‘Social Protection Policy to help curb poverty’

LAHORE:A consultative session on Punjab's Social Protection Policy (draft) at the Planning and Development Board was held to invite feedback and comments on the policy drafted by the government to support the most marginalised in the province.

Chairman P&D Board, Abdullah Sumbal chaired the session with CEO Punjab Social Protection Authority, Beenish Sahi as co-chair. The policy design and development have been supported by FCDO’s Sub-National Governance Programme. More than 26 government departments, SNG advisors, FCDO representatives, World Bank, UN agencies, and academia participated in this session.

Chairman P&D on the occasion said that the policy provides a great opportunity for the government to integrate all social protection interventions under a consolidated policy framework.

More than 120 social protection initiatives are being run in Punjab but in the absence of a policy framework, monitoring and sustainability of these interventions become difficult. He lauded the support of development partners especially SNG in formulating the policy and supporting P&D and PSPA.

He further added that this policy is comprehensive especially in envisaging how to tackle not just income related poverty but to tackle inter-generational and multi-dimensional poverty and enable people to graduate out of poverty in a sustainable manner. Sohail Anwar, SNG's governance advisor while presenting the policy said that once implemented, this comprehensive policy will contribute towards resilient and shock responsive systems in Punjab and ensure an equitable social structure.