PR No. 56 BISP DESK BASED FOUR DISTRICTS SURVEY TO BE COMPLETED BY END OF JANUARY Islamabad: January 6, 2017

Minister of State and Chairperson BISP, MNA Marvi Memon, today in a live calls programme at Radio Pakistan interacted with BISP beneficiaries. She interacts with BISP beneficiaries through this forum on weekly basis in order to disseminate information on various initiatives, obtain feedback on service delivery, listen to their complaints and resolve them on spot utilizing state of the art Management Information System (MIS).

During the live calls programme, beneficiaries from Sehwan Sharif, Mianwali, Bajaur Agency, Badin, Kashmore, Layyah, Khairpur, Mardan, Jati, Buner, Torghar, Swat, Rawat, Chakwal, Muzzaffarabad, Landi Kotal, Kallar Syeddan, Quetta and Faisalabad called Chairperson BISP. They shared their problems of BDC loss, card blockage, non-payment of stipend and corruption by POS agents. Majority of grievances were addressed on spot through MIS and problems which needed investigation, Chairperson BISP directed to initiate investigation and resolve the issues immediately.

During her live conversation with beneficiaries, Chairperson BISP said that currently the number of beneficiary households, receiving financial assistance from BISP has increased to approximately 5.4 million.

The Minister informed the listeners that BISP is currently conducting the up-dation of the National Socio Economic Registry (NSER) through the new poverty survey in phased manner. The first phase is being carried out in 16 districts across Pakistan. In four out of 16 districts, i.e. Haripur, Bahawalpur, Nasirabad and Sukkur, BISP is collecting data using self-registration i.e., Desk Approach .

Chairperson BISP added that till now, BISP has received an enormous response from the respondents and achieved exceptional results from the test approach. BISP has covered average 92% of the intended population under the Desk Approach in 4 districts in accordance with the international standard of 60% of the population coming for registration on desk. In order to handle the genuine complaints for 2010 Balochistan survey, the re-survey has over achieved in Naseerabad by 143%.

BISP beneficiaries were also apprised of the fact that the Desk Approach is scheduled to be closed in most of the places by end of January this year. She urged the remaining public to register themselves so that registration for NSER update may be maximized.

She further informed that as a feedback mechanism, BISP intends to test the viability of this approach by seeking feedback from all the stakeholders including the respondents as well as the elected representatives. Therefore, feedback can be provided through BISP toll-free number 0800-26477.

The Minister also highlighted that in the second phase, BISP is conducting a door to door survey in the 12 districts which is scheduled to start by the end of this month. These districts include Jacobabad, Thatha, Mohmand Agency, Gilgit, Mirpur, Layyah, Chakwal, Faisalabad, Kech, Qila Saifullah, Lakki Marwat and Charsadda. The door to door survey activity will continue till May 2017. Survey firms for the door to door approach have been hired and staff training is being conducted these days.

Talking about ensuring transparency and efficiency of resurvey, Marvi said that an Operations Review Firm has been hired to monitor the survey activities in desk as well as door to door survey. Moreover, she will monitor the survey personally by conducting spot checks and surprise field visits.

Earlier in the day, Chairperson BISP paid a surprise visit at Summit bank in Fateh Jang. The purpose of the surprise visit was to ensure the timely release of payments to beneficiaries by the bank as BISP makes sure to disburse payments to banks in time. Chairperson BISP intends to pay such surprise visits of banks in future as well.

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