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30-501: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is a federal unconditional cash transfer poverty reduction program in Pakistan . Launched in July 2008, it was the largest single social safety net program in the country with nearly Rs. 90 billion ($ 900 million) distributed to 5.4 million beneficiaries in 2016. The program distributed Rs.19,338 (or approx. $ 195) per annum distributed per month in

60-460: A benchmark against which other development interventions should be evaluated, due to the simplicity and scalability of cash transfers. Others who have also endorsed the idea of using cash transfers as a benchmark, citing GiveDirectly, include Innovations for Poverty Action and GiveWell . Since 2012, there have been a number of media pieces discussing cash transfers, generally in the context of reporting on GiveDirectly. This includes coverage in

90-506: A large and clinically meaningful reduction in the likelihood of being sick by an estimated 27%. Unconditional cash transfers may also improve food security and dietary diversity. Children in recipient families may be more likely to attend school, and the cash transfers may increase money spent on health care. An update of this landmark review in 2022 confirmed these findings based on a grown body of evidence and additionally found sufficient evidence that unconditional cash transfers may also reduce

120-573: A mobile phone. Instead they were entitled to a SIM card for a mobile phone. The SIM card was, in essence, an entitlement for an amount of money on a given date. The payment process in this case meant bringing the SIM card to a recognized economic center in a community that was nearest to the individual who did not have a mobile phone. There, at the economic center, would be a mobile phone for the SIM card. This adaptation ensured that individuals obliged to cash payment transfers received them efficiently. Concerns about

150-532: A process of recommendation. Each Parliamentarian received 8,000 forms to distribute throughout his or her constituency. Selected individuals underwent an eligibility verification process through the National Database and Registration Authority. A final list of eligible families was generated and sent to the postal service. Funds were disbursed from the Treasury directly to the postal service and then delivered to

180-518: A survey. The poverty survey has been tested in 16 districts and will be distributed nationwide. Internal monitoring systems are being developed to track deliveries and payment amounts to eligible families. Another mechanism to address corruption and political favouritism is being considered that would allow a neutral third party access to the list of eligible families to verify eligibility. Recently, BISP has expanded to include several special initiatives. The Waseela-e-Haq program empowers women through

210-747: The New York Times , The Economist , the Freakonomics radio podcast, and Forbes . A team of the Cochrane Collaboration including researchers from Cornell University, Harvard University, and the Universities of Bremen and Otago conducted the first comprehensive systematic review of the health impact of unconditional cash transfers. The review of 21 studies, including 16 randomized controlled trials, found that although unconditional cash transfers may not improve health services use, they lead to

240-497: The m-Pesa money transfer system is well-established. In November 2013, the organization expanded to Uganda . Charity evaluator GiveWell first noticed GiveDirectly in July 2011, named it as a standout charity in November 2011, and gave it top charity status starting November 2012. GiveDirectly has been a GiveWell top charity in the years 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Largely as a result of GiveWell's recommendation, Good Ventures ,

270-596: The BISP previously renamed Kifalat, is also being built up to encourage savings which would be matched by through government subsidies. Some experts have argued that attaching conditionalities to social safety net programmes moves them away from the conception of Negative Income Tax initially proposed by Milton Friedman by assuming that it is behaviour on part of the beneficiaries which is to blame for their poverty while ignoring deep rooted structural inequalities in society which may limit individual's ability to effectively participate in

300-562: The Benazir Income Support Programme makes up a substantial portion of the Pakistani government's budget, impact evaluations should be conducted to evaluate the benefits and actual need for the program. Unconditional cash transfer Unconditional cash transfers could vary in a number of ways: A payment process using mobile phones was adapted to the complication that 90 percent of the supposed beneficiaries did not have

330-802: The Red Cross/Crescent Movement, donors, specialist social innovation, technology and financial services companies, researchers and academics, and individual practitioners. Their website includes a number of studies on unconditional cash transfers, with a particular focus on cash transfers made in the aftermath of natural disasters. Salient examples include: The Electronic Cash Transfer Learning Action Network (ELAN) within CaLP has also worked with Mercy Corps, and Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) on case studies for humanitarian electronic transfer projects in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh. These case studies Examine

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360-575: The above study finds net positive spillovers at the community level from unconditional cash transfers. Another study finds beneficial effects of unconditional cash transfer programs not only in self-reported outcomes, but also in health outcomes like body weight and biomass. The CALP Network (CALP) global network of organisations engaged in policy, practice and research in humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and financial assistance more broadly. Members currently include local and international non-governmental organisations, United Nations agencies,

390-628: The ages of 5 and 12 to enroll in primary education. BISP also provides cash payments for emergency relief efforts. These payments are similar to the payments received by low-income families but are distributed to families affected by terrorism, war, and natural disasters such as earthquakes. To be eligible for cash payments under BISP, families must earn less than RS 6,000 per month; equivalent to $ 67. Further eligibility requirements stipulate that: Families deemed ineligible for cash payments through BISP include those with: Eligible families receive cash payments of 8500 quarterly. This amount increases

420-926: The amount of RS 3000 bi-monthly, or RS 1,500 per month, is not enough to move impoverished families above the poverty line as this would require RS 2,550 per month. Another major flaw with BISP is its lack of conditionality. Conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America have experienced greater degrees of success because recipient families must meet certain requirements before receiving a cash payment. These programs build human capital through requiring recipients to enroll their children in primary education, participate in health and nutrition seminars, and visit health care providers. The BISP programmes also seems to be moving to this direction given that that Waseela-e-Taleem and Nashonuma component are both conditional requiring beneficiaries' to change both health and education seeking behaviour. The Unconditional Cash Transfer component of

450-577: The children of eligible families. On 18 June 2017, BISP launched an e-commerce platform for its beneficiaries. The Benazir Income Support Programme has been implemented in the provinces of Punjab , Sindh , Baluchistan , and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa . The program also operates in the federally administered regions of Azad Jammu and Kashmir , and the Islamabad Capital Territory. In its first year of operation, recipients of BISP cash transfers were identified and selected by Parliamentarians through

480-472: The extent to which: A blog post by Vishnu Prasad for the Institute for Financial Management and Research summarized existing research on unconditional cash transfers, citing studies around the following programs: Jeremy Shapiro, a GiveDirectly co-founder and the person who published GiveDirectly's impact evaluation, has argued for using cash transfers (and more specifically, unconditional cash transfers) as

510-580: The female head of eligible households. In April 2009, the process for identifying and selecting eligible families through Parliamentarian recommendation was ended. The identification process has been reformed and now uses a Poverty Scorecard. Through the Poverty Scorecard, families are identified through a proxy means test. The Poverty Scorecard has been approved by the World Bank and requires families to answer 13 questions regarding assets and expenses in

540-421: The government's third largest budgetary allocation. BISP spending accounts for 0.3% of Pakistan's GDP. In the 2008–2009 fiscal year, more than 3 million Pakistani families received cash transfers through BISP; this figure accounts for 1.5% of the general population and 10% of the population below the poverty level. For the 2009–2010 fiscal year, the program was expanded to cover 5 million low-income families. At

570-421: The labour Market. One such example from Pakistan is that of transgenders who would be restricted from accessing the labour market in any meaningful manner unless the society around them changes. There have also been accusations of corruption and political favouritism. By some estimates, only 50–60 percent of beneficiaries actually receive cash payments from BISP. The previous method of identifying families through

600-576: The number of people receiving BISP payments than in Lahore, the opposition party's stronghold. Punjab, another area where opposition parties dominate, has the lowest ratio of eligible families—1,974 for every 100,000 people; versus 6,829 families for every 100,000 people in Sindh, the ruling party's stronghold. Beneficiaries have also complained that the postal service charges an additional RS 100 to RS 200 for each delivery of payment. Other critics have argued that as

630-543: The pricing factor of one mobile phone in the economic center being read by one individual were addressed. The largest organization exclusively devoted to cash transfers is GiveDirectly . GiveDirectly was founded by economics graduate students in Cambridge, Massachusetts , with two main inspirations: the growing evidence that cash transfers could work, and the growth of cheap and reliable money transfer technology. GiveDirectly's operations were initially limited to Kenya , where

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660-650: The private foundation of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna , that works closely with GiveWell, has donated well over $ 40 million to GiveDirectly (in grant sizes of $ 7 million, $ 5 million, $ 25 million, and $ 9.8 million). An impact evaluation of GiveDirectly's cash transfer program was conducted in collaboration with GiveDirectly, with the working paper released in October 2013, later published in 2016 after peer review. The paper attracted commentary from World Bank economist David McKenzie . He praised

690-460: The program's start in 2008, the Pakistani government allocated RS 34 billion, or $ 425 million, for BISP; the allocation doubled to RS 70 billion, or $ 875 million in the following year. The Benazir Income Support Programme is planning to launch a new initiative that encourages human capital development through a conditional cash transfer . The Waseela-e-Taleem initiative will condition cash payments on primary school enrolment for

720-442: The provision of small loans. A vocation training program, Waseela-e-Rozgar, offers members of eligible families up to 1 year of professional training. The Waseela-e-Sehat program provides financial assistance specifically for obtaining basic health care. BISP will launch its first program that conditions cash payments on schooling. The Waseela-e-Taleem initiative will require families receiving cash payments to enroll children between

750-523: The purchasing power for families earning approximately RS 2,800 each month by 20%. Most low-income families spend 50–70% of total income on food alone. According to BISP, the cash payment of RS 8,500 every quarter, or RS 2,833 each month, will allow a family of 5–6 to purchase 20–25 days worth of flour. Since the program's inception, critics have pointed out several overall flaws in the Benazir Income Support Program design. Some claim that

780-483: The purchasing power of many Pakistani families has been eroded by high inflation and the increasing cost of food and oil. BISP arose against this backdrop as a means to address reductions in purchasing power. Along with the economic development aims of the program, BISP also seeks to empower women by presenting cash transfers directly to female members of households. BISP is currently the largest aid program in Pakistan and

810-463: The recommendation of Parliamentarians was flawed. Many have claimed that Parliamentarians simply recommended their own family and friends to receive cash payments. It has been pointed out that there is a disproportionate number of families receiving BISP aid in geographic areas where the ruling Pakistan People's Party dominates. For example, in the Prime Minister's hometown of Multan, there is twice

840-413: The robustness of the study's design and the clear disclosure of the study lead's conflict of interest, but raised two concerns: Chris Blattman , a prominent blogger and academic in the area of development economics, with a particular focus on randomized controlled trials , also blogged the study. He expressed two main reservations: These concerns were in part addressed by other studies. A follow-up of

870-591: The year 2016. The stipend is linked to the Consumer Price Index and is paid through a smart card . The Department for International Development of the United Kingdom is the largest foreign backer of the program, providing $ 244 million (or 27%) of the total funds in 2016 with the Pakistani Government providing the rest. A separate ministry, Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety (PASS),

900-487: Was established and Benazir Income Support Program was made part of the Poverty Alleviation and Social Security Division. The Benazir Income Support Programme was established in 2008 by Yousaf Raza Gillani who took the advice of President Asif Ali Zardari . The program's name is a tribute to former Prime Minister and wife of President Asif Ali Zardari , Benazir Bhutto , who was assassinated in 2007. Since 2005,

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