ISLAMABAD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government handed over 101,661 Kafalat Cards to deserving women during February as part of a province-wide issuance, WealthPK reported.
Ehsaas Kafalat is an unconditional cash transfer program, which allows deserving women to receive stipends of Rs2,000 each. This amount is distributed as part of six-month payouts, coming to around Rs13,000 per eligible member. Eligibility for enrolling in the program was determined via the Ehsaas survey.
Dr. Rashid, Director General of the Economics Department at Islamic International University Islamabad, said while talking to WealthPK that the purpose of such stipends is to cast a wide net and include as many deserving people as possible.
“The amount might not seem like much, but as a developing nation, we have to strike a balance between the amount paid out and the number of people facilitated. Rs13,000 might not be enough in Islamabad, but for people living in remote, rural areas, this amount makes a difference,” Dr. Rashid added.
In 2021, the government decided to increase the number of Ehsaas Kafalat beneficiaries from 7 million to 10 million. The government allocated Rs260 billion for all the initiatives being undertaken under the Ehsaas umbrella as part of the 2021-22 budget.
“Delivery of stipends via digital transfers, rather than through manual channels, such as through tehsildar or someone else, is a more effective method,” Dr. Rashid stated.
Elaborating the decision of handing out cash rather than products of need, the senior researcher said, “Studies in economics have proven the disbursement of cash to be a better option than disbursement of products… by giving out cash, you are letting the other person decide where to allocate resources.”
In addition to the stipend payments, the program is targeting to bring 8 million underprivileged women into the financial system via the Ehsaas Bachat Account, opened as part of the Ehsaas Kalafat program. The government recently launched Raast, a real-time payment settlement system, which will enable it to make instant, free-of-cost transactions into these accounts.
Speaking about the Ehsaas Bachat Account program, Dr. Rashid remarked, “Women in Pakistan are not contributing members of the formal economy.
By equipping them with these accounts, the government maps out members of the society who need help and enables women to acquire financial literacy, which will lead them to financial empowerment.”
In his recent visit to Pakistan, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates was impressed by the program after learning more about it from Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection.
INP
