KARACHI: The Safe Pakistan Welfare Trust through Tasdeeq Pakistan, a technology driven online platform, aims to bring approximately 50 million unregistered and unbanked blue-collar workers out of the vicious cycle of poverty. It’s like creating a LinkedIn for the blue-collar workers where domestic as well as commercial users would be able to see their verifiable work and performance history.
Talking to the Business Recorder, Ahmedyar Janjua, co-founder of the Safe Pakistan Welfare Trust, said that a verifiable work history would do wonders for these undocumented workers. It will not only help in establishing their credit worthiness, but also open an array of job opportunities and financial service options for the lower middle-class population of Pakistan.
Tasdeeq Pakistan online application was launched on August 14, 2020 in collaboration with police, the CPLC and the Safe Pakistan Welfare Trust (SPWT). Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Federal Interior Minister, also officially launched this app in Islamabad on December 17, 2020.
Tasdeeq Pakistan App has so far witnessed approximately 55,000 downloads across Pakistan. Among thousands of workers that got verified through Tasdeeq Pakistan App, more than 600 were rejected with previous criminal records. Tasdeeq Pakistan has proved to be quite effective in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and the Capital Territory, Islamabad. Safe Pakistan Welfare Trust (SPWT) also plans to sign agreements with KP, AJK and GB authorities soon.
Through the Tasdeeq Pakistan app, SPWT is not only providing free of cost verification services for Pakistanis, but also playing a great role in bringing the undocumented, blue-collar workers, including electricians, plumbers, masons, drivers, and other forms of domestic workers, on to the radar through which the financial institutions such as micro-lending banks may gain access to more precise information on these workers to extend credit to them. This could help kick start a revolution in this area in terms of financial inclusion, said Ahmedyar Janjua.
SPWT also aspires to provide a platform in the future where employers would be able to contribute to the educational expenses of their workers’ children directly to their schools. This future platform could usher in a revolution in poverty alleviation of the working class and their families.
Along with providing a free service to employers to verify the criminal record of their employees, Tasdeeq Pakistan App is also giving an option to employers to purchase a micro-hospital and accidental insurance from the Tasdeeq platform for the workers and their families. Instead of giving cash charity to the workers and unknown persons, it is always best to help them out through a verified database and official financial system.
Tasdeeq has recently partnered with EFU Life insurance because it believes that micro-hospital and accidental insurance is the first step towards building a social safety net around these workers, which helps in creating a buffer for them against falling in the poverty trap, in case of an accident.
Tasdeeq Pakistan is a revolutionary initiative by the police, the CPLC and the Safe Pakistan Welfare Trust (SPWT) to provide this free service to businesses and households to check the criminal record of their employees. This type of service is used by employers across the world at the time of hiring. It is an inherent right of the employers to know if the worker is a criminal or not, Ahmedyar Janjua said.
Tasdeeq Pakistan App helps domestic employers to verify their workers’ criminal record, and it is not only protecting the privacy of the workers but also helping in the poverty alleviation drive of the blue-collar workers by distinguishing the “bad eggs” in the system who may be less than 0.001 percent but raise a doubt in everyone.
“We badly needed such an initiative by public and private entities coming together for the general good of the society,” he said adding that the police leadership across the country led by the Federal Interior Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, as well as that of the CPLC, need to be congratulated for this amazing initiative.
Ahmedyar added that Tasdeeq Pakistan aims to bring accountability in the system, where employers would be able to give feedback on the performance of their workers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.