Agency overview | |
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Formed | 2020 |
Jurisdiction | Government of Pakistan |
Headquarters | Islamabad, Pakistan |
Minister responsible |
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Parent department | Cabinet Secretariat |
Website | https://www.pass.gov.pk/ |
The Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division is a division of the Cabinet Secretariat in Pakistan that was established in 2020. It's responsible for formulating and implementing policies and programs aimed at reducing poverty, improving social safety nets, and providing assistance to vulnerable segments of society.
The division's primary focus lies in poverty reduction and the implementation of social safety net programs, with the Ehsaas Programme standing out as its flagship initiative. The Ehsaas Program is a comprehensive poverty reduction endeavor encompassing a spectrum of interventions, ranging from cash transfers to educational and healthcare initiatives, as well as livelihood support programs. [1]
In addition to the Ehsaas Program, the division oversees several other notable initiatives, [2] including the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), the Waseela-e-Taleem Program (WeT), the Waseela-e-Sehat Program (WeS), and the Kafalat Program. [3] These programs aim to provide financial assistance to low-income households, enhance access to education and healthcare services, and offer support to vulnerable segments of society such as the elderly and disabled. [4] [5]
The Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division collaborates closely with provincial governments, civil society organizations, and international development partners to implement poverty reduction initiatives throughout Pakistan. [6] [7]
Poverty in Pakistan has been recorded by the World Bank at 39.3% using the lower middle-income poverty rate of US$3.2 per day for the fiscal year 2020–21. In September 2021, the government stated that 22% percent of its population lives below the national poverty line set at Rs. 3030 (US$10) per month.
The healthcare delivery system of Pakistan is complex because it includes healthcare subsystems by federal governments and provincial governments competing with formal and informal private sector healthcare systems. Healthcare is delivered mainly through vertically managed disease-specific mechanisms. The different institutions that are responsible for this include: provincial and district health departments, parastatal organizations, social security institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector. The country's health sector is also marked by urban-rural disparities in healthcare delivery and an imbalance in the health workforce, with insufficient health managers, nurses, paramedics and skilled birth attendants in the peripheral areas. Pakistan's gross national income per capita in 2021 was $4,990 and the total expenditure on health per capita in 2021 was Rs 657.2 Billion, constituting 1.4% of the country's GDP. The health care delivery system in Pakistan consists of public and private sectors. Under the constitution, health is primarily responsibility of the provincial government, except in the federally administered areas. Health care delivery has traditionally been jointly administered by the federal and provincial governments with districts mainly responsible for implementation. Service delivery is being organized through preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative services. The curative and rehabilitative services are being provided mainly at the secondary and tertiary care facilities. Preventive and promotive services, on the other hand, are mainly provided through various national programs; and community health workers’ interfacing with the communities through primary healthcare facilities and outreach activities. The state provides healthcare through a three-tiered healthcare delivery system and a range of public health interventions. Some government/ semi government organizations like the armed forces, Sui Gas, WAPDA, Railways, Fauji Foundation, Employees Social Security Institution and NUST provide health service to their employees and their dependants through their own system, however, these collectively cover about 10% of the population. The private health sector constitutes a diverse group of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, traditional healers, drug vendors, as well as laboratory technicians, shopkeepers and unqualified practitioners.
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Marvi Memon is a Pakistani politician who recently served as Chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme, from February 2015 until June 2018. She had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from March 2008 to June 2011 and again from June 2013 to May 2018.
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Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP) was a project funded by the German technical cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in the early 1980s which was converted into the Balochistan Rural Support Programme in 1991. It is a Non Government Organization (NGO), part of the Rural Support Programmes Network, working in rural areas of Balochistan, Pakistan.
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Bacha Khan Poverty Alleviation Programme (BKPAP), named after Khudai-e-Khidmatgar movement leader, Bacha Khan, was a public-private venture sponsored by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government, and executed by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), in the selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
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