‘One Window Ehsaas Centre’ termed great milestone to serve common man

Islamabad:International Development Partners during their visit to the ‘One Window Ehsaas Centre’ in Sitara Market on Monday termed it as an impressive initiative to facilitate the common man.

International Development Partners delegation along with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar, visited ‘One Window Ehsaas Centre’ in Sitara Market.

The official delegation consisted of Christian Turner, British High Commissioner; Najy Benhassine, country director, World Bank; Chris Kaye, country director, WFP; Annabel Gerry, development director, FCDO; Knut Ostby, resident representative, UNDP Pakistan; Tobias Becker, country director GIZ; Stephen Langrell, team leader rural development and economic cooperation, EU delegation to Pakistan; and Luis Gorjon, chief social policy, UNICEF.

The delegation was briefed on the ‘One Stop Shop’ operations of Ehsaas which integrate all benefits and services for 14 different target groups in one space. They were also apprised that ‘One Window Centres’ will be expanded to all districts nationwide to enable rule-based delivery of the multiple Ehsaas programmes through a single window.

International Development Partners of Ehsaas took stock of the wide ranging ‘One Window Ehsaas’ services and met beneficiaries being served. They gained first-hand experience around how ‘One Window Centre of Ehsaas’ was helping people to access all Ehsaas services and benefits under one roof by facilitating procedural requirements.

Having all Ehsaas services at one place, facilitates Ehsaas beneficiaries who previously needed to go to many offices to get their issues resolved, said Dr. Sania. The delegation widely lauded the ‘One Window Ehsaas Operations’ and appreciated that for the first time in the country, a comprehensive single window operation had been formulated to facilitate a common man.

Knut Ostby, Resident Representative, UNDP Pakistan commented, Very impressed today by the visit to Ehsaas One Window Centre. Access to wide range of services for health, education, social protection, financial inclusion, income generation. Ambition is for these to be established in each district.

Many congratulations Sania Nishtar! Impressive new ‘Ehsaas One Window Centre’ Islamabad, remarked Annabel Gerry, Development Director, FCDO. On the occasion, Secretary Ismat Tahira, DG Noor Rehman, DG Naveed Akbar and DG Khalid Siddiq were also present from Ehsaas.

The one window centre houses wide ranging services including Ehsaas Kafaalat, ATM machines of partnering banks for payment, Nadra office for biometric verification, and desks for ‘Ehsaas Education Stipends’, ‘Ehsaas Nashonuma,’ ‘Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship’, ‘Ehsaas Amdan’ and ‘Ehsaas Interest Free Loan’, Ehsaas Digital internet café, ‘Ehsaas Langar’, ‘Ehsaas Tahafuz’ along with a desk to serve differently abled, shuttle service to take people to ‘Panagahs’, Ehsaas Utility Store for the forthcoming targeted subsidies, fully equipped training room, survey registration desk, retiring room for women, information and complaint desks and several others.

Ehsaas one window initiative has six components: Its first component is Ehsaas centre, whereas others include back office digital interface; a public facing digital information and services platform; a mobile app; cognitive API architecture the integrated database; and the Ehsaas One-Window Beneficiary Selection and Targeting Policy. Prime Minister had inaugurated this first ‘One Window Ehsaas’ on June 9, 2021.