Ehsaas deserves recognition for smart strategy, transparent implementation

Islamabad: Amid a continuing political crisis fuelled by different political parties’ statements and their virtual wars, some government initiatives deserve recognition for smart strategy and transparent implementation. Ehsaas programme is one of them which received national and international recognition.

Steered by SAPM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Sania Nishtar, Ehsaas works on over 250 initiatives and policy areas. All information on the progress is accessible through the Ehsaas website. There is a proper complaint mechanism for the beneficiaries. The program has developed strong linkages with the provinces and development partners for effective implementation, drafted numerous policies, created 10 portals, and much more.

Sania Nishtar shared her experience of running the programme in an interview with ‘The News’. “Implementing such a huge initiative with transparency was a great challenge. The biggest one was reaching out to the neediest while creating as many windows of opportunity as possible to bring them out of poverty. The aim is not to distribute cash but to capacitate such families for income generation activity so that they can earn on their own.”

Responding to a question regarding criticism, she said she expected this but not the lies and falsehood. “When we cleared the list of beneficiaries of undeserving people, the reaction was unexpectedly against that action. But that was our government’s promise, to stop corruption at all levels no matter what.”

Some of the Ehsaas’ active initiatives that touching the lives of millions of people include Ehsaas Kafaalat, Ehsaas Emergency Cash, Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship, Ehsaas Nashonuma, Ehsaas Langars, Ehsaas Interest Free Loans, Ehsaas Amdan, and several others connected to the Ehsaas poverty survey.

Talking about some major Ehsaas initiatives, Sania said that Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme delivered one-time cash grants to 14.8 million deserving households (100 million people) with disbursements reaching Rs. 179 billion.

In the last one and a half year, Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships granted 50,762 need cum merit-based scholarships; Ehsaas interest-free loans supported more than 1 million borrowers (46% women) and Ehsaas Amdan transferred small income-generating assets worth Rs. 2 billion to 34,812 deserving households. Under Ehsaas Nashonuma, 48 Nashonuma Centers are being opened in 13 districts of the country to tackle stunting.