1. Empowering Women - Pakistan’s Experiences
Workshop on “Role of women in the development of OIC Member States”, 3-4 October 2016, Ankara

2. Overarching framework
Ministry of Human Rights
National Commission for Human Rights
National Action Plan for Human Rights launched in February 2016; Rights of Women principal area of focus
A total of Rs 750 million allocated for the implementation of the Plan

3. National Commission for the Status of Women (NCSW)
Autonomous body
Reviewing, initiating and monitoring laws and policies
Assessing their impact on women
For more information (

4. Political, Economic and social Empowerment
Provincial legislatures have 21% to 33 % reserved seats for women
60 reserved seats in national Parliament
Legislatives measures to prevent violence against women; forced marriages; acid throwing ; denial of inheritance; and honour killings
Prime Minister’s Youth Loan Programme; 50% quota for women
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)

5. Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)
The BISP was launched in 2008
national social safety net programme
offset the negative effects of the food, fuel and financial crises on the poor,
longer term objective to provide a minimum income package to the poor to protect a vulnerable population against chronic and transient
Empowering women
BISP aimed to offset the negative effects of the food, fuel and financial crises on the poor, but has a longer term objective to provide a minimum income package to the poor to protect a vulnerable population against chronic and transient
Encouragingly, women appear to retain control over how the cash is spent, even in cases when they do not actually collect the cash themselves.

6. Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)
Unconditional cash transfers (UCT), of PKR 1,500 ($15 dollars) each month
Paid directly female head of the household that has been deemed to be eligible for the BISP.
PKR 267 billion ($267 million) dispersed so far to 4.4 million families
Micro-finance; vocational training; education; health insurance
Encouragingly, women appear to retain control over how the cash is spent, even in cases when they do not actually collect the cash themselves.

7. Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)
Nationwide Poverty Scorecard Survey, to identify eligible households in 2010
every household in Pakistan was visited and assigned a BISP poverty score.
created a large and reliable national registry of the socio-economic status of around 27 million households across Pakistan
An eligibility threshold was assigned to target the poorest 25% of the population,.
data provides poverty profile of each household
identified 7.7 million households living below cut-off score

8. Waseela-e-Haq:(microfinance)
targeted scheme to provide loan amounting up to Rs.300,000/- beneficiary families currently receiving the cash transfers under BISP
loans not based on any collateral and are interest free
provided to setup small business of which the beneficiary woman is the sole proprietor.
Targets underprivileged families that are generally classified as non-creditable by the conventional banking system.
This scheme is entirely interest free in every respect.
11, 000 beneficiaries so far
unconditional cash benefits can potentially create dependency,
sustainability issues in the long run

9. Waseela-e-Rozgar (vocational training)
facilitate socio-economic uplift of BISP beneficiaries through imparting vocational and technical skills  
The trainings are provided to one member of the BISP beneficiary family, between the age brackets of years to maximize their potentials as an investment in human capital.
52 certified technical and vocational trainings in various sectors are offered including entrepreneurship, hospitality, construction, tailoring and industrial skills etc.
The duration of training is four to six months and a stipend of Rs per month is paid to the trainee during the training period.

10. Waseela e Taleem Programme (Education)
Aimed at out of school children in the beneficiary families by introducing stipends
increase the enrolment numbers in primary school and reduce the drop out.
Help reduce child labour
50,000 children (both boys and girls) enrolled

11. Assessments
Increased access to cash has been reported as facilitating women meeting both their own personal needs as well as supporting the needs of children and households, reducing dependence on their husbands for support.
The qualitative research observes a change in the status of women in beneficiary households; more importance in their households as a direct result of the BISP.
Improvement in the intra-household relations within beneficiary households as the BISP cash reduced economic pressures, as well as facilitating women’s involvement in household decision making.
BISP continues to be associated with increased proportions of women in beneficiary households voting.
More than 23 million women have received National ID cards due to BISP

12. More information:

13. Thank you