US Ambassador in Pakistan Richard Olson has pledged continued support of his country for Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

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BISP’s Payment Mechanism

BISP has established an elaborate targeting mechanism for identification of the poor through the introduction of Poverty Scorecard and the nationwide survey along with creation of a database accompanied by data validation and verification. This targeting database will provide flexibility and automaticity for identification of beneficiaries for any pro-poor safety net.

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About the Smart Cards

Process

BISP is making elaborate arrangements for continuous updating of this database through its peripheral offices and the case management system. Once the survey in the entire county is completed and data entry is done, BISP targeting database will serve as the national registry on social protection for the benefit of all the pro-poor programmes initiated in the public and private sector at each level (federal, provincial, district).

Parallel to the above described targeting mechanism, there is need for a similar well documented payment mechanism which can cater for the demands of all types of cash transfer programs to be established at each level. This is important since a speedy, efficient, transparent payment mechanism lies at the heart of the design of any cash transfer programme for the poor in the area of social protection. It is important for such a payment mechanism to provide arrangements for cash disbursements closest to the homes of the beneficiaries in order to reduce the private costs to be incurred by the beneficiaries for getting benefits. Hence the payment mechanism needs to have a maximum outreach and backing of maximum institutional capacity.

Since any one payment mechanism i.e. Pakistan Post money orders, ATMs, branchless banking, smart card cannot provide such an ideal outreach, there is perceived need for a composite payment mechanism in which the suitable payment mode can be applied in the appropriate areas keeping in view the infrastructural deficiencies/ constraints. However all the payment modes need to fit into central payment software to be maintained by BISP for payment generation, grievance redressal and reconciliation.

Transparency of processes is the hallmark of BISP. In order to further strengthen the transparency, disbursement of monthly cash assistance would now be carried out electronically through branchless banking system. In this context, the alternate payment mechanism has already been launched in the four districts (Mianwali, Multan, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas), where the Poverty Scorecard Survey has already been completed. After the successful pilot in the above mentioned districts, it is expected that similar services will be required in other districts around the country once the Poverty Survey is completed in those districts. Requests for Proposals have already been called for implementing the payments through the Benazir Smart Card in the remaining twelve districts of the Test Phase Poverty Survey.