Ahsan pushes district-level reforms for human capital development

ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (APP): Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday called for treating education, health, nutrition, clean water and population balance as a “national emergency”, stressing greater devolution of authority to districts to ensure delivery of basic services at citizens’ doorsteps.

He chaired the first meeting of the Human Capital and Skills Mission, the seventh of the 11 National Economic Missions under URAAN Pakistan, which reviewed Pakistan’s standing in health, education, and skills against peer countries, mission targets, and a proposed federal-provincial delivery mechanism.

“Where will Pakistan stand in 2047, when we complete one hundred years of independence? That is the decisive question before us today. Just as we won Marka-e-Haq, we must now win Marka-e-Taraqqi – the battle for development,” he said.

The minister said Pakistan had prepared development plans many times, but political instability had repeatedly disrupted policy continuity. He stressed that continuity of policies and political stability were indispensable for putting the country on the path of development.

“Investment in human resources and skills is the foundation of Pakistan’s future development,” he said.

Ahsan Iqbal said social-sector challenges were more important than roads and buildings and must be addressed as a national emergency.

“Pakistan’s literacy rate is 63 percent. With literacy at this level, we cannot develop at the speed we need,” he said, adding that rapid population growth of 2.55 percent was a major challenge that could undermine economic progress.

The meeting was informed that Pakistan ranked 168th among 193 countries on the Human Development Index, while its Human Capital Index score of 0.41 meant a child born today would attain only 41 percent of productive potential. Stunting stood at 40.2 percent, while maternal mortality was 186 per 100,000 live births.

Around 26 million children, or 28 percent, are out of school, while only 46 out of every 100 children entering Class 1 in public schools reach Class 10. Female labour force participation stands at 22.7 percent against 68.7 percent for men, while about two million young people enter the labour force annually.

The minister said the 18th Constitutional Amendment was intended to improve social sectors, but the desired results could not be achieved as authority was not transferred to lower tiers.

“A single provincial secretary cannot effectively resolve the problems of an entire province. Authority must be transferred to local governments,” he said.

He called for empowered departments at district level and governance reforms in education, health and other social sectors, with provincial governments posting officers of the highest calibre in these departments.

The minister stressed that the time for merely making plans was over and effective implementation must now be ensured.

“The job of the Ministry of Planning is to provide the best evidence based planning. Implementation rests with the relevant departments and the provincial governments. Only the best planning combined with effective implementation can guarantee that we achieve our development goals,” he said.

Under URAAN Pakistan, the mission targets include reducing maternal mortality by 35 percent and stunting and under-five mortality by 18 percent each, raising skilled birth attendance to 85 percent, increasing education spending to 4 percent of GDP, improving literacy by 10 percent, creating 1.5 million jobs annually and raising female labour force participation by 17 percent.

The meeting was informed that the targets would be broken down into annual, provincial and regional milestones, with population indicators also incorporated into the monitoring framework.

The proposed delivery mechanism would bring together federal and provincial stakeholders through working groups on education, health and population, skills and nutrition. The groups would meet every two weeks to resolve bottlenecks, align development spending and report progress to the Executive Committee.

“Achieving the targets of URAAN Pakistan’s 11 National Economic Missions requires the same resolve and hard work that Pakistan demonstrated in completing its nuclear programme,” Ahsan Iqbal said.

The meeting was attended by representatives of federal ministries and provincial departments dealing with health, education, planning and skills.