Pakistan

Drawing on the background paper on interlinkages between social protection, services and infrastructure (Chopra 2018), this paper provides insights into the interlinkages that might be found, or sought, in contexts that are in the midst of or recovering from violent conflict or that have fragile governance systems that undermine capacity to deliver social protection, services and infrastructure effectively, particularly in support of gender equality, equity and empowerment.

This One Pager presents an analysis into the adequacy of Pakistan's social protection response to the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights pertinent policy takeaways for turning the health crisis into an opportunity for a strengthened social protection system in Pakistan. 

This Working Paper presents an analysis into the adequacy of Pakistan's social protection response to the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights pertinent policy takeaways for turning the health crisis into an opportunity for a strengthened social protection system in Pakistan. It focuses on Ehsaas Emergency Cash (EEC) as the country's flagship initiative to attenuate the economic fallout for the most vulnerable people during and after the crisis.

An important element of social protection systems are regulatory frameworks. The absence of a legal framework for social protection leaves individuals and communities in need exposed to arbitrary decision-making and political change. A strong statutory basis which recognises social protection as a right ensures accountable institutions and enables individuals to make legitimate claims and enforce their rights, thus creating legal awareness, which is central to the legal empowerment of the most vulnerable members of society.

This report documents the ongoing policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis in South Asia and lessons that can be drawn for the future of social protection in the region.

The views, thoughts and opinions presented in this blog post belong to its author(s). They are not necessarily shared by socialprotection.org.

ahida Bibi feared for her family's survival when she lost her job as a housekeeper in Islamabad during the COVID-19 outbreak. Zahida's four children depend on her income – and so does her husband, a cancer patient. Pakistan's Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program provided Zahida with a fast, digital lifeline she could access through a mobile phone. "This program is a ray of hope for poor families," she said. 

The NPGI aims to assist the ultra-poor and very poor in graduating out of poverty on a sustainable basis. The NPGI is aligned with the strategic goal of the Government of Pakistan to halve poverty by 2025. The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), an autonomous not-for-profit company, and forty partnering NGOs execute this initiative. This program was developed in close collaboration with the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) – the flagship cash transfer program of Pakistan.

This study describes the feasibility of applying employment-intensive public works as a means of addressing the loss of jobs and income resulting from the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 in Pakistan. The recommendations made can also be used to address chronic shortages of employment opportunities as well as being a sound strategy for dealing with future economic shocks.