggested that digital means should be the mainstay of the communication strategy and that government agencies that can offer communications services free of cost should be leveraged to the maximum. Dr. Arslan Khalid briefed the committee about ways of leveraging social media better and a plan was charted to pool technical capabilities to make better use of existing platforms.

The Ehsaas communication committee meeting will be convened regularly every week on Wednesday morning in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat under the chair of Dr. Nishtar.