ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar Wednesday said that Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) implementation research platform would be established soon.
She was chairing a research meeting here where findings of research conducted by Oxford Policy Management Group (OPM) were presented, said a press release.
Department for International Development (DFID) has contracted Oxford Policy Management (OPM) to execute the third-party beneficiary feedback, operational review and monitoring assignment for BISP cash transfer programs.
This assignment is spread over a period of two years and findings were presented at the ‘Stakeholder Workshop on Learning from Beneficiary Feedback and Process Review of BISP’.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sani Nishtar said that BISP was undergoing a multi-pronged process of reform and that process was heavily being guided by evidence.
She said that the reforms embodied creation of a new payment system, a new national census level Socio-Economic Survey, a new communications strategy and new program windows, especially configuring BISP’s operations around Kifalat and Tahafuz. The reforms also embodied deeply rooted changes at the governance, risk assurance and management and operational levels and that at every stage, they were drawing on evidence to make changes.
She further added that “in addition to findings of formal process evaluations, she was relying on audit reports—internal and external—third party reports, reports from management information systems, complaint management systems and monitoring and evaluation insights to garner the evidence needed for the changes being introduced”. “Integrity of operations was the foremost priority”, she further added.
Dr. Sania Nishtar said that BISP’s Kifalat was a very important social safety programme of the government of Pakistan; however, it was part of the much bigger “Ehsaas” initiative.
“Ehsaas” is the flagship programme of the prime minister being implemented with 29 federal ministries, divisions, agencies and public sector departments for structurally reforming the social protection and poverty alleviation in the country.
