The federal government has tasked its 34 agencies and all federating units to implement Ehsaas Programme which, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government claims, is the largest social safety initiative in the history of Pakistan and aims to bring 10 million poor families in social safety net.
The details are part of the Ehsaas Strategy, a detailed document about Ehsaas Programme launched by Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety Division (PASSD) on Monday.
The 57-page document says that Ehsaas is the "biggest and the boldest pro-poor and pro-equality programme ever launched in Pakistan. It is an overarching coordinated whole-of-government umbrella initiative and its objectives are to: address elite capture and make the government system work for equality of opportunity; provide effective and comprehensive safety nets for the marginalized and the vulnerable; create livelihoods and jobs for the poor; invest in people for human capital formation; and lift lagging areas."
According to the document, the programmes' goals and targets are: safety net for at least 10 million families; livelihood opportunities for 3.8 million individuals; financial access to healthcare for 10 million families; scholarships and education incentives for five million students (50 per cent girls); financial and digital inclusion for seven million individuals (90 per cent women); enabling environment for poverty reduction; and equality promoting multi-sectoral partnerships and innovations.
It says non-governmental stakeholders - private sector, civil society, philanthropy community, academia, and international partners - will also be invited to contribute to Ehsaas in an appropriate framework.
The Ehsaas Strategy paper says that for the chronic poor, the cash transfer system of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is undergoing reform under the theme of 'Kifalat.' "To protect the poor against catastrophic risks, 'Tahafuz' is being launched-Pakistan's first shock-oriented precision safety net. There is a suite of policies for the differently-abled. For the first time, welfare initiatives are being introduced for the elderly poor, the homeless and the most marginalized (orphans, street children, seasonal migrants, transgender community, victims of child and bonded labour, daily wage workers and substance abusers). There is an emphasis on developing normative capacity in the safety nets area, particularly with regard to developing standards, which can help tap the potential of the private sector and philanthropy more optimally. For the first time, enhanced interventions are planned for the welfare of Pakistani workers abroad and policies are being developed in an evidence-based manner to incrementally accrue social security benefits to workers in the informal sector."
The document reveals that the federal government intends to launch one-window social safety operations under 'Ehsaas One-Window,' with the merger of all the federal-government run social safety organisations in Ehsaas Programme. Currently, there are not less than 198 social safety organisations operating in Pakistan.
"Several assessments have pointed to the fragmented nature of social safety net arrangements in Pakistan. Overall, safety nets in the country comprise a large number of small, thinly spread (in terms of resources) and weakly coordinated overlapping programmes. Overall there are 198 safety net institutions/programmes in the country."
Before commencement of Ehsaas, as per the document, various federal safety net/poverty alleviation-related institutions were reported to different ministries, which constrained policy coherence and coordinated operations. The BISP (Benazir Income Support Programme) and PPAF (Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund) were attached to the Finance Division. Zakat came under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony. Bait-ul-Mal was attached to the Cabinet Division. The Centres for Social Entrepreneurship and Rural Development were under the Planning Commission whereas a dormant Trust for Voluntary Organizations was under the Economic Affairs Division. Immediately after the launching of the Ehsaas framework, PASSD was established. Under Ehsaas all the federal social protection agencies were placed under the stewardship of PASSD. "This step has been instrumental in promoting policy coherence and reducing fragmentation. It will enable the creation of a One-Window Ehsaas operation with ease. Managed by the Division, the creation of the One-Window Ehsaas for all social protection operations will assist beneficiaries of social protection and reduce duplication and abuse," the document reads.
It cites Planning Commission's consumption-based estimates which suggest that poverty in Pakistan has declined from 57.9 percent in 1998 to 24.3 percent in 2015, but it still remains 'unacceptably high.'
"A much higher percentage of the population faces non-monetary deprivations. Prevalence of multidimensional poverty is 38.4 per cent (including education, health and living standards). There are stark regional disparities in the prevalence of poverty. Rural multidimensional poverty headcount is as high as 55 per cent, in contrast to urban areas where only nine per cent of urban population is multidimensionally poor. Disparities are also found at the district level, where some districts in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have more than 90 per cent of the population living in multidimensional poverty while several urban districts like Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi have less than 10 per cent of their population as multidimensionally poor. Therefore, there is strong evidence and public policy rationale to address poverty and inequality. As a long-term umbrella initiative, Ehsaas is one of the vehicles through which the government envisages implementing its vision for a welfare state. There is a short-term requirement to prioritise its Safety Net Pillar in view of any economic hardship that may arise as a result of the current fiscal austerity measures."
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