Bait-ul-Maal, Zakat fund Irregular payments hamper safetynet programmes: World Bank

The World Bank has said that Pakistan's safety net programmes like Bait-ul-Maal and Zakat fund are hampered by a number of factors including infrequent and irregular payments to the beneficiaries, inadequate administration arrangements and weak implementation, monitoring and evaluation capacity.
According to the information available at its website, the WB says that Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal and the Zakat fund have limited coverage (reaching only approximately five percent of the total population) and are poorly targeted, as around 25 and 32 percent of resources distributed by these programmes, respectively, was going to non-poor households.
The Bank says that Pakistan has now established the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) that provides income support in the form of cash transfers of US$12 per month to 3.5 million of the poorest families. To determine eligibility, the programme uses an objective 'poverty scorecard' and the information yielded through this initiative has helped the government to set up a National Poverty Data Registry - the first in the South Asia region.
The Social Safety Net Technical Assistance Project of BISP assisted by the World Bank. To date, the national rollout of the Poverty Score Card through door-to-door census is nearing completion, covering approximately 27 million households. So far, around six million families have qualified for cash transfers under the eligibly cut-off score. Additionally, a number of third party evaluations and spot-checks have been instituted to strengthen control and accountability of the programme.
BISP is preparing to launch the Co-responsibility Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme in September 2012 to link cash benefits to primary school enrolment and attendance of BISP beneficiaries' children, the Bank says.
The Asian Development Bank and the US Agency for International Development have provided 150 million dollars each to finance cash transfers to beneficiaries identified through the Public Score Card targeting system.
The WB says that BISP's main challenges in future focus on expanding the programme's coverage to seven million identified beneficiaries, introducing co-responsibilities such as primary education, entrenching its operational systems and strengthening public communication and outreach, and proactively engaging with provinces for achieving ease in implementation and sustainable impact at the grassroots level.