ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and Chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Shazia Marri held a meeting with Ambassador of The Netherlands Henny Fokel de Vrieson on Tuesday.

During the meeting, she said that women are facing challenges all over the world and Pakistan is no exception. “It is our mission to help marginalised and vulnerable segments of society. Economic independence is one of the most desired wishes of any women. BISP aims at forging financial resilience in women,” she said.

She appreciated the support of The Netherlands during difficult times, especially during the recent floods. Marri said that Pakistan’s people were grateful to the help extended to them by The Netherlands during Geneva Conference. She hoped that the two countries would further strengthen ties in trade and economy.

She told her about the intended initiative of BISP, wherein, 364 Nashonuma centres would be opened in 119 districts across the country, where pregnant women registered with BISP would be provided facilities of nutrition-rich food supplements, quarterly medical check-ups, cash assistance and health guidance, the minister said. She further apprised that the outreach of the programme would be further expanded in more districts as well.

She further informed the ambassador that recently BISP formally included members of the transgender community into its programmes. Now they are eligible for Rs7,000 quarterly cash assistance, she added.

The minister said that the BISP, after complaints, introduced a new method of cash disbursement through individual bank accounts.

Fasial Karim Kundi, Minister of State for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, was also present at the meeting. He said that BISP was striving to provide assistance to all marginalised segments of our society be it women or transgender. Kundi informed that BISP’s cash disbursement mechanism was digitised, transparent and constant efforts were being made to make it more user-friendly and modern. He further informed that the BISP was also initiating a dynamic registry survey soon to assess the socio-economic status of households on real-time basis.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023