Ehsas Program [2022]
Ehsaas Program is a social security and poverty relieve program launched by Government of Pakistan in March 2019. Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan called it a key aspect towards a welfare state that PTI promised with people of Pakistan in their elections manifesto. It is aimed at boosting the backward class, reducing inequality, investment on masses and lifting the lagging districts in the country. A separate ministry was established under Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division which is headed by Special Assistant to Prime Minister Sania Nishtar who previously was serving as chairperson of Benazir Income Support Programme. As of 2021, Ehsaas Program has two major pillars, one is Ehsaas Emergency Cash (introduced during the covid-19 pandemic) and the other is Ehsaas Kafalat, the latter program expanded its coverage from 7 million people to 10 million people in 2021.
The “Ehsaas Emergency Cash” program was Imran Khan’s showcase welfare policy during the Covid-19 pandemic, it received praise from the World Bank which listed it amongst the top global social protection measures and said it ranked highly in terms of actual coverage rates compared to planned coverage rates. During the pandemic, the welfare program covered millions of lower-income Pakistani families with monthly allowance handed out to 13.2 million people.
There are several other Ehsaas programs and their main functions are listed below
| Program | Description |
| Ehsaas National Socio-Economic Registry | The National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) is moving nationwide in a phased manner to collect household data on socio-economic conditions at the local level for future programmatic targeting. |
| Ehsaas Kafalat Program | Kafalat: stipends, financial and digital inclusion. There are several objectives of Kafalat, one of which is to enable financial and digital inclusion of around 7 million women through the one woman one bank account policy. |
| Ehsaas Emergency Cash | Ehsaas Emergency Cash program had been designed in the context of the economic hardship being experienced by the vulnerable due to the coronavirus crisis. |
| Ehsaas Rashan Portal | The Ehsaas Rashan Portal is a donor-beneficiary linking system for Rashan distribution. It has been set up to enable the private sector and civil society organizations to reach the most vulnerable deserving beneficiaries and provide them food Rashan packs or cash equivalent in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. |
| Ehsaas Nashonuma | The Ehsaas Nashonuma is a health and nutrition conditional cash transfer program which aims to address stunting in children under 23 months of age. Nashonuma has been launched by the Prime Minister in August 2020 in the first phase in 9 districts of the country. |
| Undergraduate student scholarships | Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship program is aimed at enhancing access to higher education by awarding 50,000 scholarships of Rs. 20 billion to undergraduate students (50 percent girls) from underprivileged families and areas over the next four years. |
| Education CCT | Pakistan has been running an Education Conditional Cash Transfer for primary school going children called Waseela-e-Taleem since 2012 in selected districts. Now, this program has been massively reformed and expanded nationwide as ‘Waseela e Taleem Digital’, representing a major quantum change. |
| Orphanage’s policy and reform | Ehsaas will implement a policy on basic standards for expanding the overall scale and framework of social protection services to orphanages and orphans. |
| Schools for the marginalized | Revamping of 150 schools for marginalized children by Pakistan Bait ul Maal. |
| Women’s centres | Providing free trainings to widows, orphans and underprivileged girls on different skills i.e., drafting, cutting, sewing, knitting, hand and machine embroidery. |
| Graduation and interest free loans | Under the interest free loans component of the Ehsaas National Poverty Graduation Initiative, 80,000 monthly interest free loans are being disbursed nationwide over the next four years. |
| Ehsaas Amdan (Income) Programme | Ehsaas Amdan (Income) program provides assets to enable the underprivileged to start small businesses along with skills training and business planning. |
| Tracking portal App | Tracking portal is under construction and will be operational soon. |
| Data4Pakistan (District Development Portal) | Free accessibility of data is being ensured through Data4Pakistan portal in which poverty and other socio-economic indicators across Pakistan’s districts have been made available to policy makers and the general public. |
| One window Ehsaas App | One Window Ehsaas is a single-window information and service approach for better access to multiple Ehsaas programs. Work is underway on the first prototype of the Ehsaas physical centre and digital interfaces to be launched by March 2021. |
| Governance reforms in safety net institutions | The Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy aims to build systems that limit opportunities for corruption and are meant to provide the backbone for transparent, efficient, accountable and well-targeted delivery of results. The Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy can be accessed. |
| Tahafuz | Provision of safety nets for the vulnerable to protect the poor by one-time financial assistance against catastrophic health expenditures. The pilot phase of Tahafuz has been commenced after the preparatory work of over one and a half year. |
| Pledges to Ehsaas | Through the pledge to Ehsaas we will invite the private sector to commit to the Ehsaas goals through financial, technical and institutional support. |
| Ehsaas Langar | Ehsaas will open 112 Langars nationwide over a 2-year period through public-private partnerships to serve meals to the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society. |
| Ehsaas Food Card | System for ration distribution in the public-private partnership mode. Ehsaas has initiated a procurement process to identify private sector partners for devising a ration distribution mechanism. |
| Ehsaas Garbage Rickshaw | A garbage collection vehicle that is used to earn a living through collecting and sorting out waste. Ehsaas has launched a solution challenge for the best Garbage Rickshaw design. |
| Ehsaas Thela | Institutionalization of a new generation of Thela design that sells food and non-food items. Ehsaas has launched a solution challenge for the best Thela design. |
| Ehsaas Clean Cooking Stoves | Commercial model of a clean cooking stove to address clean cooking and reduce toxic emissions. Ehsaas has launched a solution challenge for the best Clean Cooking Stove design. |
| Ehsaas Online Education | Online education content as a public good for K12, addressing the challenge of giving children quality education. Ehsaas has initiated a procurement process to identify private sector partners for provision of online education at scale. |
| Ehsaas Artisans to Fashion Houses | Connecting artisans to fashion houses for value chain development & employment. Ehsaas has initiated a procurement process to identify fashion houses willing to integrate with rural enterprise level value chains and artisans. |
| Ehsaas platforms for daily wage workers | Online daily wage platform that provides opportunities to skilled or semi-skilled workers to earn a wage. Ehsaas has initiated a procurement process for receiving proposals for development of the platform. |
Conclusion
In my opinion this project has outstanding aims and goals and if these goals are accomplished their might come a time when now human in Pakistan would be labeled as ‘’Underprivileged’’. So, many praiseworthy programs it offers I hope and pray that it won’t fall a prey to corruption or any other unjust entities
