FCDO-funded Sub-National Governance Programme, implemented by Oxford Policy Management, concluded its first National Learning Event on Pakistan’s COVID response, with insightful contributions coming on economic recovery, governance and institutional response. On the occasion, Federal Minister for Planning and Reforms, Asad Umer said that Pakistan’s Covid response was a classic example of how coordinated efforts lead to success. He said that Pakistan’s lesson from the pandemic had highlighted that federal and provincial governments coming together and institutions working in tandem produce results. He further added that the response to COVID-19 was the largest ever integration effort in the history of Pakistan, which proved that we can really be effective when we pool into a single decision-making structure. Ms Annabel Gerry, Development Director FCDO, in her concluding remarks said that Pakistan’s success in dealing with the pandemic at all fronts had really been impressive and the lessons learnt from the pandemic that we could call ‘Covid-keeps’ (things that we shouldn’t give up even after the pandemic has receded) can help us improve and further strengthen our systems and institutions. The sessions on Economic recovery, chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr Jehenzab Khan, had the CEO of Oxford Policy Management, Mark Henstridge, Usman Khan, Vaqar Ahmed, Musharraf Cyan, and David Hoole who talked how economic response depended on many existing factors in the economies including, most importantly, the state and the capability of the economic and other institutions. It also brought to the fore the central role of the government in the economic planning.
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