A woman (R) counts rupee notes after collecting cash of financial assistance through a mobile wallet under the governmental Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme for families in need during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Islamabad on April 9, 2020. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP) (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)
The practitioners need to realize that social protection is the agent of social development and the horizons of the social protection system must be expanded beyond social assistance in the local context.
Dr. Franz von Roenne, Programme Director, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Pakistan, said this at the launch of a training course on “Social Protection in Pakistan” for public sector officials to develop a better understanding of the social protection concepts, instruments, and systems-based approach.
The course was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with GIZ under a Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ)-financed programme, Oxford Policy Management (OPM), and Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (HBRS), Germany.
Dr. Franz said that the GIZ is supporting the federal as well as the provincial governments through its reform program, namely Support to Social Protection – Social Health Protection.
Joint Executive Director, SDPI, Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, said that the government must think of social protection in the context of post-disaster situations such as floods and pandemics that call for this kind of course. While discussing the fragmentation of the existing social protection system in Pakistan, he stressed the need for an integrated approach.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Punjab Social Protection Authority (PSPA), Tauseef Dilshad Khatana, said that this course provides an opportunity to learn from diversified experiences and is a step forward in building capacities for the improved implementation of social protection.
Project Director, Public Policy & Social Protection Reforms Unit (PP&SPRU) Planning and Development (P&D) Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Fawad Khattak, highlighted the importance of adaptive social protection system with the aim of developing a better system for social protection in Pakistan.
The departments whose representatives attended the course were: the Federal Sehat Sahulat Program, Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Punjab Bait-ul-Maal, Planning and Development (P&D) Board Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (KP-TEVTA), Women Development Department (WDD), Punjab, PSPA, Special Education Department, Punjab, Zakat and Usher Department, Punjab Government, Punjab Health Initiative Management Company, Social Welfare Department of KP, Sehat Card Plus KP, P&D Department KP, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund along with other organizations.
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