ISLAMABAD: Dr Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, on Friday said that the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) survey would start in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa soon in collaboration with the government.

Dr Nishtar held out the assurance that once the NSER survey was completed, the data would be available to the province for use without any cost implications.

In the survey, the basic information about household size, education, employment, disability and assets would be collected. The database will be used to decide eligibility of households and identification of ‘recipients’ for Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfer Programmes of the Benazir Income Support programme (BISP). Outside the BISP, there have been more than 30 government/non-governmental institutions that are currently using BISP data for targeting of their programmes.

Sania says socio-economic registry survey will begin in the province soon

She was talking to a delegation of 10 women members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and briefed them on the prime minister’s flagship programme Ehsaas in Islamabad. The delegation included Ayesha Naeem, Rabia Basri, Zeenat Bibi, Madiha Nisar, Maria Fatima, Sajida Hanif, Dr Asia Asad, Ayesha Bano, Asia Khattak and Dr Summaira Shams accompanied by MNA Nafeesa Inayatullah Khattak.

Dr Nishtar and Secretary Ali Raza Bhutta briefed the women MPAs from KP . The briefing was aimed at informing them about the Ehsaas projects and initiatives and exploring areas for mutual coordination with the provincial government on signature initiatives.

Dr Nishtar apprised women MPAs with details of the Ehsaas programme, particularly areas with potential for federal-provincial collaboration. She described details of the programmes that have already been implemented, including Ehsaas Interest Free Loans, Ehsaas Langars and Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships, as well as the ‘Ehsaas webpage for parliamentarians optimised for mobile phones’ which will soon be launched.

Through this webpage, she said, the federal and provincial stakeholders would be able to take active part in the execution of Ehsaas programmes such as interest free loans, Kifalat stipends, undergraduate scholarships and langars.

Dr Nishtar also apprised the women MPAs of the timelines of Ehsaas projects that are currently in the pipeline. She said that once the NSER survey was completed, the data would be available to the province for use without any cost implications.

The women MPAs lauded the way the Ehsaas programme is being implemented and assured their full support and cooperation for the NSER survey. They praised the informative features of ‘Ehsaas webpage for parliamentarians’ which would help them take full benefit and ownership of Ehsaas projects in field.

They extended their full support and cooperation to Ehsaas to ensure that its benefits get transmitted to the most deserving.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2020