The Stanford University’s Institute for International Studies has released a report titled: “Frameworks for a Developmental Welfare State: Lessons from Pakistan’s Ehsaas Programme” which states that “Programme has set itself apart as a world-leading anti-poverty effort to uplift the Country’s most vulnerable”.
The Ehsaas was the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) flagship poverty alleviation programme which ran from November 2018 till April 2022 under the stewardship of Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar.
The report summary states that “Ehsaas, in its goal of becoming a holistic and integrated response to poverty, provides a diverse set of services for vulnerable Pakistanis, including unconditional cash transfers, targeted subsidies, and increased health and nutritional coverage”.
The report is authored by Sir Michael Barber who is a world leading expert on government delivery, and systemic innovation and education reform; he led Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit for the Blair administration in the UK from 2001-2005.
In the report, the authors states that “(they) studied various policy, programmatic, and implementation reforms undertaken during this period and explored the lessons these reforms offer for global policymakers.
The authors concludes that “good leadership, building strong institutions, effectively using data and technology, and of using an integrated, inclusive approach to anti-poverty were the reforms that enabled Ehsaas to successfully scale impact, increase transparency, and improve the efficiency of its interventions, whilst building trust amongst beneficiaries and programme administrators”.
The Stanford Professor Francis Fukiyama, Director of the Center and a global expert in governance, said that “It is a case that deserves wider attention within the broader community of development practitioners and governance specialists, and one that should also broaden our expectations for what can be done to fight poverty around the world”.
