Marri touts BISP as catalyst for change

Yemeni delegation says WB termed the programme as best model for study

ISLAMABAD:

Poverty Alleviation Minister and Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Shazia Marri on Sunday, while talking to a delegation of Yemen’s Social Fund for Development (SDF), said that in Pakistan the BISP has become an agent of change.

A 23-member delegation of the Arab country was on a 5-day visit to Pakistan to gain insights into the successful social protection model. This visit was planned and organized in cooperation with the World Bank, whose representatives also accompanied the delegation.

Marri said that the programme was an effective vehicle of social safety for low-income segments of the society that was supporting women family head by providing directed cash assistance to them. “This is the best and most practical method of women empowerment and their financial autonomy,” she continued.

Our survey and registration process has encouraged women with low-income household and living in remote areas to register themselves and their families with the NADRA, the minister said, highlighting that Benazir Taleemi Wazaif was a reason for the increased school enrolment at primary and secondary levels, as stipends were given to students on the condition of over 70% attendance.

The SDF Deputy Managing Director Wasem Qaid noted that when he discussed the idea of studying social welfare model of some developing countries, the instant response of the WB was the BISP as the best model for such study.

Qaid hoped that this study visit would help then in developing a similar model in Yemen as well.