ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Progrgmme (BISP) completed dialogues with multiple partners in London to enhance its service delivery in the country and expand its impact through partnerships.

The meetings, arranged by Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), centered on enhancing BISP’s initiatives, leveraging digital infrastructure, and expanding critical interventions aimed at imp­r­o­ving the lives of beneficiary women and children across Pakistan.

BISP Chairperson Senator Rubina Khalid and Secretary Amer Ali Ahmed participated in a series of meetings that concluded last week aimed at BISP’s efforts to expand its programmes.

As per a proposal of the Foun­da­tion, the BISP will outline its future programme plans while the foundation will design a customised package of interventions for BISP, according to a senior BISP official.

With a clear vision for future collaboration, the BISP and BMGF committed to expand their partnership by integrating women-centred interventions in maternal-newborn-child health, family planning and women economic empowerment.

This approach will help BISP’s existing platforms and infrastructure to deliver impactful services to its beneficiaries, the official said.

About London meetings, a senior BISP official says the programme was now poised to strengthen its programmes in health, women empowerment and poverty alleviation by aligning with the expertise and resources of BMGF, thereby ultimately improving the lives of millions of the most marginalised communities in Pakistan.

“The road ahead promises innovation, digitisation, collaboration, poverty graduation and a continued focus on empowering women and children through integrated and sustainable interventions,” the BISP official said.

Ms Khalid said discussions have been held about BISP potentially overseeing the execution of the poverty graduation programme, aligning with BISP’s vision for skills training and leveraging the NSER database to target the right beneficiaries.

During the meeting between BISP top leadership and officials of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the poverty graduation programme in Pakistan came up for discussion, and it is likely that IsDB will provide assistance for the programme.

In this regard, a mission of IsDB will visit Islamabad during the first week of December to hold talks with BISP officials on further collaboration.

The BISP team also held discussions with representatives of the Lives and Livelihoods Fund, a joint vision of the IsDB with the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Isla­mic Solidarity Fund for Develop­ment, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and the Qatar Fund for Development, aimed at raising the poorest out of poverty in IsDB member countries.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2024