BISP cash transfers and empowerment

Earlier this year, the World Bank published a report evaluating the impact of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) on women empowerment. The programme has two primary policy goals: eradication of extreme poverty and women empowerment. With the objective of protecting the country’s ‘poorest of the poor’, BISP provides cash transfers of Rs1,000 per month, paid in quarterly installments, to ‘every married woman in a household’ who possesses a CNIC. The report concludes that there is strong evidence that BISP transfers have had some positive impact on women empowerment. Even a small amount of cash appears to have provided women with some flexibility and freedom within their household and community.

If all it took was a transfer of Rs1,000, then why aren’t other countries rushing to implement similar policies? Using behavioural science, I will illustrate that the amount of cash transfer is merely just one factor that results in the wide success of BISP. In the early days of the BISP roll-out, eligibility requirements remained opaque and gave authority to lawmakers to identify households within their constituencies as beneficiaries. This misguided effort to target the bottom of the pyramid was quickly rectified and, in conjunction with the World Bank, eligibility requirements were established using Living Standards Measurements Survey and a Poverty Scorecard was developed. The new requirements provided easier access for the poorest 25 per cent of the population. Beneficiaries can self-identify and opt to receive BISP. Women can go to a local BISP office to verify their eligibility requirements, and if met, are then automatically registered in the system to receive transfers.

In the early stages of BISP implementation, majority of beneficiaries received money through old-fashioned mail. Given reports of leakages and misappropriation of funds, the BISP programme replaced payments through post with ATM cards. Women can collect money directly from ATMs or Point-of-Sale machines. Therefore, by modifying eligibility requirements and ensuring effective disbursement methods, the uptake of this programme increased dramatically, from 1.8 million in 2009 to 5.3 million in 2015. Pakistan’s most comprehensive social protection programme exceeded its target, reaching 5 million beneficiaries by 2015 and is providing the country’s ultra-poor and poor with a much-needed income boost.

By making the BISP unconditional, the government removed the additional cost of conditionality. By naming the country’s largest social welfare programme after the late Benazir Bhutto, coupled with the female-only requirement provides a small nudge to women to enroll in BISP.

But none of this explains why women feel empowered? The Oxford Policy Management Impact Evaluation reports an increase in women’s agency within beneficiary households measured through qualitative data. The study also found an increase in female mobility within communities. Women beneficiaries reported they would be more likely to vote if given the chance.

So why does a BISP cash transfer of Rs1,000, that makes up only 6 per cent of a household consumption expenditure, instill a sense of empowerment in beneficiaries? In their book, Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, Princeton professor of psychology and public affairs Eldar Shafir and Harvard’s economic professor Sendhil Mullainathan explain the need to re-conceptualise poverty. They explain that being trapped in poverty elicits a specific set of responses, a cognitive tax that essentially alters your ability to act and think. Further explaining that scarcity results in a narrow focus and greater engagement with some problems, financial constraints, and lead to the neglect of others. By lessening their financial burden, even by a small amount, women now have the ability to think beyond their constant worry about money.

Given the rigorous impact evaluations, Pakistanis should celebrate the government’s successful implementation of the country’s most comprehensive social welfare plan. However, to truly break the cycle of inter-generational poverty, the government must prioritise strengthening institutions and public service delivery. The BISP is just a small step in the right direction.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2017.

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