World Bank will provide $50 million to Pakistan for launching "Pakistan Social Protection Project" to reduce poverty and inequality and promote human capital investments among the poor families through the provision of direct monetary transfers and incentives.
Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet of World Bank revealed that WB and IDA assistance under the proposed project would aim to contribute to these ultimate objectives of poverty reduction and human capital development among poor families.
The objective of the proposed project is to strengthen the ability of the FSP and CSP programmes to play an effective role in the country strategy to reduce poverty and inequality and to foster investments in human capital, as well as to assist the Pakistan in the development of a minimum package of social care services for the poor structured around these programmes.
Pakistan Social Protection Project proposes to support the Government of Pakistan (op) in the development and implementation of a minimum assistance package targeted to poor households with the objective of increasing the effectiveness of social protection interventions in Pakistan in terms of both poverty alleviation and promotion of human capital accumulation.
Recent economic growth has significantly contributed to poverty reduction in Pakistan, with the poverty rate declining from 34 to about 28 percent between 2000-2001 and 2004-2005 (the latest available data). This improvement could be felt both in urban and rural areas, as well as across all four provinces.
Specifically, WB report said that under Phase-1 of the project would support the effective strengthening and implementation of the Food Support Program (FSP) and Child Support Program (CSP) programs and of a minimum package of social care services.
EFFECTIVENESS WOULD BE ASSESSED IN TERMS OF:
(I) the targeting, coverage, and adequacy of the benefits/services;
(ii) efficacy of the CSP conditionalities (co-responsibilities) to foster investment by beneficiary families in human capital; and (iii) the capacities of involved institutions (including ministries, program staff, service providers, and beneficiary groups) to manage these programs efficiently, to monitor results, and to (begin to) evaluate impacts.
Under Phase-2 of the Project would consolidate and deepen the reforms, further perfecting the design of the programmes based on experience under phase-1.
Such second generation reforms might include measures to enable scaling up/down depending on country conditions, further strengthening of M&E, additional administrative efficiency gains, possible development of complementary social protection instruments/services for poor people who are highly vulnerable but do not have children (and thus are not eligible for the co-responsibility requirements of the CSP); and development of mechanisms to enhance prospects for self-sufficiency of poor families.
Achievement of these goals and the ability to monitor them adequately will be evidence of improvement in the institutional framework and capacities for the program. Progress towards the ultimate objectives of poverty reduction and human capital accumulation will be difficult to assess and to attribute to the program during the project life span with statistical rigor.
Nonetheless, the project will include both baseline and follow-up work to evaluate program impact on educational performance, in addition to building upon the results of the first phase of the impact evaluation of the CSP pilot.
To achieve the objective of "Pakistan Social Protection Project", WB stated that the project will include activities aimed at reaching the very poor (ie, the poorest 10-15 percent of the population), designing and implementing a minimum assistance package for this group, and, more generally, strengthening the overall capacity of the government for the effective provision and implementation of social protection.
IN PARTICULAR THE PROJECT WILL BE STRUCTURED AROUND THREE COMPONENTS:
A. Design and implementation of an effective targeting mechanism for social protection interventions. The project will provide technical and financial support for the development of a targeting instrument for the FSP and CSP programmes, as well as other social programmes. Activities under this component will include:
(I) Technical assistance to the design of targeting tool;
(ii) Technical validation, including discussions with government representatives and others as well as piloting of new instrument;
(iii) Implementation.
B. Design and implementation of a minimum assistance package for the very poor, with a focus on cash transfers and social care services. With respect to cash transfers, the project will support ongoing reform efforts within PBM, including the strengthening of the FSP and the implementation of the CSP. With respect to social care services, the project will support innovations in delivery models in order to increase effectiveness and impact and to promote complementarities between such services and cash transfers. Activities under this component will include:
(iv) Development of effective mechanisms in PBM for program management, including, entry (enrollment) and exit, monitoring of conditionalities under CSP, and benefit payment;
(v) Design and implementation of innovation fund or similar mechanism for the delivery of social services to poor households;
(vi) Development of a communications and social accountability strategy to improve beneficiaries understanding about rights and responsibilities under various programs, and their capacities to hold service institutions accountable.
C. Institutional capacity building. The project will support activities aimed at strengthening supervision and implementation capacity at the federal, provincial and district levels, as well as at articulating policy making across these three levels of government around the National Social Protection Strategy.
The team is currently considering the potential inclusion of a fourth component that would directly finance both cash transfers and social care services on a performance-based manner. The team would like to receive management guidance on this issue, however, prior to any discussions with the Pakistan. The main rationale for the inclusion of such component would be to strengthen the alignment of incentives between the Ministry of Finance and the MoSWSE regarding project and programme implementation.
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