The
commendable progress made by BISP in terms of expansion and improved service
delivery during the last four years highlights the commitment of the present
government to the poor and vulnerable of the country. The budget allocation for
BISP that was Rs 70 billion in 2013 jumped to Rs 121 billion in 2017. The
quarterly stipend increased from Rs 3000 per quarter in 2013 to Rs 4834 in
2016. The number of beneficiaries that were paid stipend in 2013 was 3.78
million whereas in 2017, 5.46 million beneficiaries have been paid stipend.
Total Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) to BISP beneficiaries in 2013 stood at
Rs 161.6 billion whereas total payments of Rs 515 billion have been made till
2017. In 2012-13, disbursements worth RS 43.30 billion were made whereas in
2016-2017, 102.8 billion have been disbursed depicting an increase in spending
on the welfare of poor.
The payments made through Post
Office, Smart Cards and Benazir Debit Card are being converted to payments
through BVS (Biometric Verification System) and 43 districts have been
converted to BVS till date. Currently 37% of the beneficiaries are
receiving payments through BVS, 60% through Benazir Debit Card (BDC) and 3%
through Pakistan Post. During last quarterly payment, 1.9 million beneficiaries
withdrew their stipend through BVS.
BISP under its Waseela-e-Taleem
(WeT) initiative has successfully enrolled 1.7 million children to schools
across Pakistan and Rs 4.69 billion have been disbursed to the mothers of
enrolled children on 70% attendance compliance. It is a remarkable achievement
as in 2013 only 23000 children were enrolled in schools and there was nil
disbursement under Waseela-e-Taleem. For social mobilization BISP has
constituted 55000 BBCs aimed at educating beneficiaries regarding BISP, WeT,
immunization, nutrition, cash withdrawal and women empowerment.
BISP is in the process of conducting
a new survey for NSER update. The pilot phase is about to close after which
nationwide rollout will be launched that is expected to complete before mid
2018. The ongoing survey is technology enabled that is being done on tablets
and there is intensive supervision in terms of evaluation by operation review
firms, internal monitoring and citizens’ hotline.
BISP is also working to mobilize
beneficiaries to avail social/welfare services and create linkages with other
government and non government initiatives. BISP has collaborated with other
organizations as well in order to help its beneficiaries benefit from other
welfare schemes. More than 354,847 BISP households have been enrolled in PMNHP.
More than 181,088 BISP households got interest free loans from Akhuwat, PMIFYL,
PPAF and other provincial schemes. BISP is also considering various graduation
models so that its beneficiaries may become self sufficient and exit out of
poverty.
