Sindh social protection: WB rates USD200m project as fairly satisfactory

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has rated the overall implementation progress of “Strengthening Social Protection Delivery System in Sindh” project worth USD 200 million as moderately satisfactory.

Official documents revealed that of the total USD 200 million, USD 58.31 million, ie, 27.72 percent of the loan has been disbursed so far.

To ensure full utilization of project resources by the closing date, it will be critical to accelerate implementation activities moving forward. The project was approved on December 19, 2022, while the closing date is 31 December 2027.

Selected districts: Piloting of innovative social protection interventions approved

The original development objective was to strengthen social protection service delivery system and enhance accessibility and utilization of mother and child health services in selected districts of the Sindh province.

The project has demonstrated significant progress across key performance areas. The project is operational across 731 PPHI operated health facilities and 62 Department of Health (DoH)-operated health facilities. Registration of pregnant and lactating women (PLW) under the CCT program have increased by 330 percent over the past 12 months — rising from 162,000 to 725,000.

Overall project progress has been notable in the last six months, including: the transition to a new payment service provider (PSP); enhanced functionality and stability of the program’s registration application; hiring of the MIS firm to develop the Social Protection ERP; completion of baseline data collection for the impact evaluation; first round of field reporting by the Operations Review (OR) Firm; and improvements in program communications and engagement.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025