News

January 9, 2021 – South Waziristan: SAPM made a visit to Wana, South Waziristan to launch Ehsaas survey and meet local tribal jirgas. “I appeal to tribal Jirgas to facilitate survey teams when they go door to door in the region to collect household data. Poverty profiling of the households is being done through a computer aided system and would be completed in the next few months,” Dr. Sania stated while addressing a Jirga, adding that government has executed the new Ehsaas survey on apolitical basis so that no deserving family is left out from the flagship social protection programme. Further, she said, “Ehsaas National Socio-economic Registry Survey is nondiscriminatory in nature and has been rolled out nationwide to benefit the vulnerable irrespective of their religion, ethnicity or area. Tribal people should participate in the survey to get benefits from a multitude of conditional and unconditional cash transfer programmes under Ehsaas.”

January 9, 2021 -Tank: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Tank district in KP along with Ehsaas team to meet the local tribal jirgas. The survey is 65% complete in Tank. She briefed the elders and influentials of tribal jirgas on the purpose and end-to-end digital approach of ongoing Ehsaas survey. “Ehsaas has launched a new digital survey in southern districts of KP including Tank to benefit deserving households through Ehsaas”, said Dr. Sania. During the visit, she also held a media briefing with the local press and media in Tank to describe the methodology and approach adopted for the Ehsaas survey. She answered the questions of the local media regarding Ehsaas survey and several cash transfer programmes under Ehsaas for the underprivileged. Earlier, Dr. Sania visited a local household in Christian Hospital Colony, Tank to examine the digital registration process through the survey. Full footage of media briefing can be accessed here.

Jan 8, 2021- Dera Ismail Khan: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a visit to Dera Ismail Khan and briefed local media on the ongoing Ehsaas survey in the district. She interacted with the local press and media to create awareness on the Ehsaas National Socio-economic Registry survey. Later, Dr. Sania visited a survey site outside the district in Thoya Fazil area to inspect the digital registration process of the local household through survey. “The survey is currently 22 percent complete in Dera Ismail Khan and is progressing smoothly to accomplish soon. Nationwide, the Ehsaas survey on poverty profiling stands 61% complete and will be concluded before June 2021”, the statement quoted Dr. Sania as saying. Connecting with the masses in Dera Ismail Khan, Dr. Sania also appeared in the Radio Pakistan’s Ehsaas special programme and apprised listeners about ongoing Ehsaas initiatives including survey in southern districts of KP. Full footage of media briefing can be accessed here.

January 7, 2021- Islamabad: Following the due diligence process, Ehsaas Emergency Cash payments to families of eligible dead beneficiaries have been ongoing since December 2020 and so far, 24,829 families have withdrawn cash nationwide. Overall, 169,107 applications were received by Ehsaas till September 30, 2020 out of which 65,954 have been processed; of these 5,024 cases were ineligible. Furthermore, of the currently approved 60,930 applications, payments are currently being made to 23,464 families and bank accounts of 12,637 families are being opened and analysed this month. Also, SMS messages featuring details of payments to next of kin of dead beneficiaries are being sent accordingly. The scrutiny of 103,153 applications is presently ongoing and once the due diligence is completed, the disbursements will be made to all eligible applicant families till February 28, 2021.

January 6, 2021- Islamabad: The Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over a briefing meeting about the measures for Ehsaas “no one goes to sleep hungry” programme. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed the PM in detail about the initiative. The Prime Minister was told that as per his vision, the provision of meals would be ensured through Ehsaas under a coordinated strategy after the identification of areas facing the danger of food shortage. PM while appreciating proposal of providing food to deserving people stressed to ensure on priority basis the identification of such areas where people were deprived of two-time meals due to economic hardships. Dr. Sania also briefed the PM about Ehsaas Donor Portal under which besides the receipt of donations at individual and institutional levels, the donors would also be able to get details of expenditures through digitalised and automated system. After the completion of preparatory work, this programme will be launched by the end of first quarter of current year.

Jan 6, 2021 – Islamabad: A maiden meeting of the Ehsaas steering committee for Waseela-e-Taleem Digital, an education conditional cash transfer programme was convened under the chair of SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar. The steering committee members were briefed on the massively reformed Waseela-e-Taleem Digital that has been scaled up through end-to-end digitization, cost effective changes in institutional infrastructure, new stipend policy, and nationwide expansion across all districts. The steering committee reviewed the programme performance, discussed the way forward and explored options to enhance the outcomes of the programme capitalizing on conditionalities introduced in the programme. The meeting brought together members of the steering committee from Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Education and Professional Training, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Education Departments from provinces including AJK and GB who were joined by Waseela-e-Taleem Digital operations team.

Jan 4, 2020: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar conducted a review session with participants of 113^th National Management Course at National Management College Lahore. The session was part of the mandatory training for civil servants organized by the Establishment Division. Dr. Sania reviewed the work of the group of  specialized domain training workshop of the course comprising senior officers who had developed a national policy and strategy paper on social protection. During the session, she also briefed the audience about new directions in social protection.

Dec 30, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the joint meeting of Risk Assurance and Management, and Audit Committees of BISP board, where a number of agenda items were discussed. Since Ehsaas’ operations are largely digital, it is critical to ensure that IT safety measures are in place; more than 100 steps have been taken to secure the IT system in that regard over the last 2 years, since she took over, Dr. Sania informed the committee members. “We will be organizing a hackers competition inviting ethical hackers to outline our vulnerabilities”, she said. Ehsaas will be the first public sector entity to implement a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy that is intended to give ethical hackers clear guidelines for submitting potentially unknown and harmful security vulnerabilities. The discussion of the Risk Committee mainly centered on internal and external audits, Ehsaas Risk Registry, Error Fraud and Corruption Framework, implementation of security safeguards within the organization and setting up of the Cyber Control Wing. Also, under observation were Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy and Observatory and how the organization was faring against 23 indicators of the policy and observatory to gauge the performance of BISP.

Dec 30, 2020 – Islamabad: Provincial Minister of Punjab for Livestock and Dairy Development, Sardar Hasnain Bahadar called on SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar. He shared important insights about the importance of livestock for improving the lives of the disadvantaged under Ehsaas Amdan. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Muhammad Ali Shahzada and Secretary BISP, Yousuf Khan were also present.

Dec 27, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made an unannounced visit to Tarlai Panagah (shelter home) in Islamabad. The visit meant to spot-check the quality of food and shelter services being provided to needy labourers. During the visit, she interacted with the labourers and staff at the Panagah and checked the compliance of prioritized catering and living standards.

Dec 24, 2020 – Islamabad: To explore what the government needs to do to support private sector that runs old age homes, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a surprise visit to an old age home in suburbs of Islamabad. She was accompanied by Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Mal. At the old age home, she met with the elderly people living there without families and reviewed facilities.

Dec 24, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar convened a half day strategy session to plan the second generation reforms under the Ehsaas Kafaalat. The session was attended by the BISP team responsible for the implementation of Kafaalat programme. BISP is one of the 34 executing agencies of Ehsaas. The meeting featured a working session on improving the quality of service for Kafaalat beneficiaries, which later presented recommendations for onward reforms.

Dec 23, 2020 – Islamabad: Chairing a conference on national initiatives to address gender based discrepancies and for the promotion of legal, economic and social empowerment of women, President Dr. Arif Alvi said that women could not be empowered without their economic empowerment. Speaking at the closing session of the event, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar outlined myriad measures taken under the Ehsaas 50%+Benefits Policy to stipulate equality and socio-economic transformation of disadvantaged women. The conference was also attended by Law Minister Farogh Nasim, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood, Information Minister Shibli Faraz, SAPM on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan, and others.

Dec 23, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas held a consultative meeting with the World Bank to discuss the data protection bill. The discussion took place at the BISP headquarters and was attended by SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar, senior officials of Ehsaas and experts from the World Bank.

Dec 21, 2020 – Islamabad: At the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD), SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar convened two back to back Ehsaas meetings. The first meeting was held with Ehsaas Tahafuz team to take stock of progress and review where last-minute snags need to be addressed before the pilot execution. The second meeting took place with the Ehsaas Delivery Unit team to review the cadence of delivery across several components of the Ehsaas program. In both meetings, Secretary PASSD and Joint Secretary PASSD were also in attendance.

Dec 18, 2020 – Islamabad: The 44^th board meeting of BISP took place at the BISP headquarters in Islamabad. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting. BISP is one of the 34 implementing agencies of Ehsaas. Since Dec 2018, when Dr. Sania took over as a board chair, 15 BISP board meetings have been held and all board sub-committees are regularly meeting in line with the Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy. The board meeting was attended by Secretary BISP, Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, and senior officials and representatives from the Finance Division, Economic Affairs Division, NADRA and private sector.

Dec 18, 2020 -Islamabad: Ehsaas virtually hosted a knowledge sharing session on, ‘Digital & Financial Inclusion’ with global experts and international practitioners. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar joined the session together with Ehsaas team. The session aimed to discuss transition towards opening of mobile wallets for Ehsaas beneficiaries, who are at the bottom of the pyramid. With the view to review and reflect on experiences and lessons gained, the session brought together practitioners from South Africa, Bangladesh, Columbia and Pakistan.

Dec 18, 2020 – Rawalpindi: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar visited a Panagah (shelter home) in Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi. She interacted with the residents and inquired about their well-being. She also took round of the Panagah to see the infrastructure and facilities. Chairman Rawalpindi Development Authority briefed her about the arrangements made at the facility to serve food and shelter to the deserving in this extremely cold weather. Dr. Sania appreciated the state of cleanliness and well managed facilities at the Panagah. Talking to newsmen, Dr. Sania said that Prime Minister has instructed the launch of more Panagahs for the deserving and in the next phase, Panagahs across the country would gradually be remodeled.

Dec 17, 2020 – Sialkot: Under the newly introduced model, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar inaugurated the digitally enabled Ehsaas survey, in Pakistan’s most industrialized district, Sialkot. The inaugurated model is principally centred on the fast-track approach to implement the survey across Sialkot in collaboration with provincial school education department of Punjab under the technical supervision of Ehsaas. The new survey is being rolled out in all areas of Sialkot through computer assisted approach. While in Sialkot, Dr. Sania also held an interactive briefing with the media to brief them on the progress and constraints with regard to the ongoing national Ehsaas survey. “The entire survey registry is expected to be completed across the country before June 2021”, shared Dr. Sania. Later, she also visited a local household in the Sialkot Tehsil of the district to oversee the digital enrolment of the family through survey.

Dec 14, 2020 – Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan was briefed that the World Bank (WB) has doubled its assistance for Ehsaas, which would ensure social protection of maximum deserving people through the program. The PM was told this during a meeting with SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar and Country Director World Bank Najy Benhassine, who called on him. The World Bank’s Country Director declared the Ehsaas program as a flagship social protection program of the government and a role model for other countries. The PM directed Dr. Sania to formulate a comprehensive strategy for the expansion of Ehsaas program.

Dec 14, 2020 – Islamabad: Chairing a meeting at the Aiwan-e-Sadr , about the registration of special persons, President Dr. Arif Alvi appreciated measures being taken under ‘Ehsaas Kafaalat Policy for Special Persons’ to address the needs of special persons and encourage their active participation in the society. He also underlined the need for simplifying the process of registration of special persons to facilitate them. The meeting was attended by SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar, Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Usman Yousuf Mobin and other senior officials. The President was briefed by Dr. Sania and NADRA Chairman on the steps currently being taken for the registration of special persons.

Dec 11, 2020 – Islamabad: Early morning, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a surprise visit to the campsite at Karachi Company, Islamabad. During the visit, she interacted with agents of partnering bank- HBL and Kafaalat beneficiary women who had arrived to withdraw Kafaalat cash. During the visit, Dr. Sania was pleased to find that the two police functionaries meant to be there on time were present and were fulfilling their duties. It was followed by another surprise visit to Panagah at G-9, Islamabad. At the Panagah, she witnessed that all the staff including shift incharge and accountant were there in office. The cleaner was cleaning and a houseboy was changing sheets and everything was in order. Dr. Sania was informed that more than a 100 daily wagers had slept in the Panagah last night.

 Dec 11, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar and Country Director, The World Bank Pakistan, Najy Benhassine conducted a knowledge sharing session on one window delivery models. The session brought together international experts from around the world to exchange global experience and best practices centred on one window solutions. “Ehsaas is structuring One Window operations which is a single-window information and service approach for better access to multiple Ehsaas programs. This global experience sharing will help us refine our One Window strategy”, said Dr. Sania.

Dec 10, 2020 -Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited by PIDE to address a webinar, ‘Street Vendors in Islamabad – Voices from the Ground’.  The event was meant to present voices of both regulators and regulatees of local street economy. Addressing the webinar, Dr. Sania said, “Thank you PIDE for your work in the area of ‘Street Vending’—a critical contributor to livelihood promotion for the poor.” She further added, “Thanks for conducting a recent street vendors’ survey and sharing details. It will result in a more participatory approach for a strive to resolve this intractable issue.” Other expert panelists who came to the table were- Shahid Mahmood Member Planning Capital Development Authority, Shafaq Hashmi Chief Officer Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad, Zia Banday Senior Fellow PIDE, Fazal Hayat Coordinator of Street Vendors’ Survey Team, and Bedar Bakht and Muhammad Sajid Street Vendors from Karachi Company Islamabad. PIDE has teamed up with Ehsaas to establish an evidence-based support for the government to streamline governance and livelihood of street vendors in Pakistan.

Dec 10, 2020 – Islamabad: Islamabad: In a press conference jointly hosted by Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MOIB) Pakistan, Sir Michael Barber connected virtually from UK to unveil his independent report entitled, ‘The Ehsaas Programme: Shift from politics of patronage to politics of performance’, together with SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar and Federal Minister for MOIB, Shibli Faraz. The full footage of the press conference can be watched here. Sir Michael Barber is the Chairman and Founder of Delivery Associates. He is one of the world’s leading education reformers, and from 2001 to 2005 was Chief Advisor on Delivery to Prime Minister Tony Blair. His Ehsaas report mainly analyses the first year of the Government’s flagship programme. Outlining the initial steps taken to establish the programme to be transparent, multisectoral and results-driven, it goes on to highlight some of the major achievements to date. The full report can be accessed here.

Dec 10, 2020 – Islamabad: Together with senior Ehsaas officials, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made an early morning visit to the payment campsite in Kahuta to meet Kafaalat beneficiaries. The visit holistically reviewed Kafaalat operations in the field so that evidence-based improvements can be made where needed. Dr. Sania also reviewed special arrangements that were made with regard to prevention against spread of the COVID-19. She was briefed on Kafaalat payments in the area by Assistant Commissioner, Kahuta and Assistant Director of Ehsaas in Kahuta. Later, Dr. Sania also visited a biometric ATM at the local branch of partnering bank, HBL to witness Kafaalat cash withdrawals.

Dec 9, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar held a meeting with Ehsaas team to track the status of Ehsaas Delivery System that is end to end digital. During the meeting, she thoroughly reviewed the status of implementation of more than 140 Ehsaas  actions, initiatives and programs. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) and Additional Secretary PASSD were also present in the meeting.

Dec 9, 2020 – Islamabad: A meeting was held between the Advisor Finance and Revenue, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar at the Ministry of Finance in Islamabad. The Advisor Finance and Dr. Sania discussed different options with regard to the wheat subsidy. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division Secretary Finance also joined the meeting.

Dec 8, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar met with the Prime Minister Imran Khan to give an overview of the progress of several social protection and poverty alleviation initiatives under the umbrella of Ehsaas. The PM was briefed on the data analytics and data cleaning system within Ehsaas, status of Ehsaas Kafaalat payments and integrity promoting measures, phase wise execution of Ehsaas Survey, and the upcoming Ehsaas Tahafuz and One Window Ehsaas initiatives. Dr. Nishtar also briefed the PM about amendments being made in laws of Pakistan Bait ul Mal in terms of its mandate to support Panagahs.

Dec 8, 2020: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar along with Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division Muhammad Ali Shahzada convened a meeting to review preparations for Ehsaas Tahafuz. The Ehsaas team working on the upcoming program briefed Dr. Sania on progress for the pilot roll out of Tahafuz. Concluding the meeting, Dr. Sania commented, “Tahafuz is Pakistan’s first shock-oriented precision safety net being introduced under the umbrella of Ehsaas. We are close to completing Tahafuz operations to protect the vulnerable against catastrophic health expenditures.”

Dec 7, 2020: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to join the annual meeting of the SUN Lead Group (SLG) 2020 in her capacity as a lead group member. The participants met virtually to decide on the continuation of the SUN Movement into its next phase. The SLG is appointed by the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres. Its 28 members guide the SUN Movement in its mission toward a world free from malnutrition, in all its forms, by 2030. Along with Dr. Sania Nishtar, other SLG members include; Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina President of the African Development Bank from Nigeria, David Beasley Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Annette Dixon Vice President World Bank Group Human Resources from New Zealand, Chris Elias President Global Development of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Shenggen Fan Chair Professor of China Agricultural University from China, Henrietta H. Fore Executive Director of UNICEF and Chair of the SUN Movement Lead Group, Sophie Healy-Thow Youth Leader from Ireland, Shinichi Kitaoka President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency and several others.

Dec 5, 2020 – Mianwali: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar along with Ehsaas team made a visit to the Ehsaas Kafaalat campsite and ATM facilities in Mianwali to review payment operations in the district. At the campsite, she met with Kafaalat beneficiary women to identify payment issues and provide easy solutions. The visit also featured meetings with regional stakeholders, district administration and the partnering bank- HBL. Since the payments have begun at the start of this week, Dr. Sania and her team is in the field everyday to gain insights for improving the quality of the massive Ehsaas Kafaalat disbursal operations in the country.

Dec 4, 2020 – Islamabad: Safeguarding specialized measures to resolve payment issues being faced by recipients of Ehsaas Kafaalat, a web-portal has been launched by Ehsaas to receive complaints of biometric failures. The new portal has been designed to solicit applications of Kafaalat beneficiaries in an easy four-step process. As part of the complaint mechanism, Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, staff of partnering banks- Habib Bank Limited and Alfalah Bank and field staff of Ehsaas will be able to generate complaint applications of biometric failures by entering full name, Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) number and contact number of beneficiary along with his or her own contact number to facilitate easy tracking and follow up. With the submission of online application, the portal instantaneously auto-generates the unique reference number for each Kafaalat applicant. Portal here.

Dec 4, 2020 – Rawalpindi: To meet Kafaalat beneficiaries and gain insights, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited a school-site camp in Kallar Syedan Tehsil of Rawalpindi. During the visit, she met with women who were waiting for their turn to receive payment. She sat with them in the queue, listened to their problems, and assured easy solutions. She also advised the bank and Ehsaas regional staff to process payments speedily so that Kafaalat recipients do not have to wait too long for collecting their stipends. Senior representatives of district administration Rawalpindi were also present at the site.

Dec 4, 2020 – Islamabad: The President of Pakistan Dr. Aif Alvi convened two back-to-back meetings; one on financial inclusion for the differently abled and the other centered on financial inclusion for women. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar and Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr. Reza Baqir joined for the briefing since State Bank and Ehsaas have an important role in both areas. Other stakeholders including Chairman Pakistan Banks Association (PBA)/President Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Muhammad Aurangzeb and the CEOs/Presidents of 27 leading banks of the country also participated via video-link. Addressing the meeting, President Dr. Alvi emphasized that it was essential to bring differently-abled and women into the mainstream and empower them socio-economically.

Dec 3, 2020 – Attock: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a visit to Ehsaas Kafaalat payment camp in Hazro. At the site, she met with Kafaalat beneficiaries who were waiting for their turn to receive payment. “It was heartbreaking to hear the stories of women lining up to receive Kafaalat cash. Most of them were wives of daily wage earners and had a sick member in the family, but it was also deeply humbling to learn how much they value Ehsaas cash, said Dr. Sania while talking to media. Later, she met with Kafaalat recipients at Habib Bank’s ATM in Hazro to get their feedback on the quality of service. During the visit, she was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of the area.

Dec 3, 2020 – Islamabad: This international day of special persons, the Ehsaas Kafaalat Policy is being expanded to benefit 2 million families with at least one disabled person. Taking to twitter @ImranKhanPTI, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, “Two million families will benefit under the new ‘Ehsaas Kafaalat Policy for Special Persons’. They will be eligible for a monthly stipend of Rs. 2000. This is a step toward a disability-inclusive, and sustainable post COVID-19 world.” The 7 million families which are currently eligible under Ehsaas Kafaalat fall under the poverty ranking threshold of 29 that is determined by the Proxy Means Test. Under the new “Ehsaas Kafaalat for Special Persons Policy”, this threshold is being increased to 37 for such households with at least one special person. These households will now be eligible to get Ehsaas Kafaalat cash. “Ehsaas believes in an inclusive approach to ensure that special persons in our society are not left behind and they can assess equal opportunities. Realizing the Ehsaas’ commitment to uplift the special persons, each family with a special person will now get Rs. 2000 per month through Kafaalat. Only one benefit per family will be given”, said SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar.

Dec 2, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas convened a meeting with Provincial Minister for Health Punjab Dr. Yasmeen Rashid and Secretary Health Punjab. The meeting was chaired by SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar. The virtual session featured useful discussions to collaborate and ensure there is no duplication vis-a-vis Ehsaas Nashonuma and Nutrition Project of the provincial government of Punjab.

Dec 2, 2020 – Islamabad: To oversee Kafaalat cash withdrawals through ATM, Dr. Sania went to an HBL branch located at Melody Market in Islamabad. During the visit, she assessed the quality of cash withdrawal services through ATMs, interacted with Kafaalat beneficiaries and explained to them how to withdraw Kafaalat cash and check their balance on an ATM. “The Ehsaas digital payment system encourages women to go to biometric ATMs and branches of banks, empowering them through financial inclusion, said SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar while briefing media. “I would encourage Kafaalat beneficiary women to withdraw cash through ATM machines of designated partner banks, wherever possible. It will not just protect them from corrupt financial mistreatment, but bank branches and ATMs also serve them with a receipt detailing transparent record of available cash balance in their saving accounts”, she further added.

Dec 1, 2020 – Islamabad: The Ehsaas Kafaalat tranche for the period July 2020 – December 2020 has been released this week. With the release of Kafaalat tranche nationwide, biometrically enabled payment operations have also been mobilized in the entire country to serve Kafaalat recipients. To review arrangements, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a visit to a Kafaalat Payment site in Tarnol area of Islamabad. At the site, she met with Kafaalat beneficiaries who had arrived to collect Rs. 12,000 payment for the period July 2020-December 2020. She also witnessed biometrically driven cash withdrawal demonstrations along with COVID-19 protective safeguards. Later in the day, Dr. Sania also visited Panagah (shelter home) being built in Tarnol. She took round of the site and reviewed the progress of construction work. Aon Abbas Buppi, Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Mal gave an overview of the construction work being done at the site. PM’s Focal Person on Panagah Naseem ur Rehman and other senior officials were also present.

Nov 30, 2020: UNDP hosted a high-level webinar on ‘#NextGenGov- Whole of the Government Integrated Social Protection Policy Response to COVID-19’. The regional learning session brought together senior policymakers spearheading ‘whole of government’ approach in their social protection policies and systems to reflect on the lessons of COVID-19. Three countries were invited- Pakistan, Malaysia and Canada. Together with SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar, Dr. Jamila Mahmood, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Pia Andrews Advisor to Government of Canada shared the ‘whole of government’ experiences in their respective countries. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sania outlined the experience of Ehsaas Emergency Cash and how the programme pioneered a new policy approach. She described how a ‘whole of the government approach was adopted to deliver emergency cash assistance to 15 million vulnerable countywide.

Nov 30, 2020 -Islamabad: With the commencement of Ehsaas Kafaalat tranche countrywide,  SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar met with the Ehsaas team to review operational matters first thing in the morning. “Integrity and transparency is our core priority in these operations, she emphasized. Later in the day, Dr. Sania virtually convened operational meeting with field stakeholders. “This time we are encouraging beneficiaries of Ehsaas Kafaalat to also use ATMs for receiving payments. The first report from the field (Punjab & Sindh) after a few minutes of opening of payments shows more withdrawals from ATMs compared with withdrawals through agents”, said Dr. Sania while addressing the meeting.

Nov 30, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was called on by Julien Harneis, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan at Ehsaas Headquarters in Islamabad. The meeting was just a courtesy call. Secretary BISP Yusuf Khan was also present on the occasion. Thanking the UN Resident Coordinator for his visit, Dr. Sania said, “Ehsaas values its collaboration with the UN system.”

Nov 30, 2020 – Islamabad: A meeting was held between SAPM Dr. Sanai Nishtar and Minister for information & Broadcasting Shibli Faraz to review Ehsaas’ beneficiary centred and instructional-in-nature communications strategy. The meeting explored how best the two Ministries could exploit synergy with regard to the role of Ehsaas communications. In the meeting, Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Secretary Ministry for Information and Broadcasting, Principal Information Officer and other senior officials from Ehsaas and Information Ministry were also present.

Nov 27, 2020 -Islamabad: Prime Minister visited the Ehsaas Kafaalat Payment site at Jinnah Sports Complex in Islamabad to kick off payments to 7 million beneficiaries. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed the PM about several measures that have been taken to improve the quality of payments and to ensure protection against cyber-attacks. This time round, women can access banks and take money out from ATMs. The Ehsaas Kafaalat payment will be made in phases. Phase-I has commenced today where payments would start for 4.3 million women beneficiaries. Each beneficiary will be paid Rs. 12,000 covering the period Jul-Dec 2020. PM has already given approval to increase this number to 7 million women. Payments to additional beneficiaries will be made Dec 2020 onwards and the process will be completed in the current fiscal year. During the visit, the PM was also shown the trial run of the operations of “Ehsaas One Woman One Bank Account”. From next year onwards, Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries will have the option of either drawing their money or saving money into digital wallets.

November 26, 2020: Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation held a virtual meeting with Gerda Verburg, Coordinator and UN Assistant Secretary-General, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting discussed several important matters related to Nutrition. The SUN Movement Secretariat is based in Geneva and is responsible for liaising with SUN Countries and ensuring the catalytic spirit of the Movement is embedded in the efforts of all actors.

November 25, 2020: Aga Khan University Institute for Global Health and Development hosted a webinar on Women in Science and Global Health. Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation was invited to speak at the webinar alongside Anita Zaidi Professor, Division of Women and Child Health, AKU and President of Gender Equality, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The event was moderated by Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, distinguished University Professor & Founding Director, Institute for Global Health and Development, Aga Khan University.

Nov 25, 2020 -Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to speak as a guest of honour at an event hosted virtually by UNICEF Pakistan. The theme of the event was, “Together for babies born too soon – Caring for the future.” Speaking at the event, Dr. Sania shared details about the recently launched Ehsaas Nashonuma programme with a view to building synergy. Other speakers included Dr. Nausheen Hamid from Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination, Prof. Dr. Irfan Waheed Head of Neonatology at Children’s Hospital Lahore, Prof. Dr. Syeda Batool Head of Gynaecology at PIMS Islamabad, Prof. Dr. Rubina Sohail Head of Gynaecology at Services Hospital Lahore and Aida Girma Country Representative UNICEF Pakistan.

Nov 25, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar along with senior official of Ehsaas connected with Chief Secretary KP and Provincial Minister of Education KP in a high-level virtual meeting. The meeting discussed progress and constraints with regard to the Ehsaas survey underway in KP under the new model. “With regular stocktakes, the already good momentum of the Ehsaas Survey will accelerate further”, commented Dr. Nishtar. She also thanked the KP government for all their support and facilitation in the execution of the Ehsaas survey across the province.

November 24, 2020 – Islamabad: The BBC has revealed its list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2020. This year 100 Women is highlighting those who are leading change and making a difference during these turbulent times. This is an absolute honour for Pakistan that this year’s BBC list includes SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar, who leads Ehsaas programme along with Sanna Marin, who leads Finland’s all-female coalition government and Sarah Gilbert, who heads the Oxford University research into a coronavirus vaccine. This distinction has been conferred upon Dr. Sania for her work and contribution in poverty alleviation, global health and development. “The dramatic impact of Covid-19 presents us with a once-in-a-generation chance to build a fairer world and bring an end to poverty, inequality and the climate crisis. For this, women must be equal, empowered stakeholders”, said Dr. Sania. The list of BBC 100 Women can be accessed here.

November 23, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar met with UNDP Pakistan team led by Tariq Malik, Chief Technical Advisor on Digital Governance. The meeting aimed to think through ways in which digital interventions can help Ehsaas in improving quality of Ehsaas survey data, case management, and grievance redressal systems.

Nov 23, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar convened a half-a-day meeting with Secretary Yusuf Khan to review the three year technology transformation plan for Ehsaas program. The technology transformational plan was presented by the new DG technology. The review meeting took stock of the progress so far and discussed clear milestones for the next three years.

Nov 21, 2020 – Peshawar: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar together with Ehsaas team officials visited Peshawar today to track Ehsaas Survey interventions rolled out three months back as part of the new survey model in KP. While in the provincial capital, Dr. Nishtar was briefed about the progress of an ongoing Ehsaas National Socioeconomic Registry Survey operations in various districts of KP including Malakand, Karak, Tank, D.I. Khan, Bannu, Hangu, Kohat, Swabi and Peshawar. Following the briefing, she went to an Ehsaas Survey site at Sikandarabad, Peshawar to oversee the ongoing Ehsaas survey activities. At the site, she witnessed the Ehsaas survey demonstration with  a local household and made an appeal to families across the country. “Please collaborate with survey staff when they come to your houses and help them access data, which becomes the basis of the socioeconomic status and that determines eligibility/entitlements with regard to the Ehsaas program”, she said.

Nov 21, 2020 – Peshawar: Ehsaas’ partnering bank, Bank Alfalah had organized a series of technical training sessions this week for their retail agents in KP, GB and AJK. This training was part of preparations for the upcoming tranche of Ehsaas Kafaalat to be released next week. The training sessions basically aimed to train the Bank Alfalah retail agents to better execute digital payments to Ehsaas beneficiaries in the field. To connect with the bank’s retail agents from the field, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited a training site in Peshawar. During the visit, she interacted with the Bank Alfalah staff and retail agents and listened to their experiences with regard to the biometrically enabled Ehsaas Kafaalat disbursements in the field. Dr. Nishtar advised retail agents to ensure utmost transparency in making cash disbursements to the Ehsaas Kafaalat families. Bank Alfalah is responsible for Ehsaas disbursements to Kafaalat beneficiaries in KP, GB and AJK.

Nov 20, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas’ partnering bank, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) had organized a series of technical training sessions this week for their Konnect retail agents in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. This training was part of preparations for the upcoming tranche of Ehsaas Kafaalat to be released next week. The training basically aimed to train the HBL Konnect retail agents to better execute digital payments to Ehsaas beneficiaries in the field. To connect with retail agents from the field, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited a training site in Islamabad. During the visit, she interacted with the HBL staff and Konnect retail agents and listened to their experiences on the biometrically enabled Ehsaas Kafaalat disbursements in the field. Dr. Nishtar advised retail agents to ensure utmost transparency in making cash disbursements to the Ehsaas Kafaalat families. HBL is responsible for Ehsaas disbursements to Kafaalat beneficiaries in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.

November 18, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired a meeting with the team working on the design of the Ehsaas Tahafuz pilot. The meeting reviewed the integrity and transparency features of Ehsaas Tahafuz program. “Giving priority to transparency is key in forthcoming Ehsaas Tahafuz. We are making sure the system is fully watertight from integrity perspective”, said Dr. Nishtar. The Ehsaas team has been working for the last year and a half to set up institutional arrangements and the technological backbone for this shock oriented safety net under the Ehsaas umbrella. Tahafuz aims to protect people from catastrophic health expenditures and is being pilot tested in one hospital, this quarter, following which it will be scaled up in the last quarter of the year 2020-21.

November 17, 2020 – Islamabad: Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division and Ministry of National Food Security and Research came to the table to explore partnership options. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting at Ehsaas offices in Islamabad. The meeting discussed ways about how the two Federal Ministries could exploit synergies to serve people better. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Muhammad Ali Shahzada and Secretary National Food Security and Research, Ghufran Memon were also in attendance. The Ministry of National Food Security & Research is mainly responsible for policy formulation, economic coordination and planning in respect of food grain and agriculture.

November 16, 2020 – Islamabad: The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Policy Committee overseeing the Prime Minister’s COVID Relief Fund to review fund utilization details. The fund was established in March 2020 to raise funds for COVID 19 affectees. The fund received generous donations from within Pakistan and overseas. 4.8 Billion accumulated in the fund of which 1.08 was donated by international donors and 3.8 billion was contributed domestically. Earlier this year, the PM had publicly announced two policies with respect to this fund, committing that these funds would be disbursed through Ehsaas Emergency Cash to assist COVID 19 job loss affectees. Secondly, a “matching funds policy” was announced which stipulated that for every rupee donated into the fund, Rs. 4 would be matched by the Government. To fulfill this promise, Rs. 19.55 Billion have been matched by the Government—in total 24.43 billion. This amount has supported 2 million families, each of which received Rs. 12,000 each as Ehsaas Emergency cash through this funding stream (out of the total of 15 million who received Ehsaas Emergency cash).

Nov 14, 2020 – Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan has granted approval to increase the number of beneficiary households of the Ehsaas Kafaalat program from 4.6 million to 7 million. PM’s approval came in a meeting regarding preparations for the Ehsaas Kafaalat. Addressing the meeting, the PM said that the pandemic has adversely affected the poor populations and there is a dire need for furthering the scope of the Ehsaas program. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed the meeting that the COVID-19 crisis has increased the adversities of the marginalized segments worldwide and many countries have provided economic packages for the public good. She said that Pakistan is one of those countries which successfully fought against the pandemic and emergency cash assistance allocated by the government for the public welfare are being widely lauded by international organizations and the United Nations. The meeting was also attended by PM’s Finance Adviser Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and other senior officers. The Ehsaas Kafaalat is a flagship social protection program of the government that provides monthly cash stipend of Rs. 2,000 along with saving bank account to the disadvantaged women across the country.

November 13, 2020 – Turbat: The Prime Minister during his visit to Turbat was briefed by SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar about the nation-wide rollout of Ehsaas’ Taleemi-wazaef for primary school going children under Waseela-e-Taleem Digital program. The PM joined the children and their parents to witness new enrolments of deserving children in Waseela-e-Taleem Digital. Following a briefing on the recent deep-rooted reforms introduced in Waseela e Taleem Digital under the umbrella of Ehsaas, Prime Minister oversaw details of a girl child being entered in the end-to-end digital system. At the site, he also witnessed the payment being made to the child’s mother. PM also inaugurated newly established Dar-ul-Ehsaas for the orphans and poor children of southern Balochistan where free shelter, food and education would be provided. He also met with students of Turbat University who were awarded Ehsaas undergraduate scholarships last year.

Nov 12, 2020: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar joined the ‘Future of Development Strategy Lab on Futures and Complexity’ hosted by UNDP New York. Future of Development Lab brought together a diverse mix of experts from very different professions and walks of life to explore possible future trajectories for development. Other international experts included Aaron Maniam from Singapore,  Achim Steiner from Germany, Anne Marie Slaughter from USA, Azeem Ahar from UK, Sir Geoff Mulgan from UK, Herve Berville from France, Ian Goldin from South Africa, Luiz Alberto Oliveira from Brazil, Rebecca Ennonchong from Cameroon and Yoko Akama from Japan. The discussions revolved around different perspectives on possible futures, emerging trends and issues that will affect the international agenda and the choices leaders will have to make to adapt to this endlessly dynamic COVID-19 pandemic environment. The Strategy Lab has been set up by UNDP as an informal conversation among the participants.

Nov 12, 2020 – Islamabad: While unveiling details about nationwide rollout of Waseela-e-Taleem, under the Ehsaas umbrella, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar addressed a news conference. She stated that PM will launch Ehsaas ‘Taleemi-Wazaef’ tomorrow in Balochistan which will aid out of school children nationwide. Pakistan has been running an Education Conditional Cash Transfer for primary school going children called Waseela-e-Taleem since 2012 in selected districts. Now, this program is being expanded nationwide, representing a major quantum change. Sharing further details of the reformed program, Dr. Nishtar said, “Over the last year and a half, a comprehensive and deep-rooted reform was designed and deployed as a result of which far reaching changes have been made in the program. First, end-to-end digitization of a number of processes, which were previously managed manually. Secondly, cost-effective changes institutional infrastructure was developed to expand this program nationwide and reliance on NGOs was eliminated. Because of this, operational cost has been reduced from 8% to 3%. Third, the stipend given to children has been modified as per Ehsaas’ new Stipend policy. Children of poorest families will now be provided conditional cash grants of Rs. 1,500 for boy child and Rs. 2,000 per quarter for girl child on attainment of 70% attendance in school. Finally, and most importantly, the program is being expanded to all districts of the country.” Full Footage here.

Nov 11, 2020: SAPM Dr. Sania together with Ehsaas officials convened a consultative meeting with Asian Development Bank (ADB) team led by Shixin Chen, Vice President, ADB. The meeting featured discussions to explore options for collaboration between Ehsaas and ADB in future. Xiaohong Yang, Country Director ADB Pakistan was also present. Participants joined the meeting both physically and virtually.

Nov 11, 2020: A meeting was held between Ehsaas and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to discuss possible transition of Ehsaas digital payment system to the SBP led Micropayment Gateway. The meeting was chaired by SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar. From SBP, Dr. Reza Baqir, Governor came to the table along with Sima Kamil, Deputy Governor.

Nov 11, 2020: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar convened a meeting with Habib Bank Limited (HBL) team led by President HBL Muhammad Aurangzeb. HBL is a partnering bank of Ehsaas for biometrically enabled digital payments to Kafaalat beneficiaries across Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. The meeting discussed the working modalities of the upcoming release of Ehsaas Kafaalat tranche in the next week. The tranche will be comprised of Rs. 12,000 each for Kafaalat beneficiaries covering a period of six months (July 2020- Dec 2020).

Nov 11, 2020- Islamabad: At the National Consultative & Advocacy meeting on Trans Fat Elimination in Pakistan, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to address the keynote. The meeting was co-hosted by Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and World Health Organization. Keynoting the event, SAPM Dr. Nishtar emphasized on the critical need to finalize an updated National Action Plan and achieve consensus among all key stakeholders on legislative and administrative actions required for TFA elimination in Pakistan.

Nov 10, 2020 – Islamabad: The 43^rd board meeting of BISP was held at the BISP headquarters under the chair of SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar. BISP is one of the 34 implementing agencies of Ehsaas. The board deliberated upon an extensive 19-item agenda including expansion of Ehsaas Nashonuma, opening of mobile wallets for Ehsaas One Woman One Account initiative, establishment of Cyber Crime Control Wing, agreement with NADRA to ensure easy payments to next of kins under Ehsaas Kafaalat, constitution of steering committees for Ehsaas Nashonuma and Ehsaas Talemi-Wazaef and accident insurance coverage for monitoring teams of Ehsaas Talemi-Wazaef. A vibrant discussion took place, deep dive analysis was carried out and many important decisions were taken in the meeting. The board meeting was attended by Yusuf Khan Secretary BISP, Muhammad Ali Shahzada Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Ghufran Memon Secretary Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination, Additional Secretary (Exp.) Finance Division, and representatives of NADRA and EAD. Amongst private sector members, Zaffar A. Khan, Qazi Azmat Isa and Khawar Mumtaz attended the meeting.

November 9, 2020 -Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was a chief guest and keynote speaker at a virtual conference on ‘Poverty Alleviation, COVID-19, and CPEC’ co-hosted by Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) and Center for Chinese Legal Studies, Lahore University for Management Sciences (LUMS) as part of PCI’s ‘Friends of Silk Road’ Initiative. The conference hosted eminent speakers from Pakistan and China and a large audience consisting of students, faculty, and researchers from all over Pakistan. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation, The conference featured an insightful discussion on Pakistan’s existing Poverty Alleviation Strategy, COVID-19’s impact on Pakistan’s fight against poverty, and CPEC’s role vis-à-vis alleviating poverty in the neighbouring countries. The main purpose of the conference was to explore the Poverty Alleviation Strategy of China in an attempt to understand how Pakistan can learn from and employ China’s best practices. Dr. Sania Nishtar shared Ehsaas’ poverty alleviation strategy and termed that framing the issue of poverty with the Chinese experience is a ‘welcome and relevant initiative’.

Nov 9, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited as a chief guest at a dinner hosted by the British Council in honour of the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians UK team for bringing first ever MRCP (UK)  Clinical exams, PACES to Pakistan. Dr. Sania who herself is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London was pleased to see the highly prestigious MRCP exam starting in Pakistan. Other distinguished guests included Amir Ramzan Country Director British Council, Lt. Gen. Nigar Johar Surgeon General and Maj. Gen. Imran Fazal Director General Medicine Pakistan Army. From the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians UK, a very senior team of examiners including Dr. Donald Farquhar International Medical Director for MRCP Exams, Prof. Charles Twort, Dr. Peter Newman, Dr. Tanzeem Raza O.B.E. and Dr. Roderick Harvey were joined by their team in Pakistan led by Prof. Aamir Ghafoor Khan Lead Examiner for PACES in Pakistan and Head of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar. In Pakistan, the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians UK conducted the clinical exam of the MRCP UK between Nov 6-8, 2020. Pakistan is the first country in the world where these international exams have been held in an era of COVID-19.

November 7, 2020: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was asked to keynote the National Finals #SheLovesTech 2020; a globally acclaimed women-centric technology start-up competition in Pakistan. CIRCLE, a revolutionary tech start-up from Pakistan, organized National Finals, now the largest in the world. Connecting with incredible women entrepreneurs leading tech start-ups, Dr. Sania stated, “Economic empowerment of women is central to the agenda of Ehsaas.” In this edition, CIRCLE  hosted #SheLovesTech in 10 cities (Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad Sukkur, Multan, and Faisalabad etc) across Pakistan, in addition to AJK, while working with different NGOs, academic institutes, incubators and ecosystem partners across the country. CIRCLE also brought key incubators and stakeholders on board to execute the local rounds of the competition.  CIRCLE was supported by HBL, Pakistan’s leading bank to take #SheLovesTech Pakistan and grow women in technology.

November 7, 2020 – Islamabad: To monitor compliance to Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy and track progress, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar convened a meeting attended by the ancillary organizations of the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) namely BISP, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, Trust for Voluntary Organizations and Higher Education Commission. From PASSD, Muhammad Ali Shehzada, Secretary PASSD, Dr. Ismat Tahira, Additional Secretary PASSD along with senior officials also joined the meeting. Chairing the meeting, Dr. Sania said, “The meeting is part of regular Ehsaas reviews to assess status of compliance and progress against the Governance and Integrity Policy baseline before final one-year stock take that will be conducted in Dec 2020.” She then continued, “Implementation of the Ehsaas Governance Policy and Observatory is underway since last year. Since the roll out of the governance policy and observatory, the Ehsaas entities have shown improvements in the execution of the governance reforms and we are trying to make their systems as robust as possible. Transparency and integrity is at the heart of policy and observatory.”

November 6, 2020 – Islamabad: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar and Federal Minister for Power, Omar Ayub Khan convened a meeting to work out modalities of using Ehsaas data for power subsidies. Secretary Power Division, Ali Raza Bhutta and other senior officials were also present.

November 6, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas organized a virtual consultative meeting with experts from the World Bank to explore options around indexation of cash transfers in the Ehsaas Kafaalat programme. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting. “A policy decision on the indexation of cash transfers is critical in the context of COVID-19 related economic impact”, said Dr. Sania.

November 5, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a visit to Ehsaas Women Empowerment Center (WEC) in Burma Town, Islamabad. The WEC operates under the supervision of Pakistan Bait ul Mal that is one of the four main executing agencies of Ehsaas. At the centre, Dr. Nishtar met with deserving yet talented girls and women who were enrolled in complimentary skills training courses- computer literacy, beautician, dress designing and making, and hand and machine embroidery etc. She listened to the voices, concerns and suggestions of the girls. During the visit, the SAPM was joined by Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division and Managing Director Pakistan Baitul Mal. As part of major reforms brought under Ehsaas, the training courses offered by all 157 WECs in the country will be certified by National Technology Board by the end of this year. This will significantly enhance the credibility and acceptance of the women’s livelihoods skills in local economy. Every year, as many as 250 girls are graduated from each WEC to start their business or a job.

Nov 4, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas team working on the upcoming Tahafuz came to table under the chair of SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar to review and brush up the pilot execution plan of the programme. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) and Additional Secretary PASSD were also present. “Extensive one-year long work has been done on Ehsaas Tahafuz, Pakistan’s first shock-oriented precision safety net. This programme is aimed at protecting people from catastrophic health expenditures and is being pilot tested in one hospital, this quarter, following which it will be upscaled in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020-21”, said Dr. Nishtar.

Nov 4, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited National University of Technology (NUTECH) for policy consultation with the faculty and students who had been awarded Ehsaas Undergraduate scholarship last year. At the venue, Dr. Nishtar interacted with students to gain insights on their educational aspirations and key problems being confronted by them. Dr. Hassan Jalil Shah, Advisor Human Resource Development Division Higher Education Commission (HEC), Rao Muhammad Azhar, Project Director Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship and Rector NUTECH University were also present on the occasion. “To make the Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship programme more responsive, the voices of students are critical” said Dr. Nishtar. Students who were awarded scholarship last year and those who had applied this year gave very valuable suggestions about the programme. Overall, 49 eligible students of NUTECH were awarded Ehsaas scholarships in the year 2019-20.

Nov 4, 2020 – Islamabad: To oversee the new enrolments of deserving children in Waseela-e-Tasleem (WeT) programme, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar along with Ehsaas team visited Islamabad Model School for Girls and Mubeen Shah Model School for Boys at Jhang Syedan in the outskirts of Islamabad. During the visit, she met with the teachers, parents and children. WeT, the education conditional cash transfer programme has been ongoing for the last 8 years. The programme has undergone a massive reform with technology, now hardwired in its design, to checkmate collusion and pilferage. Sharing details of recently introduced reforms, Dr. Nishtar stated, “All institutional arrangements have been made to expand WeT, nationwide in all districts of Pakistan. 4 million primary school going children will benefit from this next year. And, under the umbrella of Ehsaas, the stipend for girls has been increased to Rs. 2,000 per quarter whereas the stipend for boys has been increased to Rs. 1,500 per quarter.”

November 3, 2020- Islamabad: In the Radio Pakistan’s Ehsaas special episode of programme ‘Rabta’ that is a daily national broadcast, Dr. Sania Nishtar apprised listeners about an ongoing Ehsaas Survey in the country. She said, “Ehsaas is conducting a door to door survey all over the country to collect data about the socioeconomic status of households. The survey is being done through a computer assisted approach.” She then explained, “An android-based tablet application designed for geotagged survey is being utilized to capture real-time household data for this purpose. Enumerators are going door to door and collecting information at the doorstep. Further, registration desks have so far been opened in every Tehsil of 57 Districts. These desks are facilitating those households to register themselves that were missed during the survey.” Listen here.

November 2, 2020 – Islamabad: Street Vendors, have remained an integral part of the urban economy around the world. In this context, PIDE organized a webinar in which a number of experts spoke about the context in which the street vending legislation is being developed in Pakistan. Experts included Zia Banday, Development Consultant & Initiator of Street Vendors Protection Project; Ahmed Bashir, Author of Street Vendors’ Protection Bill from Ahmed Bashir & Associates Law Firm; Umer Gilani from Law & Policy Chambers Firm; and Naveed Abbasi President, Khokha Association Islamabad. Experts and advocates talked about the need for comprehensive legislation. Vice Chancellor PIDE Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haque moderated the session. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar had been invited to keynote the webinar. Addressing the keynote, Dr. Nishtar said, “We had an initial consultation on the subject in March 2020 following which COVID-19 overtook everything but now we are resuming this dialogue. PASSD will work very closely with PIDE to bring this legislative bill for the protection of street vendors and to channel this bill in the government system.” She also termed this as a very important area for empowering the urban poor.

October 31, 2020 – Islamabad: Upon his arrival in Islamabad, the Turkish Chef Burak Ozdemir visited a Panagah (shelter home) at Tarlai. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar and PM’s Focal Person on Digital Media, Dr. Arsalan Khalid were also present at the Panagah. With over 476,000 followers on Twitter and a whopping 17.2million followers on Instagram, Burak is well known for his videos on serving massive portions of Turkish dishes worldwide. Few days ago, Burak in his video message on social media had shared that he would visit Pakistan this month. Sharing his plans, the renowned chef had said that he wanted to come to Pakistan and meet the people himself.  At the Panagah, demonstrating his culinary delights, the celebrity chef served meal to people present and this was his only culinary demonstration in Pakistan during the four-day visit.

October 30, 2020 – Islamabad: To meet and greet Eid Milad-un-Nabi to the resident orphans being supported under Ehsaas, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Dar-ul-Ehsaas Centre (Orphanage) at H-13 in Islamabad. A special Milad ceremony was organized by the children of Dar-ul-Ehsaas. Dr. Nishtar distributed gifts among the children and interacted with them over the lunch. On the occasion, Aon Abbas Buppi, Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Mal was also present. “This is the first time in the history of the country that Ehsaas Orphans and Orphanges’ Committee has developed basic operating standards to ensure quality care and service at all orphanages in the country. These standards are in their last stages of finalization and will be implemented soon nationwide”, said Dr. Nishtar. Dar-ul-Ehsaas Centres by Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal provide quality care and education to orphans across Pakistan. There are more than 50 Dar-ul-Ehsaas Centres in the country and each centre supports hundred deserving children.

October 30, 2020 – Islamabad: In connection with Eid Milad-un-Nabi, special Milad events under the aegis of Ehsaas were organized by Pakistan Bait ul Mal in all Panagahs of the federal capital. Joining religious celebrations to pay homage to the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H), SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a visit to Panagah at Mandi More in Islamabad and spent the special day with labourers and daily wage earners. Prayers, naats and speeches all took place before the special lunch was served at the culmination of the Milad event. COVID-19 safety measures and social distancing were the hallmarks of the ceremony. This was Dr. Nishtar’s first public appearance after her recent recovery from COVID-19.

October 29, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar has announced an extension in the last date to submit Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship applications for the year 2020-21 till November 30, 2020. Earlier, October 30, 2020 was the last date for the submission of online scholarship applications. However, given the COVID-19 fronted delays in admission process at several public sector universities in the country, the last date for Ehsaas scholarship applications has just been revised. The decision will facilitate maximum number of fresh undergraduate students to apply for this scholarship opportunity. Since the online application portal reopened on Sep 5, 2020 as many as 30,000 applications have been received in the system so far. The Ehsaas undergraduate Scholarships are targeted at students from low income families (less than Rs. 45,000 a month) and marginalized regions to assist them in their undergraduate studies. Eligible students can apply through an online portal: https://ehsaas.hec.gov.pk/.

October 29, 2020 In her capacity as one of the Commissioners, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar joined the first meeting of Commissioners of the Lancet – Chatham House Commission on improving population health post COVID-19. The meeting aimed to map the shared drivers of pandemic protection, population health, and environmental sustainability as the basis for developing a framework to identify key actions to drive equitable improvements in human and planetary health. Other distinguished Commissioners who came to the table were- Professor Tim Benton, Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House London, Dr. John Amuasi, Professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Ghana; David P. Fidler Senior Fellow for cybersecurity and global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and the James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law (emeritus) at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law; Amandine Garde, Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool; and James Wilsdon, Digital Science Professor of Research Policy at the University of Sheffield. The Commission is co-chaired by Professor Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, Director of Studies in Behavioural and Psychological Sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge; and Harry Rutter, Professor of global public health at the University of Bath.

October 23, 2020: The 42^nd meeting of the BISP Board was convened at the BISP headquarters in Islamabad. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar virtually chaired the meeting. The board accelerated necessary approvals for the six month Ehsaas Kafaalat tranche to be released in this quarter. Only the time sensitive agenda was discussed in the meeting. The larger 42^nd Board will be convened next month.

October 21, 2020: Dr. Sania highlighted how Pakistan leveraged transparency and rule-based execution to garner public trust in Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme at the live panel webcast hosted by Delivery Associates and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University. The session was titled, ‘how to build public trust in government’. At the occasion, Dr. Nishtar was joined by a team of panellists-  Sir Michael Barber, 1st Chair of Office for Students, regulator of HE in England and Founder, Delivery Associates; Francis Fukuyama, Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute, and Mosbacher Director, CDDRL Stanford; Audrey Jiajia Li, a Chinese nonfiction writer and broadcast journalist; and Anna Grzymala-Busse, Professor of Political Science at Stanford.

October 21, 2020: At the Gairdner Global Perspectives Panel titled, “SDGs & Global Health through COVID-19 lens”,  SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar shared Pakistan’s lessons from the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme and the potential of end-to-end digitization to be equally and constructively disruptive for the health sector. Other eminent speakers on the panel were- Cleopatra Mugyenyi, Director, Africa Regional Office, International Center For Research On Women; Zulfiqar Bhutta, Inaugural Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health & Inaugural Ibn Sina Scholar in Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children; Co-Director, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health; Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Associate Scientific Director, CAPRISA; Professor, Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York; Professor, Public Health, Nelson Mandela Medical School; Pro Vice-Chancellor (African Health), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa; and Salim Abdool Karim, Director, CAPRISA; CAPRISA Professor in Global Health, Columbia University, New York; Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. The Gairdner Global Perspectives Symposium was held in partnership with International Development Research Centre, Grand Challenges Canada Centre for Global Health – Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and SickKids Centre for Global Child Health.

October 21, 2020: During the virtual roundtable, “Unleashing the South Asian Century Through Human Capital For All” hosted by World Bank Group-IMF, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar discussed how Pakistan is expanding social protection post COVID-19. The event brought together Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, Acting Minister of Finance, Afghanistan; A H M Mustafa Kamal, FCA, MP, Minister, Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh; Lyonpo Namgay Tshering, Minister of Finance, Bhutan; Ibrahim Ameer, Minister of Finance, Maldives; Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Special Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, Nepal; Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of Education, Sri Lanka; and Minister of Women and Children’s Development of India. The event discussed a proposed framework for action to achieve human capital acceleration in South Asia, through an engaging discussion bringing together policymakers, civil society leaders, private sector participants, and development partners.

October 21, 2020, Speaking at the Jobs Reset Summit 2020 hosted by the World Economic Forum, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar emphasized that social protection must be a right. The theme of the session was, “a new vision for social protection”. Along with Dr. Nishtar, other panellists included Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Belgium; Mike Mansfield, Program Director Aegon Center for Longevity and Retirement, Aegon, Netherlands;  Olivier de Schutter, Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, United Nations, Switzerland; and Gene Zaino, Founder and Executive Chairman, MBO Partners, USA. The session was moderated by Faisal Islam, Economics Editor from BBC News, United Kingdom. The discussions focused on challenges and opportunities for updating existing social safety nets in both low and high income countries.

October 20, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sani Nishtar was invited to keynote the consultative meeting hosted by Health Services Academy Pakistan. The meeting aimed to discuss ‘Economic Aspects of COVID-19 in Pakistan’. Dr. Nishtar connected virtually to keynote the event and shared lessons from the Ehsaas Emergency Cash that was rolled out by the government amid COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Ali Hamandi Health Economist, World Bank Washington D.C; Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Professor & Co-Director, Sick Kids Hospital, Toronto; Dr. Awad Mataria Director, Universal Health Coverage, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Eastern Mediterranean; and Dr. Assad Hafeez Vice Chancellor, Health Services Academy, Islamabad also spoke at the event.

October 18, 2020 – Multan: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi inaugurated the Ehsaas Langar (soup kitchen) in Multan that serves cooked food twice daily to 1,000 people. The Ehsaas Saylani Langar has been opened at the main bus station in Multan. Vehari Chowk is an ideal place for the Langar as labourers and daily wage earners congregate to earn daily wages. As part of the Ehsaas framework, the Ehsaas Langar has been established in a public private partnership with zero cost to the government. The partnering trust (SWIT) will manage the production and distribution of food.

Oct 17, 2020 – Washington: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited by the World Bank Group to speak at an online poverty event, ‘End Poverty Day 2020: Surmounting Setbacks’ during the Annual Meetings to highlight current challenges to poverty reduction and the urgency of redoubling our efforts to end poverty. The event focused on a fast, broad-based response to COVID-19 to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response and health care systems. Together with Dr. Sania Nishtar, the team of distinguished panellists included the World Bank Managing Director for Operations Axel van Trotsenburg; Strive Masiyiwa, African Union Special Envoy to mobilize the private sector response to COVID; CSO leaders from FCV countries- Lamis Al-Iryani from Yemen and Orzala Nemat from Afghanistan; Dominic Raab, UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs; Sarah Colenbrander, Director of ODI’s Climate and Sustainability program and Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change & Development, Bangladesh; and Ngwashi Christabel Apholung from Cameroon. The session was moderated by Larry Madowo of the BBC.

October 17, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas hosted a high-level virtual event to celebrate the World Poverty Day. The event brought together four executing agencies of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD)- BISP, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) and Trust for Voluntary Organizations (TVO) along with beneficiaries of various priority programmes of Ehsaas. The main highlight of the occasion was an engaging interaction with beneficiaries of various mainstream Ehsaas programmes and initiatives particularly Ehsaas Kafaalat, Ehsaas Interest Free Loans, Ehsaas Amdan and Ehsaas Nashonuma. This session was followed by an insightful conversation with partner NGOs of TVO. Later in the day, Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal and spent the day with Ehsaas beneficiaries. Dr. Sania sat and interacted with them to gain insights on their aspirations and key problems being confronted by them. She listened to their concerns and assured full cooperation to address their problems. “To make the Ehsaas programme more responsive, the voices of the marginalized are critical”, said Dr. Nishtar.

October 15, 2020 -Bangkok: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific  (UNESCAP) to speak as part of the Regional Conversation on Social Protection: “A Right for All, or a Privilege for a Few?” Along with Dr. Nishtar, the high-level dialogue featured eminent personalities from across the region including Mr. Guy Ryder, ILO Director General; H.E. Ms. Mereseini Vuniwaqa, Minister of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Fiji; H.E. Mr. Kung Phoak, Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community; Ms. Haiyani Rumondang, Director General of Industrial Relations and Worker’s Social Security, Ministry of Manpower, Indonesia; Ms. Sarah Cook, Director, Institute for Global Development, University of New South Wales; and Mr. Michael Cichon, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Governance at UNU, Maastricht. The  UNESCAP is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to increase economic activity in Asia and the Far East, as well as to foster economic relations between the region and other areas of the world. The Commission is composed of 53 Member States and nine Associate members, mostly from the Asia and Pacific regions.

October 16, 2020 – Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Panagah (shelter home) at G-9 in Islamabad and appreciated the improvement in infrastructure, and living and catering standards to serve the down-and-out people with dignity. The PM also interacted with the daily wagers over the dinner and inquired about facilities being provided to them at the Panagah. “The government would never worry about the funding of such facilities, if it succeeded to win the people’s confidence regarding efficiency and transparency as it would attract the donors to join the noble initiative”, said the PM. He then continued, “The employment opportunities would grow manifold in the country consequent to the government’s ongoing economic policies.” At the occasion, Special Assistant to the PM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar, Managing Director Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) Aon Abbas Buppi and Senator Faisal Javed were also present. “The remodelling of G-9 Panagah in the federal capital is in fact the enforcement of the improved quality standards which would later be emulated across the country”, said SAPM Dr. Nishtar.

October 14, 2020 – Chiang Mai: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar addressed the webinar, How can we reduce inequalities in later life as societies aged? co-organized by Asian Development Bank, HelpAge International and ESCAP. The largest regional intergovernmental platform with 53 Member States and 9 associate members, ESCAP has emerged as a strong regional think-tank offering countries sound analytical products that shed insight into the evolving economic, social and environmental dynamics of the region. The objective of the webinar, taking Asia’s population ageing into consideration, was to strengthen clarity and consensus about the priority steps governments can take to reduce inequality among older people in two dimensions: healthy longevity and income security. Alongside the presentation by Dr. David E. Bloom, Professor of Economics and Demography, Harvard University from Harvard University, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was joined by Dr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Senior Advisor at the Khazanah Research Institute, Malaysia. Bringing post COVID-19 Ehsaas perspective to the table, SAPM Dr. Nishtar shared steps being taken by the government of Pakistan to address the needs of the elderly during the COVID-19 crisis more broadly as part of social protection under Ehsaas.

October 14, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a visit to Panagah located at G-9 in Islamabad. The visit aimed to review the upgradation work at the Panagah that is in its final stages of completion under the supervision of Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal. During the visit, MD Pakistan Bait -ul-Mal briefed the SAPM about changes being made to improve living standards of G-9 Panagah. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division and other senior officials of Ehsaas were also present at the occasion.

October 13, 2020 – Washington: At the 2020 Women Leaders in Global Health Conference (WLGH), SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to join the high-level plenary panel, ‘Making Policy with a Gender Lens – Spotlight on South Asia’. The panel brought together some of the most powerful women in South Asia’s public sector to explore how gender influences their work, how they have helped advance the equality agenda, and what having women at the decision-making tables means for people’s health and wellbeing across the region. Leading the panel discussion, Dr. Nishtar outlined measures to address tokenism in policymaking. She emphasized on the power of data disaggregation by gender and its use for accountability. Alongside Dr. Nishtar, the panel included Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, MP Speaker from Bangladesh Parliament, Suraya Dalil, Director Special Programme on Primary Health Care from World Health Organization and Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for South-East Asia from World Health Organization.

October 13, 2020 – Washington: During the World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meeting, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar participated as a panellist in an event, ‘Protecting South Asia’s Poor and Vulnerable Against COVID-19 and Beyond’. The South Asian event focused on the social protection programs as a cornerstone of relief and longer-term recovery. This virtual event was a direct contribution to the central theme of the Annual Meetings of Supporting a Resilient Recovery: building resilience, improving inclusion, promoting economic growth, and sustaining businesses and jobs. At the high-level panel, Dr. Nishtar was joined by Special Economic Advisor to the PM of Nepal, Executive Director of BRAC Bangladesh, Professor of Cornell University and Indian Minister for Textiles and Minister for Women and Child Development. Sharing the scale and ambition of Ehsaas in the context of COVID-19, Dr. Nishtar highlighted the new Ehsaas post COVID-19 strategy, fast-tracked live news socio-economic registry to make it shock responsive, and acceleration of programs to address the needs of the vulnerable, particularly those in the informal sector.

October 9, 2020 – Peshawar: During her visit to KP, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar met Chief Minister KP Mehmood Khan in Peshawar. The meeting discussed roadmap for upgradation of Panagahs in KP. Managing Director Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, Aon Abbas Bappi was also present. Prime Minister Imran Khan has given special instructions to upgrade the standards of Panagahs countrywide. Federal and KP governments agreed to collaborate on improving the standards of Panagahs and identified areas of collaboration to implement Panagah standards developed by Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal under Ehsaas. Details were discussed for federal provincial partnership and coordination to improve standards of Panagahs in KP. In the first phase, living and catering standards of existing Panagahs in KP will be improved along the lines of those formulated for Islamabad Panagahs. In this regard, MoU will be signed soon between Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal and the Government of KP. The cost sharing arrangement in this regard have also been agreed upon.

October 9, 2020 – Charsadda: While in KP, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar made a visit to Charsadda to review the Ehsaas Registration Desks. Under the umbrella of Ehsaas, the special purpose registration desks are being mobilized in all districts where phase one of the Ehsaas National Socio-economic Registry Survey has been completed. The purpose is that households whose survey has not been conducted for any reason can come forward to self-register themselves in the Ehsaas programme. Charsadda is one of the districts in KP where registration desks have been opened in every Tehsil. Dr. Sania visited the registration desks to see operations. She interacted with staff who were present and with both men and women who were lined up for registration. Dr. Sania spent a lot of time with the people especially finding out about difficulties they were facing during the registration process.

October 8, 2020- Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar along with senior officials of Ehsaas IT team visited National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC)  headquarters to review Ehsaas data security arrangements. Managing Director NTC, Brig. (R) Viqar Rashid Khan and NTC senior officers warmly welcomed the SAPM and Ehsaas team. Dr. Nishtar visited the National Data Center at NTC and appreciated the establishment of the Cloud based Tier-III, ISO certified National Data Center (NDC). The SAPM praised NTC’s support to Ehsaas for providing the necessary connectivity and data centre facilities for initiatives taken by Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division. Ehsaas is moving swiftly on a dynamic digital Social Ecosystem for facilitating the disadvantaged populations.

October 8, 2020 – Jakarta: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to keynote the “International Webinar on Integration and Digitization of G2P Programs” in Indonesia. The webinar was hosted by the Ministry of National Development Planning, Republic of Indonesia. The event was attended by Indonesian central and regional policymakers, academia and research institutes, civil society organizations, development partners, and delegates from countries that have carried out similar transformations. Keynoting the meeting, Dr. Sania Nishtar outlined that financial and digital inclusion for 7 million individuals (90% women) is one of the seven, time bound outcome-based goals of Ehsaas. “We believe savings, payments, insurance, and credit have a significant impact on individuals’ abilities to escape poverty”, she said. Further adding, she shared, “Access to formal credit can help the poor break free from a cycle of debt that perpetuates poverty; digital and financial inclusion agenda and use of mobile phones are particularly relevant in this regard.”

October 5, 2020 – Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran chaired the meeting to discuss the remodelling and expansion plan for Panagahs. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed the PM on current year’s plan to upgrade Panagahs in Islamabad to one star bed and breakfast facility with meals, essentials, hygiene and security and to expand them across the country. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD), Additional Secretary PASSD, Managing Director Pakistan Baitul-Mal and other senior officers attended the meeting.

October 5, 2020 – Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the meeting of Pakistan National Nutrition Coordination Council (PNNCC). PNNCC is country’s coordination body at federal level on nutrition and all allied matters. The federal government of Pakistan has institutionalized the inter-ministerial PNNCC, chaired by the Prime Minister Imran Khan and there are 8 Cabinet Ministers in the Council. This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that the inter-ministerial PNNCC has been created to steer nutrition specific agenda in the country. Dr. Sania Nishtar SAPM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation is the Vice-Chair and hosts the secretariat of the Council. Other Cabinet Members in the Council are: Syed Fakhar Imam Minister for National Food Security and Research, Asad Umar Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Dr. Fehmida Mirza Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination, Shafqat Mehmood Minister for Education and Professional Training, Abdul Razak Dawood Advisor to the PM on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Advisor to the PM on Finance and Revenue, Malik Amin Aslam Khan Advisor to the PM on Climate Change, Dr. Faisal Sultan SAPM on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Chief Secretaries of all four provinces, GB and AJK, Federal Secretaries and experts from UNICEF and SUN. To provide visibility of nutrition specific data across the country, the Ehsaas Nashonuma portal and dashboard unveiled in the meeting can be accessed here.

October 5, 2020: At a global e-conference hosted by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), Pakistan was labelled as one of the top ranked countries in Asia having the highest response to social protection amid COVID-19 pandemic. This new study was conducted by UNICEF, UN and IPC-IG to assess social protection response in Asia focusing on an extensive mapping and overview of how social protection measures were deployed by the countries in Asia and the Pacific region in the response to the COVID-19 crisis.  The study reveals that Pakistan covers highest number of responses to social protection in Asia through Ehsaas Emergency Cash. “Afghanistan included many humanitarian interventions; hence Pakistan tops the list”, says Marina Andrade, researcher from IPC-IG team. Social protection.org is the key initiative of IPC-IG which is supported by Governments of Australia and Germany and is an influential forum of social protection. The country panel on Asia Pacific brought together SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar, Bapak Maliki, Director of Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare Indonesia and H.E. Theng Pagnathun, Delegate of Royal Government of Cambodia in charge of Director General of Planning who discussed social protection responses to COVID-19 in their respective countries.

Oct 2, 2020- Islamabad: Chairing a meeting at Aiwan e Sadar, regarding data collection of Breast Cancer in Pakistan, President Dr. Arif Alvi said, “Pakistan currently lacks a comprehensive centralized database on health issues and there is a need to make integrated data available to effectively combat diseases.” SAPM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Dr. Faisal Sultan and MD Pakistan Bait ul Mal also attended the meeting. SAPM Dr. Sania underscored the need to rasie awareness among the people about the breast cancer.

October 2, 2020 -Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar convened a meeting to review the progress on the Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy and Observatory that was officially approved by the Cabinet and launched in November 2019. The policy is binding on the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) and its executing agencies- the BISP, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, and Trust for Voluntary Organizations. With an aim to discourage corruption and ensure rule-based control on the use of public resources and to promote efficiency, transparency, and accountability of results, Ehsaas has institutionalized this Governance Policy and Observatory as one of its 135 programs and policy initiatives. Taking stock of the progress of all four executing agencies of PASSD, Dr. Nishtar commented, “Work on the Ehsaas Governance Observatory has been ongoing for the last one year. We did a progress review today; the one year-stock take against the December 2019 baselines will be taken in December 2020. All Poverty Division agencies implementing Ehsaas are meant to comply with the Governance and Integrity Policy. The Ehsaas Governance Observatory is meant to gauge the status of compliance with the Policy. We accord high priority to integrity in governance and delivery.”

Oct 1, 2020- Islamabad: A meeting was held with Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) to discuss the key milestones for the next quarter under the Ehsaas framework. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting. Dr. Nishtar was joined by Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD), Additional Secretary PASSD, Managing Director PBM and Deputy Managing Director PBM. PBM is one of the executing agencies of Ehsaas responsible for demand side social protection.

Oct 1, 2020- Islamabad: The steering committee of Ehsaas Tahafuz came to the table to shape up the pilot roll out of the this upcoming program. The meeting was chaired by SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar. Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) and Additional Secretary PASSD were also present. Tahafuz is a precision safety net designed to protect the vulnerable against catastrophic shocks through one-time financial assistance.

September 30, 2020 – Islamabad: To step up and step forward with the agenda to establish the Cybercrime Wing within Ehsaas, the third Risk Management and Assurance Committee meeting was convened at Ehsaas office. The meeting was chaired by SAPM Sania Nishtar. The committee discussed the process for the establishment of Cybercrime Wing. SAPM, Sania Nishtar said, “The move has been taken to protect masses from frauds being done under the name of the Ehsaas program.” The Cybercrime Wing is being set up at BISP (one of the executing agencies of Ehsaas) with the objective of using digital technology to tighten the noose around the fraudsters who deceive Ehsaas beneficiaries.

September 30, 2020 – Ottawa: President and CEO of Nutrition International, Joel Spicer together with his global and country teams came to the table with Ehsaas to discuss areas of collaboration. Joel Spicer gave virtual presentation to SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar on the strategy and work of Nutrition International across Pakistan over the past 19 years. In the meeting, Dr. Nishtar was also joined by Dr. Mandana Arabi, Vice President Global Technical Services, Ann Witteveen, Vice President, Operations and Dr. Shabina Raza, Country Director Pakistan. Nutrition International works in Pakistan to improve the health of the vulnerable, especially women and children, through better nutrition.

September 30, 2020 – Islamabad: Taking to twitter, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar has announced that Ehsaas Emergency Cash payments to those with biometric failures and families of dead beneficiaries will be continuing nationwide till October 30, 2020. However, the previously defined last date for filing applications till September 30, 2020 remains unchanged. Applications are closing today for beneficiaries facing biometric issues and families of dead. Formerly, September 30, 2020 was the last date for disbursements to eligible beneficiaries under Ehsaas Emergency Cash. But for now, aiming to facilitate smooth payments, the last date of cash disbursements has been extended till the end of October 2020 as long as the application is submitted till September 30, 2020. Expediting the payment process to remaining Ehsaas Emergency Cash beneficiaries, the listing and inspection procedures are underway and customized payment responses to all eligible applicants will be sent accordingly so that emergency cash transfer operations across the country get completed within due time frame.

September 29, 2020 – Rome: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to speak at the online launch event for the Global Panel’s new Foresight 2.0 report: ‘Future Food Systems: For people, our planet, and prosperity’, co-hosted by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, and FAO in Italy. Being a member of the Global Panel’s High-Level Stakeholder Group who had contributed to Global Panel’s report, Dr. Nishtar shared her perspectives of the report alongside Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, WHO and Diane Holdorf, Food Director World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Speaking at the high-level panel, Dr. Nishtar stated, “Policy makers must address planetary and dietary challenges simultaneously, since they are so fundamentally interlinked. The report makes concrete recommendations on the practical steps which need to be taken in a process of transition, leading to a transformed future food system. And, food system transformation cannot be achieved without ‘pro-poor’ policies that support economic growth as well as social protection policies.” Further adding, she said, “Tackling nutrition in the country, the Government of Pakistan has institutionalized the inter-ministerial ‘Pakistan National Nutrition Coordination Council’ (PNNCC), chaired by the PM and there are 8 Cabinet Ministers in the Council. Another substantive initiative is the recent launch of Ehsaas Nashonuma that is a conditional cash transfer program pegged on addressing stunting and nutrition outcomes among children under two years of age, and pregnant and lactating mothers.” The newly launched Global Panel’s report can be accessed here.

September 24, 2020 – New York: Pakistan and Chile co-hosted a very special event today titled, ‘Poverty at a crossroad: using leadership and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)’ at this year’s UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York to address the use of MPI and leadership to build back better as poverty reduction is currently at a crossroad. This high-level event was virtually convened on behalf of the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN.org), a South-South network of senior officials from 60 national governments and 20 international institutions that champions the use of multidimensional poverty measures alongside monetary measures at both the national and global levels. The session was co-hosted by Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Pakistan and Karla Rubilar, Minister Social Development and Families, Chile. The event brought together expertise and policy influence from 6 heads of State- Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Sebastian Piñera, President of Chile, Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica, Juan Orlando Hernández, President of Honduras and KP Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal. Pakistan is emerging as a global leader in poverty alleviation. At the occasion, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan addressed the event through a video message. Ehsaas being the massive social protection and poverty alleviation programme in the history of Pakistan was showcased to create awareness and work on the poverty alleviation discourse in collaboration with leaders from around the world. Full footage here.

Sep 22, 2020 – Washington D.C.: A high-level global thinktank, Center for Global Development (CGD), hosted an international forum, ‘Coping with COVID-19: The Pakistan Experience’ that brought together Asad Umar, Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives, SAPM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar and Dr. Reza Baqir, Governor of the State Bank to exhibit the success of the Pakistan’s smart lockdown strategy and Corona relief package tackling COVID-19 restrictions. In this high-level panel discussion, the three panellists were virtually joined by two international experts, Dr. Kalipso Chalkidou from Global Health team at CGD and Dr. Alan Gelb who leads a workstream on the use of digital ID systems for safety nets in Pakistan and other countries. SAPM Dr. Nishtar shared the know how gained through the design and roll out of Ehsaas Emergency Cash, as well as the operational challenges encountered and how they were addressed. International experts highly lauded Pakistan’s whole of the government approach to address the socio-economic damage induced by the Corona crisis. They acknowledged the digital capabilities that were leveraged for the implementation of Ehsaas Emergency Cash which led to better outcomes than most other countries. Centred in Washington D.C. and London, CGD extends worldwide advisory support capitalized on policy and research to alleviate global poverty and make better lives.

September 21, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited the Panagah and Langar at Peshawar More, Islamabad along with Ehsaas team. The visit aimed to inspect the upgradation work of Panagah and Langar being administered by Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM). Managing Director PBM, Aon Abbas Buppi briefed Dr. Nishtar about the remodelling work underway at the facility to serve the labourers with dignity and quality. Dr. Nishtar also took round of the Panagah and Langar, and interacted with labourers. As per instructions of the Prime Minister, after the remodeling of first Panagah at Tarlai in the first week of September 2020, the prioritized living and catering standards are being implemented in all five Panagahs of Islamabad. Panagahs not only provide shelter to labourers but also meals for them.

Sep 21, 2020 – Karachi: Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan invited SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar to keynote the closing event of Women in Tech program that celebrated aspiring women entrepreneurs. The event announced names of winners of the program. Some seven women led companies won up to Rs 1.5 million in seed grants. Inspiring young women entrepreneurs, Dr. Nishtar remarked, “To ensure that women beneficiaries are not underrepresented, ambition of Ehsaas is to skew critical initiatives towards women, by ensuring that at least 50% of all beneficiaries targeted by the program across initiatives are women. To assist with this, the fifty percent and plus benefits for women are squarely embedded in all 140 Ehsaas programs, police and initiatives.” Standard Chartered had launched Women in Tech (SCWomenInTech) in Pakistan in March 2019. This program is aimed to promote the economic and social development of women in Pakistan through innovation or technology led entrepreneurship.

September 17, 2020 -Islamabad: “All eligible Emergency Cash beneficiaries with biometric challenges who will apply through the new Ehsaas Facilitation Portal will receive fresh disbursement messages with date and bank branch details from 8171 service and the process is being expedited nationwide to facilitate easy payments”, explained SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar in her recently tweeted instructional video. The instructional video describes how applications can be submitted online on the portal (http://complaints.pass.gov.pk/) following three easy steps. Beneficiaries faced with biometric issues just need to provide name, CNIC number and phone number for the application. With the submission of these credentials, the applicant will get the tracking number for each application. As part of the process, beneficiaries will be contacted soon by Ehsaas on the given phone numbers to facilitate payments in the last two weeks. Payments to families of dead beneficiaries and those with biometric verification issues will continue till September 30. The video can be watched here.

September 16, 2020 -Islamabad: Taking measures to resolve payment issues being encountered by eligible applicants of Ehsaas Emergency Cash, an online portal has been introduced under the banner of Ehsaas. Officially, emergency cash transfers under Ehsaas have sunset countrywide on Sep 15, 2020, however, disbursements to families of dead beneficiaries and those confronted with biometric verifications will go on till Sep 30, 2020. To assist with this, the new portal has been opened online to solicit applications from eligible beneficiaries in a simple three- step process. As part of the easy solution, all applicants with issues in biometric payments can now create their applications by entering name, CNIC number and contact number on the portal. With the submission of online application, the portal instantaneously auto-generates the unique reference number for each applicant. In line with rule -based procedures, applicants are being contacted by Ehsaas on the phone numbers keyed in at the time of web-applications. “All people with biometric challenges who will apply through this new application portal will receive new disbursement messages with date and bank branch details from 8171 service and the process is being expedited nationwide to facilitate easy payments”, reiterated SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar. The portal can be accessed here.

September 16, 2020 -Islamabad: Heads of Missions of the European Union and Member States commended Ehsaas as the largest and most extensive social protection intervention in the country. This was expressed at the Ehsaas briefing hosted by Ambassador of European Union to Pakistan H.E. Androulla Kaminara in Islamabad. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to brief the EU diplomats about the successes, digital innovations and useful lessons from the Ehsaas programme that is comprised of more than 135 multi-sectoral policies, actions and initiatives. Outlining details of Ehsaas and particularly Ehsaas Emergency Cash, Dr. Nishtar highlighted commitment of the government towards welfare of the disadvantaged in the country. “Digital infrastructure set up over the course of the last year to implement Ehsaas was drawn upon to carry out the Rs. 203 billion Ehsaas Emergency Cash within just ten days of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Leveraging digital innovations, the emergency cash program is delivering one-time cash assistance of USD 75 each to 16.9 million needy families across Pakistan which given family size, benefits more than 109 million people”, shared Dr. Nishtar. Heads of EU Missions to Pakistan showed profound interest to strengthen collaboration between Ehsaas and European Union Missions to Pakistan.

September 15, 2020: The Lancet Commission on Reframing Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries (NCDI) for the Poorest Billion (Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission) hosted a global virtual event to launch the Commission’s report and spark a new movement around one of the world’s biggest and most neglected health disparities: NCDIs that kill and disable millions of people in the poorest countries. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was a panellist on session titled, “NCDI and Poverty: How Do We Change Business as Usual? In this high-level panel discussion, Dr. Nishtar was joined by Matshidiso Moeti from WHO AFRO, Lea Kilenga from Africa Sickle Cell Organization and Agnes from Binagwaho, Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission. Addressing the panel, Dr. Nishtar highlighted, “For too long, we have neglected NCDs & injuries for those in poverty. WHO needs to broaden beyond the 4×4 framework for NCDs.” The event marked the publication of the Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission report, which provides the clearest picture yet of the burden of NCDs and injuries on the world’s poorest billion and calls for urgent action to address it. The report can be accessed here.

September 15, 2020 – Islamabad: Under the overarching Ehsaas framework, BISP becomes the first organization in the social sector institutions of the government to adopt modern and efficient way of maintaining its financials on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) Accrual basis. In line with the Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy that is binding on the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) and its ancillary organizations, books of accounts within BISP are being shifted from legacy cash to accrual basis. Commenting on this institutional reform, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar tweeted, “Sitting under the umbrella of Ehsaas, we have successfully launched first phase of transition to accrual accounting within BISP for improving financial planning and management in accordance with best international practices.” Continuing, she said, “Adopting accrual accounting for financial reporting is intended to further the credibility and resilience of public finances under Ehsaas and helps to unlock the benefits of programme resources.”

September 14, 2020: To explore options for strategic collaboration around digitally centred social welfare in Pakistan, Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the PM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation connected with senior management of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global. In the virtual meeting, Dr. Nishtar was joined by Head of Strategic Innovation UNDP Global, Giulio Quaggiotto, Innovation Specialist UNDP Asia Pacific Alexandru Oprunenco and Resident Rep a.i. UNDP Pakistan Aliona Niculita. The meeting discussed potential synergies between Ehsaas and UNDP on the future of governance for poverty, social safety and digital transformation.

September 12, 2020 – Multan: As disbursements of Ehsaas Emergency Cash draw close to the conclusion throughout the country by September 15, 2020, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Ehsaas Emergency Cash distribution point at Aligarh Model School and College in Multan to gain insights from the field. In the campsite, biometrically enabled payments were being made to eligible beneficiaries through several booths operated by authorized retail agents of partnering bank. Dr. Nishtar spoke to several beneficiaries who had come to withdraw emergency cash, listened to their problems and issued instructions to Ehsaas team to facilitate easy payments at the earliest. Later, Dr. Nishtar visited the Ehsaas Langar adjacent to the main bus terminal of Multan that is in its final stages of construction to open next week. The district government of Multan collaborated with Ehsaas to provide the site for Langar. The Langar when ready, will serve cooked food twice daily to 1,000 labourers.

September 11, 2020 – Rajanpur:  Aiming to inspect the quality of service delivery in the field under newly launched Ehsaas Nashonuma programme, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Ehsaas Nashonuma centre at Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Jampur in district Rajanpur. She was joined by Country Director World Food Programme, Christopher Kaye and senior officials from Ehsaas. At the venue, Dr. Nishtar was briefed on various services being provided to pregnant and lactating Ehsaas beneficiaries and their children under one roof. The SAPM interacted with the staffers and beneficiary women present at the facility and watched an awareness video on addressing stunting in children that had been made in Saraiki language. Later in the day, Dr. Nishtar together with her team reviewed ongoing Ehsaas National Socio-economic Registry survey operations in the field at Jampur through a live demonstration. The survey is currently under way in all Tehsils of Rajanpur. Checking the quality of the survey exercise, she enrolled the household herself at their doorstep through an android based application.

September 8, 2020 – Islamabad: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar has approved the formation of the Cyber Crime Wing. “In order to protect the interests of Ehsaas beneficiaries, I have directed the management to expedite the establishment of the “Cyber Crime Wing” in BISP for the purpose of preventing and controlling incidents where criminal elements commit fraud using digital technology,” said Nishtar in a tweet post. Those involved in the fraud will be dealt with an iron hand, she vowed. The Cyber Crime Wing will be set up at BISP with the aim of using digital technology in cracking down on the corrupt elements who fool the masses with deception and forgery. Dr. Nishtar has directed Ehsaas management to complete the process for formation of this wing as soon as possible.

September 8, 2020 – Islamabad: The Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship portal has been reopened to receive fresh applications for the academic year 2020-21. All students with family income less than 45,000, studying in any year of an undergraduate program in any of the 119 public sector universities recognized by Higher Education Commission (HEC) are eligible to apply. Eligible students can apply through an online portal: https://ehsaas.hec.gov.pk/. The portal is open to new applications till October 30, 2020. Every year, 50,000 students from low-income families will be awarded Ehsaas scholarships for 4 to 5-year undergraduate degree programs. For the year 2019-20, scholarships worth Rs. 4.827 billion were awarded to 50,762 undergraduate students nationwide. Commenting on the paradigm shift in the scholarship policy of the government, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar said, “This program represents three major paradigm shifts. First, this is the largest-ever needs-based scholarship program. Second, it is the largest-ever national scholarship program and third, it is focused on enhancing the earning potential of recipients.”

September 7, 2020 – Islamabad: In line with his vision of developing Pakistan as an Islamic welfare state, PM visited the newly upgraded model Panagah at Tarlai Islamabad. Following the PM’s directives to re-model Islamabad based Panagahs last month, this is the first prototype shelter home that has been overhauled in less than a month with improved infrastructure, and catering and living standards to serve the daily wage earners and laborers with dignity and quality. In the next quarter, the prioritized service delivery standards will be replicated across the board in all 5 Panagahs of federal capital and will be expanded countrywide later. Addressing labourers being served at the Panagah, the PM stated, “The poor don’t have voice and they will never object. This is our duty to service them with quality and dignity.” At the occasion, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed the PM about remodelled administrative structure and improved service standards at Panagah. “Leveraging on IT capabilities, the living standards have been restructured in collaboration with Pakistan Bait ul Mal featuring enhanced infrastructure for food catering and living, security protocols, standardized capacity, organized HR, eligibility criteria, effective monitoring, regulated donations and financial details.” The Prime Minister also took round of the facility and interacted with labourers and daily wagers over the dinner. Footage here.

Sep 7, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to keynote at a webinar on, Digital Health in COVID-19: Sharing Experiences of COMSATS’ South Asian Member States. Addressing the webinar, Dr. Nishtar shared social protection experience from the Ehsaas Emergency Cash program that was rolled out nationwide to tackle socio-economic crunch induced by COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Pakistan’s Ehsaas Emergency Cash not only offers a way forward during the COVID-19 crisis, but also learnings for the post COVID-19 interventions. The program has reached out nearly half the population of world’s fifth populous country’, said Dr. Nishtar.  At the webinar, Dr. Nishtar was joined by High Commissioners of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Sep 7, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was called on by Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director at Ehsaas offices in the federal capital. This was the first visit of Benhassine since he took the charge as the World Bank Country Director to Pakistan. Welcoming Benhassine, Dr. Nishtar apprised him about the flagship Ehsaas program that is aimed to reduce inequality, invest in people, and lift lagging districts. “Ehsaas is about the creation of a ‘welfare state’ by countering elite capture and leveraging 21st century tools- such as using data and technology to create precision safety nets; promoting financial inclusion and access to digital services; supporting the economic empowerment of women; focusing on the central role of human capital formation for poverty eradication, economic growth and sustainable development; and overcoming financial barriers to accessing health and post-secondary education.” The courtesy call also discussed post COVID-19 collaborations. Benhassine applauded the scale and depth of multifaceted Ehsaas programs, policies and actions.

September 5, 2020 – Neelam Valley: Dr. Sania Nishtar, PM’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation visited the Jura sector near the Line of Control in Neelam Valley to review arrangements for Ehsaas Cash disbursal to all families residing in villages around the LoC. Dr. Nishtar oversaw digital disbursement of Rs. 12,000 Ehsaas Cash handouts to vulnerable families living along the LoC. The SAPM interacted with women who came at the Jura Bazar site to collect cash grants. Under Ehsaas, the government is disbursing some Rs. 3 billion among all the families residing in 219 villages across the LoC. “All families in 219 villages across LoC in AJK are under the persistent risk of unprovoked attacks and have sacrificed their lives, livestock, and properties. So, all families in these villages have been included in the Ehsaas program”, said Dr. Nishtar. She also met with victim families in Jura Bazar who had suffered severe damage to their properties as a result of unprovoked attacks by Indian troops. Dr. Nishtar lauded measures being taken by the district administration and Pakistan Army for provision of financial assistance to poor along the LoC.

Sep 3, 2020 – Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar visited the newly upgraded Panagah (shelter home) at Tarlai to review arrangements. Leveraging IT infrastructure, the catering and living standards at the Panagah have significantly been improved to serve the daily wage earners with utmost dignity and safety. The upgradation work is just nearing the completion under the supervision of one of the key executing agencies of Ehsaas, Pakistan Bait ul Mal (PBM). Following the approval of Ehsaas Panagah Strategy by the Prime Minister in August 2020, this is the first Panagah in the federal capital that that has been revamped with the improvement and expansion in scope of services particularly boarding & lodging, and dining. Other Panagahs in Islamabad will be revamped soon on the same standards. During the visit, MD PBM Aon Abbas Buppi briefed SAPM Dr. Nishtar on the progress of renovation and restructuring in progress at the facility. At the Panagah, Dr. Nishtar sat with labourers being served and took dinner with them. She also interacted with labourers to get their feedback on the service delivery. The SAPM was accompanied by Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD), Additional Secretary PASSD and Focal Person on Panagahs at the occasion.

September 2, 2020: Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation has penned an op-ed titled, ‘How cash transfers prevent lockdown tragedies’ that was published in Project Syndicate on August 19, 2020. The same article has been translated in 9 languages and published in 11 countries worldwide including Thailand, Jordan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tonga, Middle East and Pakistan. Narrating her Ehsaas Emergency Cash experience, Dr. Nishtar stated, ‘COVID-19 has decimated livelihoods worldwide, squeezing the middle class and pushing low-income households into abject poverty. Social-protection programs such as Pakistan’s Ehsaas Emergency Cash offer not only a path forward during the pandemic, but also valuable lessons for the future. We are deeply humbled to have supported more than 14.69 million COVID-19 lockdown affected families to-date.’ Read op-ed here.

Sep 2, 2020 -Islamabad: Participating in Radio Program Raabta, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar apprised listeners about the Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship application portal that is re-opening on Sep 5, 2020 to receive applications for the academic year 2020-21. Taking live calls of Ehsaas Emergency Cash applicants, she guided them about their eligibility and withdrawal mechanism in the emergency cash program. During the program, Dr. Nishtar was assisted by Cash Expert Ahmer Athar and MIS Expert Rana Khurram from Ehsaas team. Listen here.

September 1, 2020 – Islamabad: Speaking to beneficiaries and applicants of Ehsaas Emergency Cash in a radio program, Raabta, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar shared details about the reporting process for fake SMS messages offering financial assistance in the name of Ehsaas. She advised listeners not to pay attention to such false messages that come from any number other than 8171. All Ehsaas correspondence with beneficiaries takes place only through its official SMS code service 8171. “To report fraudulent SMS complaints, Ehsaas has deployed two mobile lines for general public: 0335-1058050 and 0335-1058051. People are encouraged to report all false SMS messages relating to Ehsaas on the given numbers so that measures can be taken against criminal elements.” Listen here.

August 31, 2020 – Islamabad: Interacting with listeners on national hook up radio program, Raabta, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar announced extension in the deadline for receiving the payments under Ehsaas Emergency Cash till September 15 for convenience of eligible applicants. “Relatives of the deceased and beneficiaries facing bio-metric verification issues will be able to receive their due payments up to 15 days (till September 30) after the extended closing date, Dr. Nishtar shared this while answering phone calls in live program. Earlier, the closing date for the payments was August 31 which has now been extended up to mid of September. Listen here.

Aug 31, 2020 – Geneva: For the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Executive Committee to brief the SUN Lead Group on the process to develop the draft 3.0 strategy and the key shifts proposed in the draft strategy, a consultative meeting was convened virtually by SUN Secretariat. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar joined the meeting in capacity of Lead Group Member together with Gerda Verburg, Coordinator of the SUN Movement and Assistant Secretary-General. The consultation was moderated by Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director UNICEF and Chair SUN Lead Group. Addressing the meeting, Dr. Nishtar said, “We need to sharpen the way, we communicate what SUN does, especially at the government level. This can be rallied as a starting point for funding and other actions.” The SUN 2.0 strategy (2015-2020) ends this year. A Movement-wide consultation is taking place between 4 August and 4 September 2020, collecting feedback to shape SUN’s future direction together.

August 31, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship steering committee came to the table for the sixth time to review the progress for the academic sessions 2019-20 and strategize next steps for 2020-21. The meeting conferred the overall progress of the Ehsaas scholarships worth Rs. 4.827 billion being awarded to 50,762 undergraduate students (38% girls) for the year 2019-20. The steering committee also took stock of the pattern followed for scholarship distribution and disbursements to 119 public sector universities. It was decided that the Ehsaas application portal will open on Sep 5, 2020 to receive applications for the year 2020-21. The Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship project is being governed by the steering committee, co-chaired by SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar and Chairman HEC Dr. Tariq Banuri. Speaking at the meeting, Dr. Nishtar stated, “Overall, 50,000 undergraduate scholarships (50% girls) will be given every year to enhance financial access to higher education for the deserving. This four-year, Rs. 24 billion scholarship programme will support 200,000 students from low income backgrounds.”

August 28, 2020 – Islamabad: Speaking to applicants of Ehsaas Emergency Cash in a radio program Raabta, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar shared details about the appeal process for families of deceased beneficiaries. She informed listeners that in order to facilitate emergency cash beneficiaries with biometric issues and families of deceased beneficiaries, the Ehsaas disbursements will be continued for a month even after August 31, 2020. As part of appeal process, families of dead beneficiaries are required to send out an application for payment facilitation in the name of Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation along with death certificate and CNIC details of their dead family member along with those of eligible family member straight to Ehsaas offices at, F-Block, Pak Secretariat, Islamabad. Responding to questions of listeners on phone, she said that the scrutiny of received applications is in process as per the procedure and a formal reply to all applicants will be sent out soon. Listen here.

August 27, 2020 – Islamabad: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr. Reza Baqir  along with Sima Kamil, Deputy Governor SBP called on Dr. Sania Nishtar at Ehsaas offices in Islamabad. This was a courtesy call to introduce newly appointed Deputy Governor SBP to Dr. Nishtar. The meeting also discussed long term goals built into the successful design of Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme to strengthen safety net and enhance financial inclusion in the country. The Governor and the Deputy Governor richly lauded Ehsaas Emergency Cash and assured full support and cooperation to Ehsaas.

August 27, 2020 – Islamabad: Radio Pakistan held the fourth episode of the special interactive talk on ‘Ehsaas Emergency Cash in its program Raabta. Through this week, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar is the special guest in the national hook up program. In today’s Raabta, she interacted with listeners from far flung areas of the country and replied to their questions about Ehsaas Emergency Cash payments in the field. She began the program by announcing the analysis of emergency cash applicants’ data and requests received through the radio 4471 SMS feed. Responding to the complaint of Ehsaas Emergency Cash beneficiary against fraudsters, she assured that no one is allowed to fraudulently deduct any money from Ehsaas Emergency Cash disbursements to vulnerable families and all fraudsters will be dealt according to the law. Listen here.

August 27, 2020 – Islamabad: To field test the innovative proposition of opening mobile wallets for Ehsaas beneficiaries, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar together with Secretary Yousaf Khan and other Ehsaas officials visited Islamabad Model College for Girls, Tarlai. Implementation of this special purpose proposition is in its testing stages. The test demonstration took place with Ehsaas beneficiaries at the Ehsaas Emergency Cash campsite in collaboration with partnering banks of Ehsaas- HBL and Bank AlFalah. “Through this innovative cash withdrawal facility, beneficiaries of Ehsaas Kafaalat will be able to open mobile wallets that will serve as fully functional cashless banking accounts”, said Dr. Nishtar while briefing media. At the Ehsaas campsite, she met with the partnering banks’ agents and Ehsaas Emergency Cash beneficiaries present there to review the quality of ongoing disbursal arrangements. She also listened to their concerns and gave on spot instructions to Ehsaas officials to facilitate them for easy cash transfers.

August 27, 2020 -Islamabad: SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar together with Secretary Yousaf Khan and other senior Ehsaas officials paid a surprise visit to Tarlai Panagah located in suburbs of the federal capital. The visit aimed to oversee the upgradation work being carried out to overhaul the Panagah. During the visit, Dr. Nishtar took round of the shelter facility and reviewed the current renovation arrangements. Under the umbrella of Ehsaas, the repair and renovation of Panagah is being managed by Pakistan Bait ul Mal that is one of the key executing agencies of Ehsaas. The ongoing upgradation is nearing the completion and the facility will be re-opened for labourers and the deserving next week.

August 26, 2020 – Islamabad: In the Radio Pakistan’s Ehsaas Emergency Cash special program ‘Raabta’ that is a daily national broadcast, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania stated that transfer of cash assistance of Rs.12,000 to deserving families under Ehsaas Emergency Cash program is closing on August 31, 2020. She guided beneficiaries facing issues in payments and demonstrated the process for registered applicants to check eligibility status on the live ‘Ehsaas Emergency Cash Know Your Status Portal’. All callers who had registered themselves through 8171 and connected with Dr. Nishtar in the live program through phone were apprised of their eligibility status on the spot, by entering Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) CNIC numbers on the portal. Elaborating the disbursement mechanism, Dr. Nishtar guided eligible applicants to collect the emergency cash from the nearest Ehsaas campsites and designated bank branches. Dr. Nishtar will be connecting with the national audience every morning this week through Raabta. Listen here.

August 25, 2020 -Islamabad: Connecting with listeners in radio program Raabta, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar announced that those people who could not apply for Ehsaas Emergency Cash would be able to benefit from other Ehsaas programs as per the rule based procedures through Ehsaas self-registration drive. Continuing she said, “Although Ehsaas Emergency Cash is closing on August 31, 2020 but there are many other social protection and poverty alleviation programs running nationwide under Ehsaas including Kafaalat, Langars, undergraduate scholarships, Amdan, interest free loans and many others for the deserving.” She answered several queries of listeners regarding Ehsaas in an hour long live program. Listen here.

August 25, 2020 – Islamabad: The meeting of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) was held to firm up the individual financial assistance policy under the umbrella of Ehsaas. Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation chaired the meeting. Secretary PASSD, Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Mal (PBM) and other senior officials from Pakistan Bait ul Mal were also present. The meeting thoroughly reviewed the individual financial assistance system currently in place at the PBM and gave recommendations to make it more comprehensive and responsive. Under the Ehsaas framework, PBM is responsible for the execution of demand side social protection. The poor, widows, destitute women, orphans and disabled persons are supported through general assistance, education, medical treatment and rehabilitation.

August 25, 2020: This World Breastfeeding Week, Ehsaas and UNICEF joined hands to raise awareness amid COVID-19 around supporting breastfeeding for a healthier planet. Informative material was jointly designed and disseminated countrywide to educate masses about the importance of breastfeeding. World Breastfeeding Week is a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding. The week is celebrated every year from 1-7 August. Taking to twitter, Dr. Sania Nishtar connected with wider audience and emphasized, “ breastfeeding is vital to boost young children’s immunity against diseases.”

August 24, 2020 – Islamabad: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) organized a webinar on ‘Financing the Social Protection: Possibilities & Practices’. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to join as chief guest and keynote speaker. The webinar aimed to explore options to assess financial plans to provide social assistance to all deserving, in the wake of coronavirus. In her keynote, Dr. Nishtar shared details about Ehsaas Emergency Cash that was rolled out by the government in response to COVID-19 pandemic. She stated that the Rs. 203 billion Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme has capitalized mainly on digital capabilities to impact lives of 16.9 million poverty-stricken families. The guest speakers included Benjamin A. Olken, an American Economist and Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, Naureen Adnan from Centre of Excellence CPEC, Safdar Sohail from SPRC, Nasir Iqbal and Shujaat Farooq from PIDE. The event was moderated by Nadeem ul Haque, Vice Chancellor PIDE.

August 24, 2020 – Islamabad: Given the closure of Ehsaas Emergency Cash payments on August 31, 2020, Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation along with representatives from Ehsaas team held the Radio Pakistan’s live program, Raabta. She responded to questions of listeners who connected with her on telephone by calling directly at 051-9206995. Educating beneficiaries, Dr. Nishtar highlighted the supplementary measures being taken under Ehsaas to facilitate payments to families of the deceased beneficiaries and those facing biometric issues. She apprised listeners that in order to facilitate emergency cash beneficiaries with biometric issues and families of deceased beneficiaries, the Ehsaas disbursements will be continued for a month after August 31, 2020. Dr. Nishtar will be reaching out the wider national audience every morning this week through radio program. Listen here.

August 21, 2020 – Islamabad: Celebrating its 15-month journey, Ehsaas has released a newsletter that looks back at several successful Ehsaas launches, institutional reforms and strategic partnerships under the whole-of-the government Ehsaas program. The Ehsaas Newsletter (March 2019 -August 2020) highlights 15-month journey of government’s efforts to scale up social protection in the country. Remarking the release of the newsletter, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar commented, “This newsletter is distinctive as it looks back at the ambitious journey of Ehsaas relationships and partnerships premised on tackling multidimensional poverty in Pakistan. The newly released edition of Ehsaas Newsletter also reflects the international recognitions earned by this widely praised programme.” The digital issue of Ehsaas Newsletter can be accessed Here.

August 21, 2020 – Islamabad: Dr. Sania Nishtar, PM’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation was invited to join the panel discussion with George Gray Molina, Head of Strategic Engagement and Chief Economist, UNDP Latin America and Shah Muhammad Azhar, Economic Policy Analyst, UNDP Pakistan at a webinar hosted by UNDP. The panel discussed ‘Temporary Basic Income- Global Lessons & Implications for Pakistan’. Dr. Nishtar highlighted Pakistan’s social protection experience under Ehsaas Emergency Cash, real time lessons and its inter-linkages with temporary basic income.

August 20, 2020 -Islamabad: Taking immediate steps to plan renovation of the shelter and basic amenities being provided to labourers and the poor at Panagahs, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar along with a team of experts visited Panagahs in Islamabad. The team inspected the two shelter facilities situated at Mandi More and G-9/4 in the federal capital. In light of findings of the team, the practical steps will be chalked out to equip Panagahs with improved standard facilities and run them in a dignified manner. At the occasion, Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, and Managing Director Pakistan Baitul Mal were also present. Panagah is a free lodging and food facility for labourers launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan under the Ehsaas programme. More than 100 Panagah facilities have been built up by the Government to facilitate laborers and daily wagers who need shelter.

August 19, 2020 -Islamabad: A consultative meeting of Ehsaas Poverty Expert Committee was convened at Ehsaas offices. The meeting was part of preparations for Ehsaas Tahafuz that will be launched in the coming months under the umbrella of Ehsaas. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting. During the course of meeting, the poverty expert committee reviewed the groundwork and operating model for the upcoming Tahafuz. Work has been completed to develop Pakistan’s first shock-oriented precision safety net that will cover heavy medical expenditures for the deserving.

August 18, 2020 -Islamabad: A team comprising six members of the federal cabinet briefed the media on the two-year performance report of the present government. The briefing to the media was given by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar, Minister Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Adviser to the PM on Finance and Revenue Dr. Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar. Imran Khan had taken the oath as Prime Minister on August 18, 2018. Speaking to the print and electronic media about the 15-month journey of Ehsaas, Dr. Nishtar said, “During the course of the last 15 months, Ehsaas, the largest social protection and poverty alleviation programme was profiled at many international events and has been richly praised worldwide. Adding further, she said, “Ehsaas programme will be further expanded and its access to the masses will be ensured.” Footage of the press conference can be watched here.  Also, a video documentary on government’s two-year performance highlighting Ehsaas can be watched here.

August 16, 2020 -Islamabad: Harvard Pakistan Forum (HPF) was held on August 13-16, 2020 virtually. The conference aimed to provide a platform for better understanding Pakistan’s socio-economic context. SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar was invited to join the panel discussion on COVID-19 and Pakistan’s Domestic Economy. The panel discussed the most immediate concerns of domestic businesses, credit constraints, change in compensation policies, adapting to a world with social distancing. The discussion also focused on the segments of the labour market most prone to the economic consequences of the virus and steps, different stakeholders can take to help. Dr. Nishtar highlighted details about the digital ways adopted under Ehsaas programme to provide for basic needs of the vulnerable & mitigate against more permanent economic consequences of COVID-19. In this engaging panel discussion, Dr. Nishtar was joined by Hammad Azhar, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Omer Ahmed, CEO of Artistic Miliners, Naz Khan, Head of Strategy at KE and Shehryar Bakhsh, CEO of HKB.

August 14, 2020 – Karachi: On the occasion of 74th Independence Day of Pakistan, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail awarded scholarships to students of Dawood University of Engineering and Technology (DUET) Karachi under the Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship program. He distributed cheques of scholarship among 145 engineering students. Addressing the gathering of deserving yet brilliant students, Governor Sindh said, “Ehsaas program is the largest social sector program in the history of Pakistan which has no precedent. Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship program for needy and promising students is an initiative that would help them to study in the field of their choice without any financial problem.” Taking to twitter, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar thanked the Governor for hosting engineers of tomorrow at the Governor House. She noted, “50,700 students have benefited from Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships in the year 2019/20 and the call for 2020/21 will open shortly.”

August 13, 2020 -Khyber Tribal District: Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a new program, Ehsaas Nashonuma that will tackle stunting and improve the nutrition of the poorest children in Pakistan, emphasising that there is no place for malnutrition in twenty first century Pakistan. The inaugural officially took place at Ehsaas Nashonuma Center set up in Dogra Headquarter Hospital, Khyber Tribal District. Prime Minister visited the center and interacted with the staff, and beneficiary women and their children present at the registration, anthropometry, awareness, and specialized nutritious food distribution counters at the centre. At the launch event, Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation briefed the PM about the wide-ranging services being provided under Ehsaas Nashonuma. Under the program, every quarter conditional cash-transfers will be provided to the poorest pregnant and lactating women and those with children under two years old, totalling PKR 1500 for each boy child and PKR 2000 for each girl child. Ehsaas Nashonuma is being launched in the first phase in nine districts, including Khyber, Upper Dir, Bagh, Ghizer, Hunza, Kharmang, Kharan, Badin, and Rajanpur. Thirty-three Ehsaas Nashonama centers will be established at Tehsil level health facilities to provide all the program’s services under one roof.

August 10, 2020- Islamabad: Following official approval of Panagah Strategy by the Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 9, 2020, Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Panagah (shelter home) situated at Mandi More in Islamabad. As per PM’s directives, the visit aimed to plan upgradation of facilities being provided at Panagah. Dr. Nishtar took round of the facility and interacted with staff and labourers present. During the visit, Dr. Nishtar was joined by Focal Person Panagah Naseem ur Rehman, MD Pakistan Bait ul Mal Aon Abbas Buppi and Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division Ali Raza Bhutta.

August 10, 2020- Islamabad: Orphanages Expert Group met for the 13^th time with PM’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar to give final shape to living standards for orphanages and child care centers. The group reviewed living standards for orphanages for the first time. The standards will be formalized soon for notification and implementation. Last year, in July 2019, the 11-member committee was constituted for orphanages by Dr. Nishtar to support and protect orphans under Ehsaas. The group was tasked to develop basic standards to ensure quality service at orphanages. Members of Ehsaas Orphanages Committee are prominent operators of orphanages from all across Pakistan. This is the first time that the government is taking steps to improve boarding standards for orphanages as this aspect of public service delivery had been neglected in the past.