Development partners, UN agencies and international organizations join hands to support Ehsaas programme

ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):Eminent intergovernmental agencies and international organizations on Friday joined hands to support the Ehsaas Poverty Alleviation Programme.

The assembly brought together 45 country heads and representatives from 25 development partners, the UN agencies and international organizations working across Pakistan, said the press releases issued from the office of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

It further said that for the first time in Islamabad, the Ehsaas Development Partnership Group discussed the terms of reference of their newly established group.
The main objective of the group was to provide integrated, coherent and aligned technical support and strategic advice to the Government of Pakistan (GOP) for the implementation of Ehsaas strategy.

The group discussed a number of key areas of support, including evidence generation, knowledge sharing, research, multi sectoral collaboration, coordination, and engagement of the private sector, NGOs, civil society and other stakeholders.

Currently, the group plans to meet on a monthly basis to discuss these and other aspects relating to maximizing the impact of the implementation of Ehsaas.

While charring first meeting of the group Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation said “Ehsaas aims to lift millions of people in Pakistan out of poverty, creating a welfare state in our country for the first time”.

Secretary poverty alleviation and social safety division, secretary BISP and CEO, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund also attended the meeting.

“To achieve this aim, we must ensure full coordination across stakeholders and partners in Pakistan, including UN agencies and bilateral and multilateral organizations, which is exactly what the Ehsaas Development Partnership Group is designed to do” said Dr. Sania Nishtar.

She said that interested agencies are encouraged to nominate one senior representative who will act as a focal person for the group because for starters, there will be a stock taking exercise to establish ‘who is doing what’ across the country, so that technical support can be better aligned.