12m women beneficiaries of Ehsaas cash programme this year

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Dr Sania Nishtar has said that 12 million women are beneficiaries of the Ehsaas cash programme this year, adding that more than three-quarters of the entire Ehsaas’ benefits go to women and girls under the Ehsaas 50%+ benefits policy.

She expressed these views while inaugurating Afghanistan-Pakistan Bilateral Dialogue on “Women for Peace Initiative – Road to an inclusive future” organised by a local think tank, the Regional Peace Institute (RPI), here on Tuesday.

Raoof Hasan, CEO of RPI; Per Albert Ilsaas; Ambassador of Norway, Sharmeela Rassool, UN Women Country Representative for Pakistan and distinguished women delegates from Afghanistan attended the dialogue.

Dr Sania welcomed distinguished women delegates from Afghanistan and stressed over the importance of socio-economic mainstreaming women in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Reiterating Pakistan’s resolve to empower underprivileged women, she said that under Ehsaas’ Undergraduate Scholarships, over 142,000 need and merit-based scholarships have been given in two years, with strictly half of all scholarships reserved for girls.

Similarly, Ehsaas interest-free loans for poverty graduation aims to impact 14.7 million vulnerable people in four years with half of them women, she said, adding that enabling 1.4 million individuals to come out of shackles of poverty, 60% of small livelihood assets have also been allocated for women under the four-year Ehsaas Aamdan programme.

The distinguished women delegates of Afghanistan affirmed to cooperate on various aspects of common aspirations in poverty reduction and women empowerment.

The two-day dialogue includes working sessions about education for women, governance and development and legislative processes and procedures.