Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) drafted by the (Social Safety Net Project, Component-IV) Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning and Development, for promoting social protection in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) was discussed at the meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Commissioner, Islamabad, Jawad Paul on Monday.
According to MoU, the ICT Administration will develop social protection policy for federal capital in consultation with all stakeholders and shall bring all social protection initiatives under the ambit of the social protection policy. Jawad Paul said the ICT Administration fully supported the draft of MoU to further promote the social protection in ICT and forwarding the same to the Ministry of Interior for approval.
The MoU provides that the Ministry through Social Safety Net Project will provide required technical assistance to ICT Administration in developing social protection policy in the area. Both the Government agencies will work jointly for developing action plans/strategies to implement the policy to extend all possible benefits to the people of ICT. The Ministry, through the project, will develop a national framework of social protection based on the provincial/regional social protection policies and will assist ICT Administration in developing a monitoring system, a mechanism for tracking progress, its reporting, need assessment for capacity building, design of capacity building plan and its implementation. It was informed that Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning and Development is implementing Component-IV of Social Safety Net Project (SSNP) that envisages providing technical assistance to Provincial/Regional Governments in developing their respective social protection policies.
Meeting was attended by Dr Lubna Shanaz, Social Protection Policy Expert; Ms Rehana Afzal, Monitoring and Evaluation Expert; Shahid Naeem, Project Manager, Deputy Chief Poverty, Alleviation Section, Ministry of Planning and Development, Director, Development/Finance, ICT, Rana Akbar Hayat, Director, Population and Women Development, Women Programme Officer and District Zakat Officer, Islamabad.-PR