PESHAWAR: The Provincial Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has prepared a Social Protection Policy to tackle poverty and vulnerability.

The policy aims to extend social protection to the poor and vulnerable people in the province, providing them with a safety net to overcome the adverse effects of poverty, unemployment, and marginalization was unveiled in a dissemination event with various organizations including donors.

The event was jointly organized by the Public Policy & Social Protection Reforms Unit, Sub-National Governance (SNG) Programme funded by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) UK, GIZ Pakistan funded by Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Germany, International Labour Organisation (ILO), and Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

In his inaugural remarks, Adil Saeed Safi, Director General (DG) of Sustainable Development Unit (SDU), P&DD Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that the policy seeks to address traditional challenges around poverty, low human capital, gender gap, unemployment, and marginalization that have persisted and increased despite the enhanced focus of the current Government on alleviating poverty through economic growth and redistribution.

He thanked SNG, GIZ, ILO, and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for their handholding in the process.

Dr Raheel Siddiqui, SNG’s Provincial Team Lead, and Dr. Franz Von Roenne, GIZ SP – SHP Team Lead appreciated the colleagues especially the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that started work on this policy and helped formulate it for the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The merger of FATA with the province has further necessitated urgent policy action to address the spatial dimension of poverty by promoting equitable regional development and broadening the scope of social protection for excluded individuals, households, and communities.

The Social Protection Policy was developed under the technical support of the Sub-National Governance Programme (SNG) and German Cooperation (GIZ), which stepped in when the Government sought technical support during COVID-19. SNG reviewed the past work on developing the social protection system in the province and developed a Social Protection Roadmap, which the Government approved in December 2020. The Social Protection Policy was an essential milestone of SNG’s Social Protection Roadmap.

The policy formulation process was led by Dr. Sohail Anwar jointly with SNG and German Cooperation (GIZ), and International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s expert, Mr. Khalid Mahmood, provided support in conducting Focus Group Discussions. SNG’s Social Protection Advisor, Shahid Farooq, facilitated the policy formulation process and authored the chapter on “Implementation Frame-work.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023