Dr. Sania briefs diplomats on Ehsaas Emergency Cash.

ISLAMABAD -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a virtual briefing on the country's social protection response to COVID-19, Ehsaas Emergency Cash program bringing together heads of diplomatic missions, Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Country Representatives and Charge de Affairs from over 60 countries.

Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Atadjan Movlamov was also present.

The meeting primarily aimed to reflect on real-time lessons of Ehsaas Emergency Cash program with the international world and learn from their social protection experiences, said a news release.

Briefing foreign diplomats, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed them on various dimensions of the USD 1.16 billion program particularly the scale and design, speed of deployment and real time lessons along with transparency measures safeguarded by the government to reach out to multimillions of daily wage earners and labourers.

Addressing the meeting, Dr. Nishtar stated, 'Ehsaas Emergency Cash is the most extensive and transparent social protection operation ever undertaken in the history of Pakistan.

In just 11 weeks, Ehsaas has supported 12.30 million families amid these unprecedented times.

With around 24 million of the population subsisting from self-employment in the informal economy, daily and piece rate wages, the COVID-19 response had necessitated an immediate strategy to protect those living in extreme poverty.

The program's overall success is driven by its comprehensive approach to implementation based on leveraging existing Ehsaas systems and strengthening social safety nets, which helped to ensure that vulnerable households were provided with immediate cash support as one time assistance for four months.'

Elaborating the methodology of the program, Dr. Nishtar continued, 'To deliver Ehsaas Emergency Cash to the disadvantaged, digital capabilities developed over the past year as part of Ehsaas strategy were adapted to deliver Ehsaas Emergency Cash. Requests were sought through an SMS short code service; data analytics enabled eligibility ascertainment, using unique national identification numbers and drawing on the National Socioeconomic Registry...