Senate panel discusses NSER programme

The Senate Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety in its meeting on Tuesday discussed the status of the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) programme and received a briefing on the Trust for Voluntary Organization (TVO)

Chaired by Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, the meeting was attended by senators Dr Asif Kirmani, Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum, Asad Junejo, Rukhsana Zuberi, Samina Saeed, Mirza Muhammad Afridi and senior officers of the relevant ministry.

The committee was informed that the NSER was established under the ambit of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to ensure objectivity in identifying beneficiaries and for transparency in implementing interventions and effective targeting of the BISP beneficiaries.

Beyond BISP, the meeting was further informed, more than 100 government and non-government organisations had utilized NSER data to target beneficiaries for their respective programmes. It had also provided support to all the women in 231 villages along the Line of Control (LoC).

The committee lauded the programme and called for measures to ensure sustainability of the beneficiaries by introducing livelihood opportunities. Senator Zuberi stressed the need for non-duplication of efforts and optimum utilisation of resources such as the census data.

Discussing the role, functions, budget and performance of the TVO, the committee was informed that the sectors under the primary focus included primary education, primary healthcare, livelihood, environment, disaster management, water, sanitation and hygiene.

The organisation had a nationwide presence in all the provinces, through eight regional offices, the committee members heard. The ministry of poverty alleviation was actively exploring avenues for assigning additional responsibilities to TVO according to its mandate.

The committee lauded the TVO efforts and was of the view that a detailed discussion would be held once the terms of reference (TORs) are formulated.