BISP report claims poverty dropped seven percent

The third impact evaluation report of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) claims a 7 per cent drop in poverty while using FEI (Food Energy Intake) poverty line and 3 per cent decline in poverty gap in accordance with CBN (Cost of Basic Needs) poverty line.
The report further said that proportion of beneficiary households, who were multidimensional poor in 2013 and categorised as severely poor in accordance with MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index), was 31 per cent, whereas in 2016 this has come down to 23 per cent.
President Mamnoon Hussain launched the impact evaluation report here on Tuesday, saying the BISP has a key role in reforming social protection system in the country.
"Being the flagship social safety net, BISP's contributions for the socio-economic welfare of the most vulnerable are commendable", the President said.
After first and second round of impact evaluation, this is the third impact evaluation study of the BISP completed by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) in 2016.
Presenting key findings of the evaluation report, Sean O'Leary, Country Representative OPM said the BISP has induced a net increase of Rs 187 in per adult monthly consumption expenditure, whereas the per adult equivalent monthly food consumption increased by Rs 69 driven by high quality protein.
The report said that 91 per cent of the BISP beneficiaries were either ultra poor, poor or vulnerable to being poor in 2016 as defined by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics with low literacy rate of only 9 per cent.
Waseela-e-Taleem initiative under the BISP has a positive and significant impact on primary school enrolment. School attendance deprivation on the MPI indicator has reduced from 56 per cent in 2013 to 49 per cent in 2016, while a conditional cash transfer of Rs 750 per quarter for a child enrolled in school with at least 70 per cent attendance has enrolled 1.3 million primary school children till date.
This has led to an increase in enrolment of children between ages of 5-12 by 10 per cent higher than the international average.
The evaluation report indicated that proportion of beneficiary women who can visit market alone has gone up from 25 per cent in 2011 to 37 per cent in 2016. Due to collection of cash transfer this mobility has increased and is also having an effect on independence of women other than the beneficiaries. The constitution of 55,000 beneficiary committees has contributed much towards women empowerment through the BISP.
As per the evaluation report, the BISP brought 5.4 million women voters on electoral list by providing them computerised national identity cards. In 2011, just 40 per cent of women in beneficiary households reported that they were likely to vote while in 2016 this number has risen to 70 per cent showing massive change in implementation of democratic rights.
A positive impact has been recorded on asset retention and accumulation as the BISP had a positive and statistically significant effect on the proportion of households that own TV (14 per cent), bike (7 per cent), cooking stove (12 per cent), washing machine (13 per cent) and heater (4 per cent), according to the report.
The report said that financial savings of the beneficiaries have increased over the period 2011-2016 from 9 per cent to 13 per cent while 80 per cent of the beneficiaries spend the funds on food. The child immunisation deprivation on the MPI indicator has reduced from 17 per cent in 2013 to 13 per cent in 2016 due to the programme.
Likewise, drinking water deprivation on MPI indicator has reduced from 27 per cent in 2013 to 19 per cent in 2016.
Proportion of beneficiaries who paid a fee to collect last cash transfer was 40 per cent in 2013 and in 2016 it has been reduced to 22 per cent showing crackdown on beneficiary voluntarily created agent mafia. The direct costs of travel to the collection point are relatively low amounting to 2 per cent of the total value of the cash transfer.
Average time nation-wide taken to reach payment point was 48 minutes in 2013, which has now been reduced to 35 minutes in 2016. Overall 96 per cent of the beneficiaries are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their experience in how they collected the cash transfer, while 33 per cent beneficiaries collect the cash themselves, 32 per cent get it collected by household member and 35 per cent by some other individual, the report added.
Minister of State and Chairperson BISP, MNA Marvi Memon speaking on the launch ceremony said that since the incumbent government took charge in 2013 the budgets for the programme have increased from Rs 40 billion to Rs 115 billion, number of beneficiaries has increased from 1.7 million to 5.4 million and the quarterly stipend increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,834.
She said the BISP has been sharing its impact assessment reports for the last two years as "we are accountable for the usage of funds to the public and the Parliament." Moreover as the lead social safety net, the BISP has also the responsibility to share data with the UN countries for success transfer, she added.