Quality data being collected for social security programmes: Marvi

KARACHI, Dec 25 (APP): Minister of State and Chairperson of the
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Marvi Memon on Sunday
said that quality data is being collected for designing social security programmes to help make the country a welfare state.
This she said while speaking at the training workshop organized
here by BISP for master trainers.
It was pointed out that National Socio Economic Registry (NSER) is a national asset that plays a pivotal role in planning targeted subsidies and designing and implementing social protection programs.
Currently, the NSER data is being employed by more than forty different governmental initiatives and development organizations that include Prime Minister’s Health Insurance Programme, PM Interest Free Loans, Punjab Khidmat Card, KPK Insaf Card and a number of NGOs.
NSER update would provide quality data to policy makers for designing effective policies on social protection.
The new poverty survey of BISP was just ahead of the launch of Door to Door Survey of NSER update.
The workshop was conducted to train master trainers from AASA Consulting. The training session was followed by field simulated
exercise of Door to Door Survey.
Renowned actor and host Faisal Qureshi accompanied the Chairperson during field exercise. AASA Consulting is one of the partner firms hired by BISP to conduct Door to Door survey in the pilot districts of new poverty survey.
AASA Consulting will conduct survey in Cluster “C” districts from Sindh (Thatta, Jacobabad) and Balochistan (Qilla Saifullah, Kech). These master trainers will further train supervisors and enumerators for conducting survey.
The workshop was attended by Area Coordinators, Programme Managers, Data Managers, Enumeration experts and Communication & Mobilization experts.
Faisal Qureshi appreciated the Chairperson BISP for her untiring effects for the uplift of poor. He urged the general public to participate and facilitate the new poverty survey as the data collected during this process would be used for designing social safety programmes and help Pakistan in becoming a true welfare state.
He appreciated the BISP IT team for CAPI architecture, as for the first time such highly scientific methods are being employed for data collection on such a large scale in Pakistan.
Highlighting the unique features of the NSER update survey, Chairperson BISP said that to overcome data quality errors, CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews) instead of PAPI (Paper
Assisted Personal Interviews) approach is being adopted.
Similarly, to ensure universal coverage, systematic approach is being introduced for mapping and route planning of the survey teams. The registration application has in built checks and controls capable of identifying errors.
Bluetooth based synchronization of the enumerators and supervisors, is a quality control feature that will ensure smooth operations without internet connectivity, which is a problem in remote areas of the country.
During Door to Door survey exercise, Faisal Qureshi along with Chairperson observed the data entry procedure. He urged the public to fully participate in the resurvey process, thus helping BISP in pioneering the best NSER in the world. He urged the media to support NSER update as the data collected during new poverty survey would play a vital role in development planning in future.