International Development Association (IDA) is planning to provide 75 million dollars for Fata Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs) Emergency Recovery Project to support the early recovery of families affected by the militancy crisis, promote child health, and strengthen emergency response safety net delivery systems in the affected areas of Fata.
According to a project report of World Bank, Fata comprises a group of small administrative units in the north-west of Pakistan, placed between the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and the neighbouring country of Afghanistan. Years of regional instability underpinned by decades of the poor governance have shaped the crisis that continues to unravel in Fata. Although significant efforts have been made in recent years to introduce legal and institutional reforms, marginalisation and inequity continue to prevail as the current legislation and institutional framework are inadequate for addressing Fata's considerable development challenges. While poverty rates for Fata have been estimated about 60 percent. Subsequently, socio-economic indicators for Fata have been significantly lagging behind the national average, the WB project report added.
WB report mentioned that in recent years, Fata and KP experienced significant militancy crises. In early 2009, the government launched major security operations to root out the local pockets of militants. Significant damage to physical infrastructure and services led to a large number of Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs) losing their homes and livelihoods - approximately 3 million people were displaced. Given the severity of the situation, the government has carried in 2009 a post-crisis needs assessment (PCNA), resulting in four strategic objectives aiming to address the drivers of the crisis. To facilitate the implementation of these objectives, nine key sectors were identified, such as social protection, governance, education, infrastructure, and health. It was pointed out that the KP, Fata and Balochistan Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), established in 2010 and administered by the Bank, is one of the main financing mechanisms to roll out the implementation of PCNA.
In response to militancy, in June 2014, the Army launched a second security operation in various agencies of Fata. Approximately, 315,000 families have moved out. With success of military operations in most areas, the Government has started the TDPs' repatriation process and until May 2015 about 24,000 families have voluntarily returned to their homelands. Returning families require immediate support to restore their livelihoods and restart their lives. To address these challenges, the Government, international organisations, and national NGOs are contemplating relief and rehabilitation assistance. The government has already started the provision of relief measures such as a lump sum grant of Rs 35,000 ($350) per beneficiary family. Moreover, the Fata Sustainable Return and Rehabilitation Strategy (FSRRS) was formulated by the government in March 2015. Under the FSRRS, social protection was identified as one of the top priority sectoral interventions, with cash transfers as an important tool for the emergency response and recovery.
The timeline for the FSRRS as envisaged by the Fata Secretariat is 24 months (2015-2016), linked to a phased return of the TDP families planned to be completed by December 2016. The 2010 PCNA and the recent FSRRS both recognise the importance of safety nets in post crisis situation and recommend cash transfers as the appropriate tool in the early recovery phase to assist the rehabilitation of displaced population. The proposed project builds on the FSRRS recommendations and aims to directly support the implementation of the recovery and rehabilitation phases of the Strategy. In parallel, projects supported by MDTF and other development partners will contribute to the reconstruction phase by building service delivery systems that can strengthen the state-citizen relationship and ensure the sustainable and long-term development of Fata, WB report added.
In the context of the social protection sector, the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), WB report mentioned that a national safety net supporting the poorest households of Pakistan, is in place since 2008. The Government uses an objective targeting mechanism based on a poverty scorecard for identification of beneficiaries. More than 90 percent of beneficiaries receive their payments through technology based mechanisms. This regular safety net covers about 150,000 families out of a total of 220,000 Fata families registered in the National Socio-Economic Registry. It is estimated that about 30 percent of households in Fata are receiving some form of safety nets, among which 90 percent are provided through BISP. The BISP coverage in F ATA is envisaged to expand as the security situation becomes favourable to conduct the poverty scorecard survey for beneficiary identification.
In addition to the poverty scorecard, the BISP targeting mechanism relies on biometric identification and verification of beneficiaries, supported by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). The NADRA database and its Computerised National Identification Card were also efficiently used to provide cash support to approximately 1.1 million families affected by the 2011 floods.
WB report also pointed out that the Fata is lagging behind in terms of child health indicators compared to the rest of Pakistan. In the aftermath of the militancy crisis and with the return of TDP families, the already inadequate child health outcomes are expected to deteriorate further. In addition, stunting rates in Fata are close to 50 percent and 30 percent of children are classified as underweight. Only 40 percent of children in Fata are fully immunised with a very large contribution to polio cases within the country. The situation requires urgent interventions to address both supply and demand side challenges. The National Immunisation Support Project (NISP), currently prepared by the government with Bank support, aims at strengthening immunisation systems and access to services to improve immunisation coverage nation-wide. In addition, the Government has started to address the low polio immunisation rates in Fata by providing polio immunisation to children of TDP families in camps and at the Fata entry check-points.
The WB hoped the Project Development Objective is to support the early recovery of families affected by the militancy crisis, promote child health, and strengthen emergency response safety net delivery systems in the affected areas of Fata. This component will support the early recovery of approximately 120,000 TDP families from Fata through; (i) a one-time Early Recovery Grant (ERG) of $350 per family and; (ii) a Livelihood Support Grant (LSG) of $160 per family in four monthly instalments of $40.
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