ISLAMABAD: United Kingdom has reiterated its support to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to help deserving families.
DFID has agreed a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the BISP Secretariat and the Economic Affairs Division of the Ministry of Finance.
Desmond Swayne Member Parliament, UK’s Department for International Development, who is currently on a visit to Pakistan, in a call on meeting to Chairperson BISP Marvi Memon said, the MoU covers three new agreements
It brings forward some of the core financing for the Programme and agrees to support the enrolment of 500,000 children of BISP beneficiary families in primary schools through a supplementary conditional cash transfer till 2017, said a news release issued here on Thursday.
It agrees to support beneficiary communication and outreach and use of DFID funds for updating the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) which helps verify that all BISP beneficiaries are amongst the poorest people in the country.
The NSER will also help other provincial and federal programmes to identify and reach the poorest more effectively through other programmes.
DFID has supported BISP since its inception, committing 300 million to the programme from 2012 to 2020.
DFID support is primarily to the national cash transfer programme providing women from the poorest households a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500.
DFID is also supporting BISP’s education conditional cash transfer (Waseela-e-Taleem) to encourage the poorest families to send their girls and boys to school.
Desmond Swayne MP, Minister of State for International Development said that “DFID will continue to support the Government of Pakistan in expanding and strengthening the country’s largest national social safety net.
This support is vital to empowering nearly five million women from some of Pakistan’s poorest families through monthly stipends, he stated.
These stipends, he added, allow them to buy essential items such as food and medicine, and protect them from shocks such as illness or unemployment, which can push families deeper into debt and poverty.
“Alongside the main unconditional cash transfers, BISP’s use of supplementary conditional cash transfers is an impressive example of how to use small incentives to encourage the poorest families to educate their children.”
He said education boosts the economy, broadens outlooks, and offers a brighter future for young people by giving them skills to improve their lives and employment opportunities.
Marvi Memon, Chair of BISP, said, BISP is vital to reach the poorest and most vulnerable to build a more inclusive Pakistan where everyone has the opportunity to fulfill their potential for contributing in national economic growth.
She said, “We intend making BISP the pride of Pakistan by offering seamless service, targeted products to give dignity, and a medium of lifted empowerment to our most vulnerable.”
