A five member delegation comprising of MIS experts from Indonesia is visiting Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) on a five-day knowledge sharing visit from 7-11 May 2018. The visit of the Indonesian team is sponsored by the World Bank for understanding the best practices in social safety nets in both settings. The Indonesian delegation is led by Mr. Heru Cahyono, Section Head of Planning of Social Assistance Needs who called on Secretary BISP, here at BISP headquarters. The purpose of the study is sharing knowledge between the experts of MIS department, Indonesia and BISP, Pakistan. Secretary BISP, Omar Hamid Khan said that there is a growing consensus in development circles that social protection is an effective policy choice for addressing poverty and vulnerability in developing countries. He added that social protection has featured prominently on the agendas of most developing economies in recent years as a result of this consensus. He informed the delegation that BISP has attained a reputation of a successful programme with positive impacts on lives of vulnerable women. He quoted impact evaluations of Oxford Policy Management (OPM) which found BISP’s positive impacts on poverty reduction, school enrolment of children and increased willingness of women to vote. The delegation was briefed about BISP Endowment Fund which has been established for additional pro-poor schemes and initiatives by BISP. The exit strategy of the BISP beneficiaries i.e. Graduation Model was also shared with the members of delegation. Further, it was shared that BISP has grown as a leader in establishing an innovative system for poverty based targeting in social protection service delivery, the National Socio Economic Registry (NSER) which is a large data set akin to a census that is linked to computerized civic registry. Section Head of Planning of Social Assistance Needs, Mr. Heru Cahyono, thanked the BISP management for hosting the visit for his team and praised the BISP model for its efficacy, transparency and utilization of latest technological trends for poverty mapping and beneficiary identification. He said that he looked forward to a strong relationship with BISP for sharing of knowledge, resolution of common challenges and application of best practices within the both entities. Secretary BISP, Mr. Omar Hamid Khan hoped that the visit will help understand the context of social safety environment in Pakistan, and replicate the successful initiatives of BISP in other parts of world. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
PREVIOUS NEXT
