Farzana meets Robin Raphel

Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Farzana Raja has said that besides providing regular cash grant, the BISP is envisaging a conditional cash transfer grant to beneficiary families, which would be linked with education of the children of the family.
She said that the measure would not only help combat poverty, but would also contribute in the promotion of education in the country, adding that under the initiatives like Waseela-e-Haq and Waseela-e-Rozgar, the beneficiary families are being enabled to achieve financial empowerment. She said this while talking to Robin Raphel, US Co-ordinator for Economic & Development Assistance during a meeting here on Wednesday.
Robin Raphel lauded the performance of the BISP as well as its measures to curb poverty. She said that the conditional cash transfer would be highly instrumental step with regard to promotion of education. She said that conditional cash transfer is a growing concept, which has been linked, besides education, with various other desired objectives in many countries of the world. Earlier, Chairperson BISP briefed Raphel in detail about on-going nation-wide poverty survey and informed her that more than 4 million deserving families are currently benefiting from the programme.
Farzana Raja said that under the Waseela-e-Rozgar initiative, demand driven vocational/technical training is being imparted to deserving families aiming to help them find a decent livelihood. She said that the pilot project of health insurance for deserving families would be launched before the end of present financial year. Chairperson BISP said that the civilian victims of terrorism and bomb blasts would be provided all possible assistance under the policy of the present democratic government. In this regard, she said, beside provision of regular monthly cash grant, a comprehensive rehabilitation plan is being envisaged by BISP.
She informed Raphel that Benazir Smart Card and Mobile Phone banking has been introduced successfully, to improve the delivery mechanisms in a more transparent and effective manner, adding that the poverty survey in Fata is also being initiated to bring the people of the areas at par with other parts of the country in terms of development and progress.-PR