The mass information campaign launched by International Organisation for Migration (IOM) as helped the Pakistan government to complete the first phase of a major cash compensation programme for the victims of devastating floods that hit the country last year.
According to IOM press release issued on Friday, the initiative was part of a government assistance package to help affected communities and households start rebuilding their lives.
It states that Phase I of the Watan Card compensation programme ending on Friday, which provides disaster-affected families an amount of RS 20,000, has reached almost 35,000 beneficiaries in Sindh province and another 15,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But from the outset, the scheme ran into implementation problems that required mass communications to get the money to those most in need. It explained that the beneficiaries needed a computerised national identity card (CNIC) to be eligible for a Watan Card, and many did not have one. Widows and child-headed families also faced difficulties, as the CNICs are generally issued to the male head of family.
Uneducated beneficiaries also found it impossible to complete the registration forms and many people had lost their documents in the floods. The government registration authority, NADRA, had mobile registration vehicles, but often had difficulty identifying areas where registration was needed.
Following a request from district governments in Sindh and the Provincial Disaster
Management Authority (PDMA), the IOM launched a campaign to help people access the programme. The IOM developed and broadcast radio messages in 12 districts in Sindh and eight districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, informing communities about the deadline, application and collection procedures for Watan cards. In this respect two print campaigns were also published in local newspapers in both Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Approximately 7,000 text messages were sent out to information volunteers in the Human Network, who relayed the information to mobilize their communities.
