Riaz Missen

The UNDP’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report of the outgoing year claims achieving remarkable results worldwide vis-à-vis reducing extreme poverty, enhancing primary school enrolment of girls and bringing down child and maternal mortality but equally highlights the challenge ahead: “Lack of safe sanitation hampering progress in health and nutrition, biodiversity loss continues apace, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to pose a major threat to people and ecosystems”.

The report, which carried on its title page the photograph female brick-kiln workers, said the economic slowdown in the developed world must not be allowed to decelerate or reverse the progress that has been made. Terming eradication of inequality and pressing on food security, gender equality, maternal health, rural development, infrastructure and environmental sustainability, and responses to climate change as the longstanding goals, it emphasizes on the role of governments, civil society and private sector in this regard.

Even governments around the world achieve the targets set for 2015, more than 600 million people will still be using unsafe drinking water, one billion living under and around poverty line, mothers continuing to die needlessly in childbirth, and children suffering and dyeing from preventable diseases.
Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General UN, noted in the preface of the report that eradicating hunger and ensuring that all children complete their primary education were the targets that remained unfulfilled. “Achieving the MDGs depends so much on women’s empowerment and equal access by women to education, work, health care and decision-making,” he added while pointing out unevenness of progress within countries and regions, and the severe inequalities among populations, especially between rural and urban areas.
Pakistan may not be standing at par with many developing countries, which are fortunate enough to have peaceful neighborhood and have no ideological burdens to carry. Still, what has been done here amidst all the chaos and anarchy following the War on Terror, both on its western border and its soil, is nothing less than miraculous.

Those most amazing aspect of Islamabad’s efforts vis-à-vis eradicating extreme poverty from its soil, though the funds and resources dedicated to this cause are far lesser than rooting out militancy, constitutes adopting the strategy to this end suggested by UN Secretary General. During last five years has shown enough progress on empowering women as a means to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The political leadership of the country, which had jointly struggled to restore democracy through peaceful means, also took care of the people duly affected by international economic recession and the War on Terror through establishing Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) as an independent authority - patronized by President and Prime Minister and managed by a high powered Board headed by its Chairperson -through the Act of the Parliament in 2010.

Dedicating its social safety net to a female political leader, who was assassinated by extremists, gave a clear message to the world, in and around, that political leadership across the divide was as united in favor of the underprivileged section of the society as it was opposed to religious extremism. More, the program is also being led by a female politician, Farzana Raja, who has earned lot of praise as well as assistance from international donors for running the program efficiently and honestly - she is spending only 30% available resources on running the administration.

BISP conducted countrywide Poverty Survey/Census for the first time and collected the data of 27 million households. The poverty census completed in record time of one year across all Pakistan including Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and FATA. The allocation for the financial year 2012-13 is Rs 70 billion to provide cash assistance to 5.5 million families, which constitutes almost 18% of the entire population. The Program aims to cover almost 40% of the population below the poverty line. Recently the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to give BISP $200 million to bring the left-outs into its social safety net.

More than 7 million beneficiary families have been identified through Poverty Scorecard Survey for disbursing Rs1000/month through ‘branchless banking system’ (Smart Card, Mobile Phone, and Debit Card). Called as Martial Plan and having focus on poverty alleviation through empowering the women, more than Rs146 billion has been disbursed to the deserving and needy of the country with complete transparency in about 4 years time through the elected representatives of the people, regardless of their party affiliation.

To make people independent financially rather than perpetually depending on government support, BISP is providing interest free loans up to Rs 300,000 to help recipients set up small businesses. The most striking feature of this program is that the female beneficiary is the sole owner/proprietor of the business and the counseling, monitoring and training for starting the business is provided through Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF).

A total of 10,000 young males and females have been trained and another 20,000 are currently undergoing training. The target is to train 150,000 students every year. Pakistan is also providing through its social safety net insurance cover of Rs.100, 000 in the case of the death of the bread earner of the poor family registered with the authority. With a view that health shocks are the major reason for pushing people below the poverty line, Rs25000 health insurance is being provided to the poorest families for the first time in Pakistan. Pilot phase has been launched from Faisalabad.

Finally, as the Poverty Survey had indicated, millions of poor children never attend any school due to financial limitations. Waseela-e-Taleem Program has been initiated with generous help of the World Bank and DFID, to send 3 million children to school through additional cash incentives of Rs.200 per child. “The BISP was designed to alleviate the poverty through empowerment of women in the country, and, in addition, it is helping to materialize the dream of making Pakistan a welfare state,” a top official of the BISP says, adding that the work of 15 years has been done in just four-and-a-half years, and if the program continues for other 10 years, it would help reduce poverty across Pakistan by 10 per cent.

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