Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ehsaas Programme: I. Addressing Elite Capture and Making The Government System Work For Equality
Ehsaas Programme: I. Addressing Elite Capture and Making The Government System Work For Equality
A new constitutional amendment to move article 38(d) from the “Principles of Policy” section into
the “Fundamental Rights” section. This change will make provision of food, clothing, housing,
education and medical relief for citizens who cannot earn a livelihood due to infirmity, sickness or
unemployment, a state responsibility
Increase in social protection spending. Additional PKR 80 billion will be added to social protection
spending in the forthcoming budget (2019-20) and in the next budget (2020-21) there will be a further
increase; hence total incremental increase will be PKR 120 billion. At this level, social protection
spending will be 1% of the GDP with federal and provincial contribution
Creation of the Ministry of Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Coordination to address
current fragmentation. Benazir Income Support Program, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, Zakaat, Pakistan
Poverty Alleviation Fund, Trust for Voluntary Organizations, the SUN Network, Center for Social
Entrepreneurship, and secretariats of the Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council and planned Labor
Expert group will be under this ministry
Priority earmarking of resources for pro-poor sectors to prevent channeling of resources to other
sectors through ad hoc decision-making
New policy to guide the use of development expenditure by parliamentarians to promote
transparency, independent oversight and accountability
Guidelines on conflict-of-interest for state and government functionaries
Earmarking a share for those below a certain poverty line while allocating Khokhas (cafés), tea
shops, newspaper stands, shoe polishing booths on government-owned land or in government-
owned hospitals, parks, and railway stations
Earmarking a share for those below a certain poverty line while auctioning shops in Town
and Tehsil committees
Earmarking a share for those below a certain poverty line in Market Committees
Registration of slum and Katchi Abadis residents to facilitate their transparent inclusion in the
event of subsequent commercialization of the area
A policy of community co-ownership where land development follows freeing up of land from
land grabbers
For pro-poverty planning, the government is committed to fixing the local government system, to
facilitate need-based community decision making
Enhanced free electronic media air time policy to promote information as public good related to
the Ehsaas program
National Strategy for the Development of Statistics, for strengthening quality and availability of
statistics and to ensure the independence of statistics from political and other undue external
influence, so that the government can have access to accurate, reliable, and timely statistics and a
solid and credible base of evidence, which is critical to support the design and evaluation of policies
Data accessibility and transparency policy. Free accessibility of data will be ensured through
the District Development Portal in which poverty and other socio-economic indicators across
Pakistan’s district will be available to policy makers and the public. The Portal will allow tracking
differences in performance and will be an important accountability tool in the implementation of
Ehsaas
II. SAFETY NETS
38.8% of people in Pakistan suffer from poverty in one or other form, and 24.4% do not have enough
money to satisfy their basic food and non-food needs. The government needs to identify the poor
precisely to make government subsidies, targeted. In this regard the following initiatives have been
undertaken/are in the planning pipeline
The program Kifalat, will ensure financial and digital inclusion of around 6 million women through
the one woman one bank account policy
Programs for graduation of BISP beneficiaries in lagging districts through the Pakistan Poverty
Alleviation Fund’s National Poverty Graduation Program, using the outreach of rural support programs
and community organizations
Tahafuz:
Launch of the shock-oriented precision safety net, Tahafaz for the vulnerable to protect them
against shocks. This will be involve one-time financial assistance to protect against catastrophic events
Legal aid through Tahafaz
Partnership with NGOs to upscale successful programs for orphans, street children, seasonal
migrants, transgender, victims of child and bonded labor and daily wage workers
Housing for the poor:
Housing scheme for the poor (including landless farmers) through interest free loans
Protection against catastrophic health expenditures:
20 centers for the physically challenged in under-privileged districts in the public-private
partnership mode
Welfare of the elderly poor:
Labor pension increased from PKR 5,250 to 6,500 through the Employees Old Age Benefit Institute
Five great Ehsaas homes (old people’s homes) through Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal
Labor welfare:
Launch of a welfare and pension scheme for the informal sector as a result of the
recommendations of the Labor expert group
Welfare of workers abroad:
A policy to increase the role and number of Community Welfare Attaches and to involve well
reputed expatriate Pakistanis in that role
Protector of Emigration Offices to create one-window for all types of requirements to facilitate
migrant workers
Negotiations with foreign governments to extend the duration of the first contract agreement for
workers to a minimum of 3 years because unskilled workers hardly recover their cost of migration
before that time
A policy of subsidy on air tickets for low paid workers abroad who have not returned home in
seven years
III. HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
Human capital development is a significant contributor to the wealth of a nation. In this digital age,
accelerations in technology require countries to urgently invest in their people if they hope to compete in
the economy of the future. Human capital development necessitates prioritizing investments in early
years—tackling malnutrition, preschool or early education, protecting children from harm; ensuring
access to quality education, skills and jobs; long-term commitment to Universal Health Coverage, and
measures for empowering women and girls.
Pakistan is facing a crisis in terms of malnutrition that is among the worst in the world; our country is
losing 3 percent of its GDP to stunting every year—a situation in which children cannot grow in height,
their brains don’t grow, and cognitive abilities don’t develop, a major setback in today’s knowledge
economy. Stunting is the result of malnutrition and recurrent infections, in early childhood and/or
malnutrition before birth brought on by a malnourished mother. Under-nutrition in young children and
over-nutrition later in life lead to higher risk of costly diseases, like hypertension and diabetes. These are
impoverishing through healthcare costs and by negatively impacting economic development by incurring
productivity losses. Therefore, malnutrition has long lasting consequences for families and countries.
Several initiatives address malnutrition in this framework.
Malnutrition:
Asset transfer of goats to the rural poor along with veterinary cover as part of the graduation
initiative’s asset transfer programs
A Kitchen Gardening initiative to promote subsidized certified seed and seedlings through the
entrepreneurial model as well as CSR to promote fruit and vegetable intake
Specialized nutrition food made available for stunted and wasted children in a cost-effective
manner
Awareness drive aimed at article 25-A so that the disadvantaged become aware of their right
Access to education for poor through vouchers where public schools do not exist, but private
schools exist; or
Contracting out primary and secondary education to private sector in geographic areas where
there are no public schools
Need-based undergraduate scholarships by the Higher Education Commission for students from
low-income families and lagging districts to ensure that all qualified students have access to
undergraduate education regardless of income, gender, or location. This policy will be applicable to
public sector and participating non-profit private sector colleges and universities
Transparency placard placement policy for all schools funded by government. Outside each
school a placard will be placed with details about the budget and number of teachers. Consolidated
information will be digitally available through a mobile app
Health:
Universal health coverage policy to be adopted at federal and provincial levels with innovative
technology tools to increase geographic and financial access to healthcare for communicable and non-
communicable diseases and for maternal and child health and mental health services. Priority will be
given to conditions where the poor bear higher burden of disease
Transparency and integrity measures to address regulatory capture in health-related regulatory
agencies
Transparency placard placement policy for health facilities funded by government. Outside each
BHU and hospital, a placard will be placed with details about the budget and number of staff.
Information will also be available through a mobile app
The new policy of Solutions Innovation Challenge, Prize Funding, and venture capital funding to
develop value chains and solutions for poverty at scale by identifying private sector partners. Two
categories of solutions challenges will be developed; one with public good like effect and others that
are specific to Geographic Opportunity Clusters in lagging areas. This approach will help to develop
agriculture and industrial value chains and address the drivers of poverty in a local context.
Examples include the Solution Innovation Challenge:
to develop micro credit facility for daily wage earners so that they can afford monthly groceries,
which they would not be able to afford otherwise
to identify online platforms, which can help daily wagers, especially women earn a living wage
with dignity
for online content development which can be made available as public good for all
to develop a rickshaw garbage collector which can create livelihoods and improve water and
sanitation outcomes, at the same time
to link crafts persons with fashion houses to increase employment and promote culture
for the Union Councils of the western CPEC corridor aimed at developing productive
infrastructure for local communities
to develop formal institutions for workers in the informal sector who have not qualified through
TVET institutions
for clean cooking stoves to address indoor air pollution, which is a major risk for diseases which
disproportionately affect poor women
The government’s Interest Free Loaning policy and graduation tools (asset transfer and skills
development) will be developed around the Solutions Innovation Challenge and Prize Funding policy
Promotion of agriculture credit to support the Solutions Innovation Challenge and Prize Funding
policy
Promotion of off grid solutions to electricity to support the Solutions Innovation Challenge and
Prize Funding policy
The policy of architecture-based approach to digitize government, coupled with a level playing
field for the private sector can help drive jobs at scale
Decrease in the age of enrollment from 18 to 15 in TVET institutions so that after matriculation,
skills training can be started immediately
Review of legislation relating to apprenticeship in the informal sector. A system will be designed
to formalize arrangements, recognize and certify skills
Change in NAVTCC’s law to introduce the mandate to check the mushrooming of substandard and
unregulated Trade Testing Centers being run by manpower exporters, which is one of the causes in
compromising quality and subsequent exploitation of labor
Accelerated foreign policy drive to review opportunities in neighboring countries, and other
emerging opportunities in countries like Japan and Germany that have ageing populations and need
human resources
Introduction of a slab for remitters of up to US$ 100 with half of the existing fee and incentives
for the remittances to be socially invested
Labor Expert group to study application of labor laws to tenant farmers and to make
recommendations for formalizing tenancy farming system
Incentivize local manufacturing of farm equipment, drip irrigation materials and solar equipment
Policy to reduce cost of agriculture inputs by minimizing import duties and taxes
A policy will be developed to ensure that women have joint ownership of houses in each of the
new housing schemes the government is supporting
The success of this wide-ranging plan with transformational potential will hinge on two factors—the
effectiveness of population control measures on the one hand, and the quality and speed of
implementation, on the other. The latter is deeply interlinked with governance effectiveness. To this
effect, the following measures assume overarching significance:
Housing the Population Task Force under the direct supervision of the Prime Ministers Secretariat
and ensuring universal access to family planning predicated on the understanding that population is
the denominator of poverty alleviation
Ehsaas is the biggest and the boldest program for the poor, ever launched in Pakistan. The
government will work with all stakeholders—public, private, civil society, philanthropists, and
expatriate Pakistanis—to ensure that we deliver on our promise of lifting millions of people out of
poverty and build a strong foundation together for a stronger, safer, and successful Pakistan.
The Ehsaas program was developed by the Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council after extensive
consultations. The Council is chaired by Dr. Sania Nishtar