President Mamnoon Hussain inaugurated the National Socio Economic Registry (NSER) of BISP, here today at BISP headquarters. The President formally launched the registry on completion of its pilot phase consisting of 10 districts across the country. Speaking on the occasion, President Hussain said “NSER will help ascertain the poverty levels; and let the government opt appropriate choices for development.” He appreciated the role of BISP for country’s poor communities and hoped that it will be able to support the government in poverty alleviation. The President also commended the efforts of Chairperson BISP, MNA Marvi Memon for the extraordinary endeavors of BISP and her commitment towards poverty eradication in the country. On the occasion, 20 beneficiaries were handed over certificates of selection in the BISP unconditional cash transfer programme. Chairperson BISP MNA Marvi Memon said that, “In order to devise appropriate strategies for our programs, it is necessary that a true picture of our socio-economic indicators should be available.” She further said “BISP has a great potential to move forward as an entity of poverty eradication through financial inclusion and graduation,” and therefore termed the updating of NSER integral for development in Pakistan. National Socio Economic Registry is largest database of socio economic data of Pakistan. It helps BISP and the government of Pakistan in planning socio economic development for the communities across the country. It also helps civil society, donors and NGOs for planning their activities, projects and programs. In the pilot phase, data of 3.8 million households have been collected and this latest data will be utilized in various government programmes, including BISP. BISP is updating the NSER with 100% coverage across the country. BISP maintains the National Socioeconomic Registry-a database containing information on the socioeconomic status of over 27 million households (HH) across Pakistan except two agencies of FATA. The registry was created as a result of a Poverty Scorecard Survey (PSC), the first of its kind, undertaken in the years 2010-11. Survey covered almost 87% population of the entire country. The registry enables BISP to identify eligible households through the application of a Proxy Means Test (PMT), to scientifically calculate the poverty levels of the households, that determines welfare status of the household on a scale between 0-100. Ms. Memon further added, “It is a matter of great pride for me to launch the NSER and it reflects the pro-poor priorities of our government.” Earlier, in his welcome note, Secretary BISP, Mr. Omer Hamid Khan said that it is an internationally accepted phenomenon that household demographics change to a considerable degree in 5 years of time. He added, “This necessitated latest data collection of socio-economic indicators and thus, NSER has been launched.” He further added that BISP ranks first in terms of social safety net in Pakistan and fifth globally. The event was attended by members of parliament, diplomats, representatives of donor agencies and BISP beneficiaries. Among others, the inauguration was attended by Minister for Housing & Works, Mr. Akram Khan Durrani, Law Minster Mr. Mehmood Bashir Virk, Senator Raheela Magsi and MNA Asiya Nisar.
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