LAHORE – Provision of social services to the masses, especially the vulnerable sections of society, as well as the development of available human resources has paramount importance for overall development in the SAARC region, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Farzana Raja said on Monday.
She was addressing the inaugural session of the training course on ‘Social Services for Human Resource Development in SAARC Region: Priorities and Programs’, organised by the SAARC Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC). Considering it a basic human right, the BISP was launched as an instrument to provide financial assistance to the poorest of the poor, especially those affected by high inflation and impact of the international economic crisis, Farzana said.
The BISP chairperson stressed upon the need for more investment in the social services sector, as development of any nation is directly linked with the availability of education, health, nutrition, shelter, safe drinking water and sanitation to citizens. Terming BISP as the largest social sector programme in the South Asian Region, Farzana said that the programme has now been developed into a comprehensive social protection net which is bringing about great economic and social changes in the lives of the poor.
She said that along with provision of monthly cash grant, the BISP has also launched demand-driven vocational & technical training, microfinance for gainful self-employment and life & health insurance for the beneficiary families. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member of the National Assembly (MNA) said that the BISP was able to reach out to more than four million deserving families across the country, just in a short span of two and half years. By the end of June, the number of these families is expected to rise up to five to seven million, she said.
Farzana said that poverty and extremism are two major problems being faced by the South Asian region, especially Pakistan. Poverty gives rise to extremism and by overcoming this menace, we can drastically improve our security and economic situation, she added. Various delegates from SAARC countries also expressed their views and a participant from Sri Lanka appreciated the efforts of Farzana for running this social protection programme successfully on such a vast magnitude.
She said that the programme is an example for South Asian countries. The delegates expressed their desire that the experiences of BISP should be shared with SAARC members so that such programmes can be launched in other countries as well to alleviate poverty from the region.
