Clarification

This is in response to the News Story "BISP accused of not targeting poorest segment of society" carried by Business Recorder on February 8, 2012. The targeting ie identification of BISP's beneficiaries' was carried out through a Nation-wide Poverty Scorecard survey which was one of its kind in the South Asia region and acknowledged as one of the four best such surveys carried out in the world.
Through this survey, the data of almost 27 million households was collected in every nook and corner of the country and as a result 6 million beneficiaries have already been included in the programme. USAID in its recent monitoring report has declared BISP's targeted payment as the best with an accuracy rate of 98.6% which highlights the efficiency and transparency of the systems employed by BISP.
Despite every effort, it is implicit that for an exercise of such a magnitude and spread, few "inclusion" and "exclusion" errors cannot be ruled out. Even in similar programmes carried out in other countries, there have been errors for which mechanisms have to be evolved to address them. BISP is well aware of all such issues and, therefore, has put in place a comprehensive case management system ie a grievance redressal system.
Through this system, appeals can be lodged against the inclusion of any non-poor in the programme for any reason. In all such cases, BISP conducts an enquiry and if it finds the appeal to be valid, such family may be excluded from the programme. On the other hand, if any deserving family is left out of the programme, it may be included in BISP's programme after review of an appeal.
As far as the audit of BISP's accounts is concerned, it can be proudly claimed that the Office of the Auditor General of Pakistan is regularly conducting financial and performance audit of BISP and has declared all such audits as being satisfactory. BISP puts lot of emphasis in ensuring transparency and effectiveness of its endeavours, launched throughout the country for millions of its beneficiary families. In order to ensure more transparency and third party validation it is using independent sources. These third party validations are already underway, for example Process Evaluation is being undertaken by a UK based firm m/s GHK International. Similarly, Spot Check Study is being undertaken by M/S Innovative Development Strategies (IDS). On the other hand, Oxford Policy Management (OPM) is carrying on a baseline study for Impact Evaluation. All of these third party validations are focused on key activities of BISP such as Poverty Survey, Data Processing, Payment to Beneficiaries and Beneficiary Grievance Redressal. World Bank is providing financial and technical support for these third party evaluations which have been awarded using World Bank's stringent Procurement Guidelines.
In addition, it is pertinent to highlight that all donors and development partners of BISP regularly undertake annual audits of BISP's accounts before releasing next tranches. Most of the times, these organisations conduct third party validation on their own. During the past 3 years, continued and increasing donor support for BISP is a manifestation of their confidence in the transparent and credible systems employed by BISP. BISP also has an independent Internal Audit Wing reporting directly to the BISP Board and it also undertake regular internal audits.
BISP has achieved international recognition due to its technology based and transparent systems; the World Bank especially the President World Bank, the UN Secretary General, US government, British government through DFID and Asian Development Bank have appreciated BISP's performance and have also provided financial and technical support to BISP. This fact itself is reflective of BISP's performance and transparency it has employed in its operations.
The reporter has also mentioned allocated budget for BISP and the amount actually spent by BISP. BISP has expanded its operations a lot in last three years. Thus while the financial demands have increased but at the same time one needs to look at the budget actually released to BISP each year. The budget for BISP is announced at the start of a financial year but due to current financial constraints, full amount is not released by the Finance Ministry and BISP has to limit its operations as per the released amounts.
Towards the end, the reporter has tried to prove that India's social safety programme is better as it is providing direct cash transfers. It should be understood that BISP launched same system three years back and other countries like India had already shown their interest in replicating the programme in their countries. BISP introduced the system of targeted subsidies rather than general subsidies which have proved more than useful in supporting down trodden segments of the society. BISP has provided direct cash to female household head so she can spend the money as per her liking thus giving socio-economic empowerment to the females.
Through Business Recorder, we would want the general public to contact BISP directly by calling our Toll Free Number 0800-26477 for lodging of complaints and making any queries. Also, Appeals regarding inclusion and exclusion in BISP programme can be lodged at the nearest BISP Office. BR staff reporter adds: The reporter stands by her story.