ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri has said the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is an effective vehicle of social safety for low-income segments of society that is supporting women family heads by providing directed cash assistance to them.

“This is the best and most practical method of women empowerment and their financial autonomy. The social safety net has become an agent of change,” the minister said while talking to a delegation of Yemen’s Social Fund for Development on Sunday.

The 23-member delegation is on a five-day visit to Pakistan to gain insights from the successful social protection model of BISP. The visit has been planned and organised with the cooperation of the World Bank with its representatives are also accompanying the delegation.

Highlighting the success of the social safety net, Ms Marri said the survey and registration process associated with BISP has encouraged women with low-income hous­ehold and living in remote areas to register themselves and their families with the Nat­ional Database and Regis­tration Authority. She also talked about Benazir Taleemi Wazaif and said because of this incentive, enrollment in primary and secondary schools has increased.

Ms Marri, who also heads the BISP, informed the Yemeni delegation that the social safety net was also planning other welfare initiatives, such as Adaptive Social Protection and Digital and Financial Literacy for Beneficiaries and a programme for adolescent girls. She highly appreciated the visit and said it would go a long way in exchange of ideas and learning from the experiences of each other.

Wasem Qaid, the deputy managing director of Yemen’s Fund for Social Development, said the visit gave Yemen a chance to understand a successful model of social protection to help low-income groups. Mr Qaid hoped that this study visit would help a great deal in developing a similar model in Yemen as well.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2023