Two Social Protection Programs in Pakistan Ijaz Nabi*

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290 Ijaz NabiThe program has also been evaluated by the United States Agencyfor International Development (USAID) under its Budget SupportMonitoring initiative. As per its findings, 98.69 percent of beneficiariesreceived their cash payments: 32 percent via banks through mobilepayments, 25 percent through the Pakistan Post, and 41 percent viasmartcard. Almost 81 percent spent, on average, a day (or two hours) orPKR 175 to receive the cash grant. This was slightly higher for Balochistan(PKR 200). In 60 percent of the households, senior female members decidedhow the cash grant was to be used; the rest made joint decisions.The implementation of cash transfer programs has beenaccompanied by systematic efforts to measure their effectiveness andunderstand their broader impact on household behavior. The BISPundertook a baseline study (recently completed by Oxford PolicyManagement) that is being used as part of a wider impact assessment ofthe program. The baseline provides data against which to measure theBISP’s impact through future surveys, focusing on 11 pre-agreed areasranging from poverty and consumption expenditure to child nutrition,women’s empowerment, and the uptake of education and health serviceson which BISP could reasonably be expected to have an impact.The results of the baseline reiterate that the BISP’s intendedbeneficiaries have larger families with a high dependency ratio and loweducational attainment, and that are prone to more illnesses than the rest ofthe population. Children in eligible households are more malnourishedthan in noneligible households. Overall, the findings were broadly in linewith the National Nutrition Survey, with 43 percent of children recorded asstunted, 15 percent as wasted, and 35 percent as underweight. Similarly,the baseline provides details on indicators of household consumption,major shocks, coping mechanisms, and the use of financial services. Thestudy’s scope, sampling, and data collection approach will be incorporatedin a comprehensive medium-term impact evaluation plan.The Office of the Auditor General completed a financial audit of theBISP for 2010/11 and 2011/12 in October 2012. The audit report deemedthe progress and operations of the program satisfactory and did nothighlight any serious problems. The BISP has responded to the auditobservations and the audit report will be finalized after a meeting of theDepartmental Accounts Committee. The report will be submitted to theBISP’s board once finalized. An internal audit is also in process and will besubmitted to the board in the near future.
Two Social Protection Programs in Pakistan 2911.3. Waseela-e-Taleem (Primary Education Program)The BISP has recently launched the co-responsibility cash transferWaseela-e- Taleem. The program aims to encourage BISP beneficiary familieswith children aged 5 to 12 years to send their out-of-school children toprimary schools (and allow currently enrolled schoolchildren to continuetheir education) in return for cash transfers with the long-term prospects ofhuman capital formation that would help them move out of abject poverty.This involves a cash transfer of PKR 200 per month paid quarterly (PRs 600per child) for up to three children in each BISP beneficiary family in returnfor their compliance with the co-responsibilities of school admissions and aminimum 70 percent quarterly attendance. The BISP intends to implementthe program using a phased approach, which involves testing the programin selected districts first and then rolling it out on the basis of learning fromthe test phase.The most significant aspect of this initiative is the compliancemonitoring of the co-responsibilities by beneficiary families. The coresponsibilitiesinclude gaining admission in schools for primary educationand maintaining at least 70 percent quarterly attendance. The benefits ofnoncompliant families/children will be suspended following twoconsecutive cases of noncompliance with the program’s co-responsibilities.The compliance monitoring process is implemented by the districteducation departments in close coordination with BISP tehsil offices.The program uses an optical mark recognition-based compliancemonitoring process. The quarterly attendance sheets of children from BISPbeneficiary families whose school admission has been verified are enteredinto the BISP’s management information system for Waseela-e-Taleem(generated at BISP tehsil offices) and handed over to the educationdepartment officer concerned at the tehsil level. Education supervisorsfrom the local education department then collect the attendance sheets fortheir respective schools and pass them on to the schools, who record theattendance of BISP beneficiary children as per the training provided byBISP’s Waseela-e-Taleem training firm. The completed forms are thenresubmitted through the same channel they were received.The program’s field operations started on 8 October 2012. Theprogram was officially launched on 9 November 2012. As of 22 January2013, a total of 21,116 families have enrolled in the program in threedistricts of Cluster A whose 51,127 children were identified and issuedadmission verification certificates by enrolment centers under Waseela-e-
Page 4: 286 Ijaz Nabithe world’s best tec
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Page 22: 304 Ijaz NabiAnnexTable A1: Poverty

Two Social Protection Programs in Pakistan Ijaz Nabi*

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