ADB Support for Gender and Development (2005–2015 ...

ADB Support for Gender and Development (2005–2015) Supplementary Linked Document E (Country Portfolio Assessment)

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PAKISTAN1

Objectives

1. The thematic evaluation study aims to assess Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) support for

gender and development (GAD) by examining (i) the relevance of ADB’s gender and development (GAD)

policy and its strategic priorities in promoting gender equity in the region, (ii) the responsiveness of ADB’s

country partnership strategies (CPS) and operations to promoting gender equity and women’s

empowerment, and (iii) the results of ADB’s operations in realizing gender equity outcomes and targets.

The evaluation covers 2005–2015. The country portfolio assessment of Pakistan adopts the same

objectives and examines the relevance of ADB’s GAD objectives and strategic priorities to the country

context, the responsiveness of the CPS and ADB operations to the gender challenges facing Pakistan, and

the results of ADB operations in Pakistan on gender equity.

Methodology for the Country Portfolio Assessment

2. The country portfolio assessments utilized an evaluation framework developed by the

Independent Evaluation Department (IED)2 to assess the adoption and implementation of ADB’s GAD

policy and operational guidelines in the CPS, portfolio, and technical assistance (TA) program to answer

the key evaluation questions specified in the Evaluation Approach Paper:

How relevant are ADB’s corporate policies and strategies in promoting gender and

development in Asia and the Pacific?

How responsive are ADB’s country strategies and operations to the existing corporate policies

and strategies, and new challenges relating to gender equity?

How effective are ADB’s operations in achieving gender equity outcomes and targets?

How can ADB improve the delivery of its gender equity agenda?

3. The Pakistan assessment relied on a combination of data collection methods, including (i) desk

reviews of all relevant documents, project reports and data; (ii) a country mission3 from 15–27 August

2016 to solicit feedback from counterpart agencies, development partners, and other stakeholders on

ADB’s strategy and overall support for gender and development, and more targeted feedback on selected

projects with gender mainstreaming or gender equity objectives; (iii) in-country fieldwork involving site

visits to two ADB projects, and feedback from beneficiaries and field level implementing personnel to get

a first-hand overview of the challenges faced and progress achieved in realizing intended gender

outcomes; and (iv) focus group discussions with beneficiaries of two ADB projects.

4. The desk review covered CPSs 2009–2013 and 2015–2019; 2008 country gender assessments

(CGAs)4 for 2008 and 2013–2014 CGA

5; portfolio analysis and review of project documentation and

assessment reports for 2005–2015; and self-assessments or related reports produced by government

agencies, implementing agencies, think tanks, and other development partners. This assessment did not

repeat the gender diagnostics undertaken by the recent Pakistan CGA. It focused instead on the

assistance provided by ADB to promote GAD in Pakistan to assess its relevance, responsiveness, and

1 This assessment was authored by Anis Dani (Consultant). Asian Development Bank Central and West Asia Department’s comments

during interdepartmental circulation were considered in finalizing the same.

2 The framework for country portfolio assessments was finalized during a preparatory workshop held at ADB headquarters in June

2016.

3 The country mission to Pakistan was led by Hyun Son, Principal Evaluation Specialist, and included Anis Dani, Country/Gender

Specialist, and Alexis Garcia, Research Analyst/Consultant.

4 ADB. 2008. Releasing Women’s Potential Contribution to Inclusive Economic Growth: Country Gender Assessment—Pakistan.

Manila.

5 ADB. 2014. Promoting Gender Inclusive Growth in Central and West Asia. PAK: Country Gender Assessment. Manila (prepared in

collaboration with the World Bank; Australian Government; Canada Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development;

and Islamic Development Bank).


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effectiveness. In addition to projects approved during the review period, the assessment also drew on

findings from project validation reports (PVR) completed during the review period for projects approved

earlier which had significant gender objectives, as they enabled a more complete picture of ADB’s country

strategy and assistance for Pakistan.

5. Based on the desk review of the portfolio, the mission selected a set of projects to examine more

deeply during the mission. Most of these were gender equity and mainstreaming (GEM) projects from

public sector management (PSM) which includes social protection, agriculture, natural resources and

rural development sector, health sector, and disaster risk management. In addition, the mission also held

discussions with government representatives and development partners on the transport sector, which

alone constitutes 18% of the portfolio by number of projects (second to the energy sector which is 26%

of the portfolio). Transport has the largest share of projects with some gender elements (SGE).

6. At the operational level, the evaluation team focused on the following projects more intensively

during the country mission:

Access to Justice Program (2001)

Decentralization Support Program (2002)

Sustainable Livelihoods in Barani Areas Project (2004)

National Highway Development Sector Investment Program, Project 1 (2006), (findings are

relevant to the remaining tranches of the multitranche financing facility [MFF], and the National

Trade Corridor Highway Investment Program [2014] being implemented by the National Highway

Authority)

Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood Assistance Restoration Program (2007)

Sindh Coastal Community Development Project (2007)

Punjab Millenium Development Goals Program (2008/2010) (2 subprograms)

Social Protection Development Project (2013)

7. The field visits were more selective and focused on two projects classified as having gender equity

theme (GEN) objectives: the Social Protection Development Project, which is financing the government’s

safety net—Benazir Income Support Program (BISP)—and the completed Earthquake-Displaced People

Livelihood Assistance Restoration Program. Field visits were carried out in two of the nine districts where

these two programs overlapped—Bagh District (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) and Mansehra District (Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa Province). This enabled the team to meet with more than 60 people, including beneficiaries

and implementing agency staff, The field visit was also used to pretest the focus group evaluation

instrument and to train the two teams of national researchers who were to undertake the focus group

discussions (FGDs) subsequent to the mission. The field visit was thus followed by additional FGDs6 with

115 beneficiaries, undertaken by the two teams to provide additional coverage of beneficiaries from each

of those districts.

I. Country Context

8. Pakistan’s development trajectory has been replete with contradictions and has suffered from

several episodes of policy reversals and weak follow-through in implementation. As a result, the country

remains a development conundrum.

9. While poverty ratios have declined in Pakistan, human development indicators perform poorly

and gender inequality remains pervasive. Pakistan is a lower middle income country with a population of

188 million and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $1,429 in 2015.7 The poverty headcount

ratio at $190 per day (2011 purchasing power parity [PPP]) as a percentage of the population went down

6 The methodology and consolidated district-level findings from the FGDs are attached as Appendix 4 of this report.

7 World Bank. World Development Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators

http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators


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from 28.7% in 2001 to 6.1% in 2013 but the GINI Index grew marginally from 30.4 to 30.7 over the same

period.8 The national poverty headcount was redefined in 2016 using a consumption-based model to

estimate poverty at 29.5% using the 2013 household income and expenditure survey. Pakistan’s

performance on human development lags significantly behind most of its peers9 and, with a ranking of

147 out of 188, it is the only South Asian country other than Afghanistan (ranked 171) classified as

having low human development. Performance on human development is further exacerbated by gender

disparity in human development indicators. Consequently, Pakistan is ranked poorly on the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gender development index10

(GDI) where its ratio of 0.726 also

lags behind all comparators except for Afghanistan.

10. On UNDP’s gender inequality index (GII), Pakistan lags most South Asian countries too. Pakistan

received a score 0.536 on the GII in 2014 and ranked 121 out of 155 countries, ahead only of India (130)

and Afghanistan (152) in South Asia. Pakistan’s efforts to foster gender inequality are hindered by slow

progress in improving literacy, slow adoption of safe health practices, obstacles to female mobility, and

women’s limited access to economic opportunities. Gender parity varies across provinces but there are

even vast differences across districts within provinces.11

The impact of these challenges is manifested in

the low labor force participation rate of females, estimated by UNDP to be 25% compared to 83% for

males in 2013. In practice, some 75% of women work on the land as informal agricultural workers or

domestic workers but this is not captured by labor statistics, and remains undervalued in the economy.

This tendency is further reinforced by the relatively slow transformation from agriculture to industry in

the Pakistan economy. Informal agricultural work and domestic work offer low returns and by keeping

women trapped in traditional economic roles, often within household economies, hinders women’s

ability to overcome gender inequality constraints.

11. Lack of alternate economic opportunities is further aggravated by the pervasiveness of gender-

based violence (GBV), which remains one of the grievous manifestations of a patriarchal and culturally

conservative society, common to Pakistan and some of its neighboring countries. More than 7,000 cases

of GBV have been recorded each year between 2008 and 2012 in Pakistan. GBV in Pakistan includes

honor killing, domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual violence, and other harmful practices such as

bonded labor which render women vulnerable. GBV affects women across class, religion, and ethnic lines

but is even more acute among women from traditional tribal or feudal cultures where GBV is further

reinforced by informal legal systems.

12. GBV has also become an instrument of terrorism in Pakistan. Islamic militants have frequently

bombed girls’ schools and targeted female schoolteachers and health workers in a deliberate attempt to

discourage female education and social transformation. The most well-known of these cases is the

assassination attempt on Malala Yousufzai, who was grievously wounded in one such attack in Swat but

was repatriated and recovered to continue her studies and her campaign for female education overseas.

At 17, she become the youngest winner of the Nobel Prize for her advocacy of female education. Not

everyone is so fortunate, and many women and girls have paid for their aspirations with their lives.

13. Responsibility for provision of basic services and the distribution of revenues among different

levels of government has remained in flux over the years. Although envisaged as a federation in the 1973

Constitution, most powers were initially retained by the federal government. Three attempts were made

to introduce and strengthen local government organizations, unfortunately all three were by military

rulers whose legitimacy did not outlast their tenure. The last of these was in 2001, when the 17th

amendment provided greater autonomy to local governments and devolved key functions like education

and health to the local government level and supported them by fiscal transfers. Two elections were held

8 World Bank estimates based on individual consumption data.

9 Comparative data are presented in the tables in Appendix 1.

10 The GDI is the ratio of the Human Development Index (HDI) for females compared to males.

11 Punjab Commission on the Status of Women. 2016. Punjab Gender Parity Report. Lahore.


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in 2001 and 2005 under that system but these powers lapsed in 2009 and the amendment was officially

repealed and replaced by the 18th amendment in April 2010.

14. The 18th amendment to the Constitution resulted in the elimination of 17 federal ministries and

departments, including the ministries of education, health, social welfare, labor and manpower, and

women’s development. Their responsibilities were devolved to the provinces along with transfer of the

budgets for providing these services to citizens. The National Finance Commission constituted under the

Constitution determines the distribution of the net proceeds of all taxes between the federation and the

provinces. While decentralization of authority to the provinces has brought benefits and greater

ownership among provincial governments, it increased the challenges of implementing reforms which

are now dependent on multiple decision-making bodies with varying capacities and governance systems.

Progress in many areas mandated by the Constitution has therefore become even more uneven.

Diagnostic Studies

15. Since 2000 there has been a plethora of studies on gender issues in Pakistan. Multilateral and

bilateral aid agencies have invested in comprehensive diagnostic studies, and women’s activists and

advocacy organizations within Pakistan have tended to focus largely on current issues and on analysis

and advocacy for legislative and institutional reform. Clearly knowledge gaps are not to blame for lack

of progress on gender equality in Pakistan.

16. The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has produced several studies on legal

systems in Pakistan, including A Policy Framework for Women’s Equal Rights: Issues, Concerns, and

Recommendations for Gendered Policy;12

A Study of Formal & Informal Legal Systems Prevalent in

Pakistan;13

Review of Muslim Family Laws;14

and Litigation Related to Women under Nizam-e-Adl,

Malakand Division.15

These studies have been consistent with the mandate of NCSW to advise the

government on gender policy and legislation, and have been aimed at advocacy and policy dialogue on

pro-gender legislation. Such efforts have contributed to the approval of several key laws between 2010–

2014 to protect women and strengthen their role, which will be discussed in the next section of the

report.

17. A more substantive diagnostic report is the Punjab Gender Parity Report 2016 produced by the

Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (footnote 10). This is a useful reference document which

provides data at the provincial and district level on a wide range of indicators including demographic

trends, female participation in political activities and governance, health, education, economic

participation and opportunities, legal and judicial protection, violence against women, and special

initiatives to promote gender equity. The data show that despite relative progress in education, health,

and access to economic opportunities in Punjab Province during the past decade, the gender gap remains

large and there has been an increase in the reported cases of violence against women. The report reveals

that although the 69% male literacy rate in Punjab Province is slightly lower than the national average of

71% for males, the gender parity index (GPI) for adult literacy for Punjab Province (0.7246) is better than

Pakistan’s GPI on adult literacy (0.65). Yet there is huge disparity on gender within Punjab: literacy rates

are lowest, especially female literacy in the southwestern districts Rajanpur (19%) and Dera Ghazi Khan

(26%), and Rajanpur has by far the lowest GPI (0.42) on adult literacy. Even Punjab needs to pay special

attention to gender equity. The report recommends continued focus on (i) improving policy and

12

Afiya S. Zia. 2010. A Policy Framework for Women’s Equal Rights: Issues, Concerns and Recommendations for Gendered Policy.

Study for the National Commission on the Status of Women, Pakistan. Islamabad.

13 NCSW. 2011. A Study of Formal and Informal Legal Systems Prevalent in Pakistan. Islamabad.

14 NCSW. 2011. Review of Muslim Family Laws. Islamabad.

15 Provincial Commission on the Status of Women, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 2014. Litigation Related to Women under Nizam-e-Adl,

Malakand Division. Islamabad.


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legislation and implementation, (ii) capacity building and institutional strengthening of public agencies

and service providers, (iii) social advocacy to change attitudes towards women’s role in public life, and

(iv) strengthening data collection and research.

18. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Shirkat Gah and Aurat Foundation are activist

organizations that also undertake gender research. Shirkat Gah tends to focus on policy research while

Aurat Foundation engages directly in development process and conducts applied research. For instance,

Aurat Foundation played a very active role in capacity building of local councilors, with a particular focus

on women elected to local councils in local government elections in 2001 and 2005.16

They produced

comprehensive reports of the citizen’s campaigns to enhance the representation and role of women in

local government. Those decentralization efforts received substantial support from ADB during those

years, which predate the evaluation period.

19. Gender studies is integrated within two universities in Pakistan. The University of Karachi has a

Center for Excellence on Women’s Studies which offers Bachelors and Masters degrees in Gender Studies.

Since 2008 it has been publishing the Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies annually to provide an outlet

for related research. Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad also established a Centre of Excellence in Gender

Studies in 2004, which offers an M.Sc. degree in Gender Studies and supports gender equality through

advocacy and policy dialogue with the government due to its proximity to the capital. But they have not

produced any diagnostic studies.

20. On health and demographic issues, the Population Council has been the most consistent in

undertaking relevant research. The Population Council focuses on issues that are most relevant to family

planning and maternal health, which are among the key constraints to gender equality in Pakistan. Their

research is however not directly amenable to the kind of development interventions that ADB supports.

21. The World Bank last undertook a comprehensive CGA in 2005.17

This was informed by data from

the Pakistan Rural Household Survey (2004) and a series of background papers, including a 2005

background paper on “Gender and Poverty in Pakistan” by Khawar Mumtaz.18

The CGA presented new

evidence collected by the Pakistan Institute for Development Economics to discuss the policy implications

to improve gender inequality, girls’ schooling, health outcomes for women and children, and

participation of women in the work force. Since then gender issues have been integrated within the

poverty assessment and the socioeconomic survey to improve poverty means-tested targeting of the

safety net but the CGA has not been updated by the World Bank.

22. Three more gender assessments are worth mentioning—a 2008 study by the Sustainable

Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan: A Country Gender Profile;19

a 2012 study sponsored by

United Nations (UN) Women which focused on rural and urban gender differences across provinces by

wealth quintiles;20

and a comparative study of gender indicators sponsored by U.S. Agency for

International Development (USAID).21

16

Aurat Foundation is also one of the implementing partners of the BISP with financing from USAID. BISP is cofinanced by the

World Bank and the Department for International Development and receives parallel funding from ADB.

17 World Bank. 2005. Pakistan: Country Gender Assessment, Bridging the Gender Gap, Opportunities and Challenges. Washington

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/8453

18 Khawar Mumtaz was the most recent chairperson of the NCSW. Her term ended in December 2015, and the appointment of her

successor is still awaited.

19 SDPI. 2008. Pakistan: Country Gender Profile. Islamabad.

20 Zaidi, Yasmin. 2013. Baseline Study on the Status of Women and Men in Pakistan, 2012. Islamabad: Center of Gender and

Policy Studies, Management Development Institute.

21 Spevacek, Anne Marie, Esther Kim, and Nawal Mustafa. Pakistan Gender Overview. Arlington, VA: USAID Knowledge Services

Center.

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/8453


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23. ADB too has been proactive in undertaking gender diagnostics in Pakistan. ADB undertook CGAs

in Pakistan in 2000 and 2008, and drew on a regional TA to support another CGA, finalized in July 2015.

These CGAs and their policy and operational recommendations are discussed under ADB support for

gender equality later in this report. Thus even before the most recent CGA, a considerable body of

diagnostic studies was available to inform country strategy formulation. The real measure of success will

be whether the recommendations were relevant and appropriately designed and supported to achieve

gender equality results.

II. Government Strategy on Gender Equality

24. The Constitution of Pakistan clearly states that: “Steps shall be taken to ensure full participation

of women in all spheres of national life” (Article 34). The devolution of authority to the provinces under

the 18th Constitutional amendment has increased the challenge of implementing reforms, such as those

promoting gender equality. Devolution has increased the number of decision-making bodies, and

support for gender reforms, which by definition challenge patriarchal norms and values, remains uneven

across provinces. Capacity for implementation also varies across provinces. In that sense, the 18th

amendment has created further hurdles in achieving gender objectives.

25. The government’s medium-term strategy document, Vision 2025 approved in 2014, makes a

commitment to support gender equality and women’s development. In terms of committed actions this

is listed as one of 25 goals of the country’s development vision under Pillar I: Putting People First–

Developing Human and Social Capital. The goal aims to improve primary and secondary GPI to 1, and

increase female labor force participation rate from 24% to 45%. If achieved, this would indeed be a

remarkable achievement given the weak track record of the country in terms of gender and human

development outcomes.

26. Historically, the government’s strategy has been more focused on promoting gender equality in

a top-down manner. While some of the fundamental actions to support human development capacity

of girls and empower women have lacked strong ownership and sustained support, in other areas such

as enacting quotas in political office and approving legislation to protect women, and in promoting

certain sectors, such as microfinance, where gender targeting was feasible, the government has been

more effective. In formulating the 2001 and 2010 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, the government

committed itself to supporting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which included education,

health, and gender targets and empowering women to increase their participation in the work force.

Inadequate budget allocations and insufficient attention to implementation quality and demand-side

factors prevented the government from achieving most of its MDG goals, especially for females. Together

with slower economic growth since 2007, this has further impeded the strategic objective of enhancing

the labor force participation rate for females.

27. At the political level, however, efforts were more successful, although even here some gains have

been reversed. Female representation in parliament has reached 20%, which is the highest proportion in

South Asia. The devolution program launched in 2001 included reservation of 33% seats for women in

all local councils, with direct elections for women at the lowest tier of local government, the union council

level. The first election in 2001 was held on non-party basis and resulted in the emergence of new

leadership among males and females. Over 32,000 women were elected to these union councils. NGOs

like the Aurat Foundation and South Asia Partnership played an active role in building capacity of newly

elected councilors to participate more effectively in local council meetings and decision-making. The

second round of elections in 2005 faced some setbacks as provincial governments reasserted themselves

and political parties tried to influence elections behind the scenes. Resultant violence and disruption of

voting in some constituencies discouraged weaker segments of society, including women from openly


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confronting these pressures.22

The local government system suffered a further setback when national

elections were held in 2008 and political parties reasserted themselves, effectively reversing the local

government system established by the 2001 devolution program. Local government elections have been

held in two provinces but power and budget resources remain in the hands of the provincial

governments.

28. The Constitution also requires the State to provide “maternity benefits for women in

employment” (Article 37) and promote social and economic well-being by “secure[ing] the well-being of

the people, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, by raising their standard of living,” and “provide basic

necessities of life, such as food, clothing, housing, education and medical relief, for all citizens,

irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, as are permanently or temporarily unable to earn their livelihood

on account of infirmity, sickness or unemployment” (Article 38).

29. In 2007, the government adopted a policy of reserving 10% of positions in the government for

women. Unfilled vacancies are left vacant until a suitable female candidate is found. In practice, however,

the government has only been able to implement this quota at more senior levels in government

employment where it exceeded this target. In terms of total government employment, however, the

pressure to employ male breadwinners seems to prevail and the aggregate ratio remains under 6%.

30. GBV has become a growing menace with an increasing frequency reported in the media. Over

the past 10 years, GBV has grown from domestic violence and female victims of informal legal practices

to criminal violence and attacks on women by Islamic fundamentalists. Recognizing the need to confront

GBV directly, the civilian government which took over in 2008 enacted several important laws designed

to discourage some manifestations of GBV:

The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010

The Criminal Law Act (Second Amendment, 2011), referred to as the Acid Control and Acid Crime

Prevention Act

The Criminal Law Act (Third Amendment, 2011), referred to as Prevention of Anti-Women

Practices Act

Women in Distress and Detention Fund Bill 2011

National Commission on the Status of Women Act 2012

Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2013

Punjab Fair Representation of Women Act 2014

31. Passing a law is however only the first step. Implementation and monitoring challenges remain,

and are some of the reasons for the approval of the 2012 Act upgrading the NCSW as a statutory body

with a Board that includes representatives from all the provinces and other administrative units in

Pakistan. At the provincial level, NCSW is complemented by Provincial Commissions on the Status of

Women and Women’s Development Departments. However, none of these have responsibility for

implementation.

32. The NCSW was declared an autonomous special commission by the Parliamentary Act of 2012,

with a chairperson reporting to the Parliament and the Prime Minister. Its mandate includes “review and

assessment of laws, government policies, programmes and measures and their implementation, and

make recommendations to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment and eliminate

discrimination”23

(emphasis added). NCSW was administratively placed under the Ministry of Human

Rights (MOHR)24

and expected to formulate its own rules of business and staffing. But the Ministry was

22

Aurat Publication and Information Service Foundation. n.d. Citizens’ Campaign for Women’s Representation in Local Government

in Pakistan, 2001 and 2005: Backdrop, Glimpses of the Campaigns, Overall Results. Lahore.

23 NCSW. 2013. Annual Report 2013. Islamabad.

24 MOHR was merged with the Ministry of Law and Justice under the previous government but has recently been declared a separate

ministry. NCSW remains administratively under MOHR.


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not supportive of the autonomy of NCSW and effectively prevented it from recruiting its own staff and

managing its own budget, thereby limiting its effectiveness.

33. NCSW was also given the responsibility to track and report on compliance with international

commitments on gender equality, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Pakistan ratified CEDAW in 1996, with a declaration making

the compliance subject to its Constitution and a reservation under Article 29, para 1. There is lack of

public awareness about CEDAW and civil society organizations have not been involved in implementation

of its provisions. So far Pakistan has submitted four reports to CEDAW, the fourth report was adopted

by the committee at its 54th session held on 11 February–1 March 2013. The Committee welcomed the

adoption of legislation aimed at eliminating discrimination against women and acknowledged the

challenges faced by the country due to natural disasters, the devolution of powers under the 18th

Constitutional amendment which limits powers of the federal government, and to increased violence and

attacks by non-state actors. But the committee expressed concern that with the transfer of responsibility

for integration and coordination of policies aimed at the advancement of women to the provinces, the

government lacks the capacity to put in place an efficient mechanism to ensure that the provincial

governments establish legal and other measures to fully implement the Convention in a coherent and

consistent manner. The Committee communicated a long list of actions to be taken by the State party,

i.e. government of Pakistan, to comply with the various provisions of CEDAW.

34. The term of the chairperson NCSW ended in December 2015, and the Board members ended in

April. Replacements have not yet been appointed. NCSW is being run by a Secretary who cannot exercise

the financial powers that were vested in the chairperson, so activities have slowed down even further.

35. While the gender benefits of decentralization have not been sustained, civilian governments have

undertaken several strategic initiatives since 2008 to empower women. The BISP is an important vehicle

for cash transfers to women and is now covering 4.8 million households. The Sindh Government’s

Landless Haris Project providing land titles to the landless awarded 70.6% of land titles to women

beneficiaries. The Prime Minister also announced a Youth Business Loan Scheme which earmarked 50%

of loans for females, and the Punjab Government has also made budget allocations for a women’s

empowerment package. It is too soon to know the results of the most recent initiatives.

III. ADB Support for Gender Equality

36. The evaluation period spans across three CPS cycles governed by the later part of the country

strategy for 2002–2006, which was extended by updates up to 2008; the span of CPS 2009–2013; and

the early part of CPS 2015–2019. The CPSs treated gender equality as an integral part of inclusive growth,

one of the essential pillars of ADB’s corporate strategy.

37. The objectives of the country strategy in 2002 originally had three main objectives: the promotion

of good governance, sustainable pro-poor growth, and inclusive human development. These led to

support for agriculture and natural resources, health and education, water supply and municipal services,

transport, energy, and finance sector development. Later this was expanded to include PSM and

governance, including judicial and police reform, decentralization of government to local levels and

devolution of social services, and public resource management programs, including budget support and

TA for Punjab and Baluchistan provinces.

38. The 2002–2006 strategy targeted gender issues by focusing on (i) targeting the specific needs of

women through devolved social service delivery programs, water supply and sanitation projects,

integrated rural development interventions, and support for microfinance; (ii) mainstreaming gender

across all projects; and (iii) promoting policy and institutional reforms for awareness and enforcement of

women’s rights and representation in all aspects of economic and social development. The 2013 Country


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Assistance Program Evaluation (CAPE) found that the Country Strategy Program (CSP) listed several

gender indicators, but lacked targets and milestones.

39. CSP updates between 2004 and 2008 shifted the emphasis to the pursuit of higher sustained

growth, rather than human development. Higher priority was given to improving economic infrastructure

in power, large-scale irrigation, national highways and corridors, as well as in urban development. The

2005 earthquake also led to an emergency assistance program followed by a 2007 program aimed at

restoring livelihoods of earthquake-affected people. Economic growth was sustained until 2007 but the

portfolio performed poorly especially in the later part of the CSP, when the country went through a

tumultuous period leading to the ousting of the serving general as head of state and restoration of

civilian rule.

40. CPS, 2009–2013 narrowed ADB support to four main areas: (i) energy and infrastructure, (ii)

institutional reform and private sector development, (iii) development of basic urban services, and (iv)

more effective implementation and capacity building. The CPS included a gender assessment which

reported that the most significant results under ADB’s previous country strategy were achieved through

the policy and institutional reforms linked to the ADB Decentralization Support Program (which promoted

gender equity by reserving 33% seats for women), and the implementation of the Gender Reform Action

Plans (GRAPs)25

within that framework. Mainstreaming gender concerns in rural development and

agriculture projects also produced results for women. The CSP also described shortcomings in achieving

gender equality. It reiterated the need for gender mainstreaming in all ADB operations in Pakistan,

integrating gender in the design of projects and specifying provisions for women’s participation in and

benefits from a project in a Gender Action Plan (GAP), including a gender specialist in all project

assessments, and enhancing links to outcomes. The CPS also indicated that Pakistan should benefit from

regional TA programs on gender mainstreaming and proposed that the results framework of projects

should include gender-disaggregated data.

41. CPS, 2015–2019 was informed by ADB’s 2013–2014 CGA, which was cofinanced by the

Government of Australia, and conducted in collaboration with the governments of Australia and Canada,

and the Islamic Development Bank. The Gender Analysis in the CPS highlights Pakistan’s poor

performance on gender parity on human development and labor force participation, and the prevalence

of GBV as acute challenges, despite progress in political representation, the only indicator where

Pakistan’s performance is better than other countries in the region. The gender assessment reported that

rural development projects with targeted interventions have been quite successful in promoting women’s

empowerment, and emergency response projects provided tangible benefits to women. Projects from

both categories were identified for further investigation by this assessment.

42. CPS, 2015–2019 pledges to continue its focus on infrastructure with gender mainstreaming as

the primary strategy of ADB support. The CPS intends to provide the highest share of lending in support

of the energy sector, followed by transport; natural resources and irrigation; urban services; PSM

including public–private partnerships; and public administration and finance. In most of them the

strategy seems to be satisfied with a gender mainstreaming approach, which has not borne good results

in Pakistan so far.

43. In energy, the CPS promises to maximize women’s access to energy benefits but other than

gender-sensitive recruitment programs and improving contact with female consumers, the only actions

proposed are studies and documentation of energy use to “promote evidence-based policy making.” In

transport, the CPS recommends development of gender-sensitive roadside facilities, developing gender-

responsive resettlement and land acquisition plans, and encourage women’s employment and capacity

building. In natural resources and irrigation, ADB intends to improve women’s access to water and

25

GRAPs were prepared for the federal and all provincial governments with TA from ADB approved in 2002 for the Gender Reform

Program.


10

livelihood opportunities by engaging women in water-related decision-making bodies, linking women

farmers to livelihood opportunities, and documenting gender impacts. In water supply and sanitation,

ADB will enhance women’s representation in water and sanitation boards and steering committees,

establish gender-responsive customer care systems and a sex-disaggregated complaint mechanism.

44. Of all the sectors, only two—urban transport and social protection—appear to have a deliberate

strategy of identifying and responding to the special needs of women. In urban transport, ADB intends

to improve women’s ridership by identifying women’s needs and mobility concerns, and integrating

gender design features in projects. In social protection (classified under PSM), ADB intends to continue

support for the government’s safety net program which provides cash transfers to women and is

designed to have a direct impact on their empowerment and wellbeing. It is too soon to assess the results

of the urban transport projects but this assessment has undertaken an in-depth assessment of the social

protection project’s support for BISP.

45. The review of these three CPSs indicates that in terms of strategy, ADB’s ambition to promote

gender equality has become much more modest as it sought to restructure a poorly performing portfolio.

ADB has fallen back on infrastructure sectors where it believes it has a comparative advantage. In most

of them its efforts to mainstream gender are very modest as shown by the gender categories in the

operations approved in 2005–2015 (Figure 1).

IV. Assessment of ADB Support for Gender Equality

A. Relevance of the CPSs

46. ADB’s lending activities approved during 2005–2015 consisted of 66 loan and grant operations

with a total commitment amount of $12.4 billion in ADB financing out of total project financing of $16.6

billion. The largest sectors of operations were energy (32.7% of total loan amounts approved) and

transport (22.5%), followed by PSM (19%), and finance (12.4%). Eight operations were classified as

projects with a GEN and 11 as projects with Effective Gender Mainstreaming (EGM). Over the review

period, the operations designed with GEM objectives constituted 29% of new approvals by number of

projects, and 25% of ADB financing (Appendix 2, Table 2.2). The portfolio was distributed across a wide

range of sectors but energy and transport sectors, which consisted of 47% of the projects and 55% of

the financing volume, and the finance sector, whose operations were the largest in financing volume26

,

were the least likely to have significant gender elements (Figure 1). Human development was

underrepresented in the Pakistan portfolio but both health and the lone education project were classified

as GEN projects, and the social protection project is classified under PSM.

47. ADB also approved $21 million for 28 TA activities during 2010–2015. Of these, one for the Social

Protection Development Project, was classified as GEN and designed to provide TA to BISP’s health

insurance program. Four TAs were classified as EGM—two for urban transport in Karachi and Peshawar,

one for urban water and sanitation in Punjab intermediate cities, and one for renewable energy. TA for

operations classified as gender equity and mainstreaming thus amounted to 18% of the number of TAs

and 29% of the financial commitment for TAs during this period. (Appendix 2, Tables 2.3 and 2.4). At

the same time, 13 of the TAs were classified as having no gender elements (NGE), and three were not

classified. Consequently, 64% of the TAs by number and 60% of the financial commitment for TA had no

relevance for gender objectives. Among TA activities approved prior to 2010, two TAs for the

Decentralization Support Program and Gender Reform Program (approved in 2002 and kept open until

2009), and one project preparatory TA for the Punjab Millennium Development Goals Program and Access

to Justice Program (approved in 2008) had GEN objectives.

26

The five operations from finance sector averaged $307 million each compared to an average size of $188 million.


11

Figure 1: Number of Approved Sovereign Loans & Grants in Pakistan, by Sector and Gender Equity and

Mainstreaming (GEM) classification, 2005–2015

ANR = agriculture and natural resources, EDU = education, EGM = effective gender mainstreaming, ENE = energy, FIN = finance,

GEN = gender equity as theme, HLT = health, IND = industry and trade, NC = not categorized, NGE = no gender elements, PSM

= public sector management, SGE = some gender elements, TRA = transport, WUS = water and other urban infrastructure and

services.

Source: Independent Evaluation Department.

48. This aggregate description, which treats the entire evaluation period (2005–2015) as one block,

masks the trend towards infrastructure projects that have been further removed from the goal of gender

equality. The 2002–2006 country strategy had emphasized human development, decentralization and

rural development projects that had stronger gender targeting potential. As the country strategy evolved

towards infrastructure, private sector, and urban services in CPS 2009–2013, gender mainstreaming in

these sectors was considered an acceptable strategy. The main exception was ADB support for the

government’s safety net program (BISP), whose primary beneficiaries were women who met specified

criteria to be deemed eligible for cash transfers. This trend appears to have continued into the latest CPS,

2014–2019 dominated by highways and energy projects that tend to have little substantive gender

impact.

49. Among the cohort of 2005–2010 approvals that have been completed, only two closed projects

(18%) were rated successful on gender impacts: one was a rural development project (Sindh Coastal

Community Development Project) and the other was the Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood

Restoration Project. In comparison, when the portfolio is expanded to include projects approved since

2001 which closed during the evaluation period, we find four more projects—two rural community

development and two PSM projects for access to justice and decentralization rated successful on gender

impacts, bringing the gender success rate to 29%. Not only have the CPSs become less relevant to gender

objective in recent years, the aggregate performance of the portfolio on gender has also deteriorated.

The projects being supported by the two most recent CPSs have an established record of being less

ambitious in terms of supporting gender equality and are less likely to achieve their gender objectives.

As such, the CPSs as a whole have become noticeably less relevant in terms of their support for gender

equality in Pakistan.

B. Complementarity of ADB Gender Strategy with Other Development Partners

50. It could be argued that ADB’s lending strategy complements other development partners, and

that ADB has pulled back from human development sectors where the World Bank and bilateral agencies

are more active. However, that justification does not extend to local governance and community

development where ADB was more proactive than other partners, and has not been replaced by others.


12

ADB has simply chosen to move away from those sectors which are arguably more difficult and need

greater attention to institutional design. ADB appears to have a preference for projects with large lending

volumes—highways and economic corridors, energy projects, disaster relief, safety nets. Even in some of

those sectors, ADB appears to be missing opportunities to collaborate with other partners to increase its

relevance and effectiveness, as illustrated by the following projects which were investigated in greater

detail than the rest of the portfolio both through interviews with development partners and on-site

fieldwork to get feedback from beneficiaries and implementing agency staff:

Following a $385 million Emergency Earthquake Assistance Project (2005), ADB supported the

Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood Restoration Program (2007) with $400 million financing

to the Earthquake Reconstruction and Relief Agency (ERRA). ERRA received parallel financing of

$638 million during the same period from three World Bank projects but there is little evidence

of collaboration with the World Bank. Even more relevant, the Canadian International

Development Agency (CIDA) provided two gender specialists to work closely with ERRA to help

it adopt a gender-sensitive approach to disaster relief. Other than preparation of a Gender and

Vulnerability Action Plan, there is no evidence of collaboration between ADB and CIDA in

implementation of the gender aspect of the program.

ADB approved $430 million in financing in 2013 to expand coverage of BISP’s safety net program.

The program was established by the government in 2008 and received $150 million in financing

from the World Bank, and GBP 300 million in cofinancing from the Department of International

Development (DFID) and substantial TA from both of those agencies and USAID who are

collaborating closely with each other. The World Bank and DFID share a common program

framework with disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs) for tranche releases, undertake joint

supervision missions, and collaborate with USAID in implementation and program monitoring.

ADB has opted out of formal collaboration with these partners, although it is supporting the

same implementing agency, BISP. As a result, ADB is unable to contribute meaningfully to the

technical design of the program and is unable to benefit from the joint missions to the detriment

of the ADB project.

51. Interviews with the World Bank team leaders of both projects revealed considerable tension with

their ADB counterparts. Some of the challenges faced by ADB projects could perhaps have been overcome

by a more collaborative approach, which might also have helped to increase their gender results.

C. Responsiveness of ADB Operations

52. To derive a more grounded picture of the relevance, responsiveness, and results of ADB’s

assistance to gender, we undertook a more in-depth review of eight projects from the portfolio under

implementation during the evaluation period. Feedback on these projects was obtained from

government counterparts, ADB staff, and in-country stakeholders. For two projects—one earthquake

rehabilitation project, and one social protection project—this was supplemented by on-site visits

including interviews and FGDs with beneficiaries, and feedback from staff of implementing agencies.

53. Access to Justice Program (AJP) (2001). The AJP focused on judicial (including reforms relating to

administrative justice institutions) and police reforms. The program was expected to deliver benefits in

three components—policy, institutions, and budget and expenditure management. The key development

objective was to assist the government in improving access to justice by: (i) providing a legal basis for

judicial, policy, and administrative reforms; (ii) improving the efficiency, timeliness, and effectiveness of

judicial and police services; (iii) supporting greater equity and accessibility to justice services to the

vulnerable and poor; (iv) improving predictability and consistency between fiscal and human resource

allocations and the mandates of reformed judicial and police institutions at the federal, provincial, and

local levels; and (v)ensuring greater transparency and accountability in the performance of justice sector


13

agencies. The program was approved in December 2001, and comprised two loans in the amount of

$330 million to be released in four tranches, a TA loan for $20 million, and a TA grant for $900,000.

54. The program was expected to contribute to the nationwide effort to influence the exercise of

political, administrative, and judicial powers in order to improve accessibility to public entitlements for

all citizens, in particular the poor, women, and minorities. The AJP intended to tackle gender issues

through the creation of competent legal, judicial, and police institutions through which existing basic

and constitutional rights could be implemented fairly and accountably. Although the project completion

report (PCR) and the PVR rated the project partly successful overall, the PVR found that the program

helped mainstream gender reforms into the justice sector. Ministry of Law, Justice, Human Rights and

Parliamentary Affairs (MOL) partnered with the Ministry of Women Development to implement the

national GRAP. The number of women judges in different courts nearly doubled between 2001 and 2007.

Greater awareness of the rights of women and human rights was incorporated into police training

programs. As a result, the project which had a gender classification of GEN, also received a gender rating

of successful.

55. Decentralization Support Program (DSP) (2002). The objectives of the DSP were to improve local

government representation, and efficiency, leading to improved service delivery through fiscal support

for reforms in policy, legal, technical, and fiscal domains. The DSP supported the government’s reforms

aimed at re-engineering the role of federal, provincial, and local government. It supported political

decentralization by helping to create a third tier of government comprising democratically elected

councils at district, tehsil, and union council levels, and supported devolution of power for local

development and service delivery through these local councils. The DSP consisted of four loans totaling

$300 million, to expedite poverty reduction, and improve governance in Pakistan. It was designed to

finance the medium-term costs of implementing fiscal decentralization, and to develop capacity in

priority areas including gender reforms. Signaling the importance of equity in decentralization, one of

the key reforms was reservation of one-third of the seats in local councils for women representatives.

56. The DSP was ambitious but seized a policy opportunity that emerged with the installation of a

new government in 1999 seeking to establish a record of good governance. The reform agenda was

structured around three policy outcomes (i) improved federal support for decentralization including

gender and social development reforms, (ii) effective and sustainable province–local intergovernmental

relations, and (iii) strengthened local government institutions managing resources accountably and

equitably. Two TA loans, totaling $30 million, were approved to support capacity development of federal

agencies, provincial agencies, and local governments to strengthen planning, financial management,

procurement, and auditing. The first TA (1937) was for the DSP, the second (1938) was for the GRAP.

Both TAs were underutilized, and only 1.8% of the second TA loan for GRAP support, was used.

57. The PCR rated the project highly relevant and highly effective. The ratings were scaled back in

the PVR to relevant because of the ambitious nature of the program, and effective because of the lack of

information on achievement of some of the program outputs in the program results framework. The PCR

and PVR agreed on ratings of less efficient in achieving outputs and outcomes and in utilization of the

TA provided, and sustainability as less likely. Borrower and ADB performance were deemed satisfactory.

The overall assessment of successful by the PCR was downgraded to partly successful in the PVR. Despite

the slow progress on utilization of the TA supporting the GRAPs, the success in meeting the 33%

representation of women in local government representation led to a gender rating of successful. The

program shows that even such a complex and ambitious governance reform program can include

achievable gender goals if it pays enough attention to program design. Unfortunately, some of these

gains were undermined by the political economy when the civilian government took over in 2008 and

gave primary responsibility to provincial governments instead of local councils.

58. Sustainable Livelihoods in Barani Areas Project (SLBAP) (2004). The SLBAP was designed for the

rainfed, agricultural regions in the Punjab which are often characterized by higher rates of poverty. In


14

addition to constraints on water for crops and livestock these areas also suffer from limited access to

inputs and markets, electricity and drinking water, and few alternative sources of income. The SLBAP

addressed these constraints by seeking to enhance water storage and conservation, improve access to

inputs and markets, and diversify sources of income while at the same time overcoming fundamental

barriers to development such as illiteracy. ADB approved $41 million for the project in 2004. The expected

project’s objective was to enhance access to land, water, markets, services, agricultural inputs,

technologies, and jobs for the people in the barani (rainfed) areas to increase income, improve quality of

life, and ultimately, reduce poverty among vulnerable groups. The project included support for medium-

scale infrastructure (MSI) identified by beneficiaries; targeted small-scale interventions for community

mobilization, microcredit and off-farm employment for beneficiary or community groups; enhanced

literacy program for poor women and girls through skills training; and institutional and implementation

support.

59. The project was formulated within the context of the devolution of powers to local governments,

focusing on the improvement of economic livelihood and quality of life of people in rural Punjab’s barani

areas, and the PCR rated the project highly relevant. A number of design changes were necessary to

overcome implementation constraints, including waiving the community contribution requirement,

which was slowing the uptake of the MSI component, and the addition of more district level project

management units for better management of the multisector interventions. For that reason, the PVR

revised the rating downward to relevant. Decentralized project management was essential to ensure the

success of this multisector project targeted at local communities in multiple districts. The PCR and PVR

found the project to be effective and highly efficient. The project was completed at 72% of appraisal

cost, with key targets for all components met. At completion, the overall project economic internal rate

of return (EIRR) was estimated at 25.3%, higher than the appraisal estimate of 20%. A total 619 MSI

schemes were undertaken, directly benefiting 858,654 beneficiaries. The MSI schemes were undertaken

in 1,814 villages by 11,464 community organizations and/or village groups, exceeding the appraisal

target of 1,800 community organizations. The key targets for the poverty alleviation component were

surpassed with 8,918 community-based organizations (CBOs) formed (188% of appraisal target) with a

total membership of 144,157 (112% of appraisal target). An average of 17 small-scale infrastructure (SSI)

schemes were undertaken in each of the 206 unions, higher than the 10–12 SSI schemes in each of the

200 unions targeted at appraisal. The project was determined by the PCR and the PVR as being most

likely sustainable. Borrower and ADB performance was found by the PCR to be highly successful and by

the PVR to be successful.

60. In terms of gender outcomes, 13,868 women and girls (116% of appraisal target) completed a

6-month literacy and livelihood skills program. The final evaluation report found that female

unemployment dropped from 79% to 36% after the training. The training was organized in a culturally

sensitive manner and whetted women’s appetite for further education, 92% of those receiving training

said they would like to obtain formal education. Women were the main beneficiaries of the microcredit

scheme, although 77% of the borrowers said they were advised to take the loans by male members of

their family who sometimes utilized the loans obtained. The majority of loans were used for livestock and

dairy development, although some also used them for other businesses. With clear objectives, customized

project design, and course corrections during implementation, the project achieved its gender objectives

and the gender rating was successful.

61. National Highway Development Sector Investment Program (NHDSIP) (2005). The program

consists of a project approved in 2005 for $180 million in ordinary capital resources (OCR) funds with an

accompanying loan of SDR2,080,000 ($3 million equivalent) for institutional strengthening of the

National Highway Authority (NHA). This was the first phase of an MFF with loans of up to $770 million

for NHDSIP approved in December 2005. The findings are equally relevant to the National Trade Corridor

Highway Investment Program (2014) being implemented by the NHA.


15

62. The NHDSIP had two objectives. The first was to improve transport efficiency by (i) adopting a

national transport policy, (ii) strengthening NHA performance in managing the national highway

network, (iii) improving road safety, and (iv) improving road maintenance and funding. The second was

to increase private sector participation in road subsector investments by (i) increasing outsourcing of

road works, and (ii) exploring opportunities for private operation of NHA assets and activities along its

right-of-way.

63. The project was designed to reduce transport costs and travel times. An additional objective was

to relieve congestion in urban and industrial areas. Three highway subprojects had originally been

identified in Baluchistan and Punjab provinces involving construction and improvement of 366 kilometers

of national highways. The contract for one subproject was dropped and coverage reduced to 166 km of

highway and $56.7 million cancelled from the loan. Although there were modifications to the original

plan, by loan closing all three highway subprojects were completed according to design specifications.

Actual disbursements were $123,117,439 (68%) from the investment project with SDR435,425 (21%)

from the institutional strengthening loan at the closing date.

64. The PCR concluded that the scope of the interventions under this project was relevant to NHA‘s

needs, particularly development of the national transport policy, public private partnership projects, road

maintenance planning, and road safety. Although the overall framework was agreed between ADB and

the NHA, the components of the institutional strengthening project were designed without strong buy-

in from the NHA, which subsequently amended the areas of focus.

65. The highway improvement project was rated as relevant, highly effective, efficient, and likely to

be sustainable, with likely significant impact. The institutional strengthening project was rated as

relevant, less effective, less efficient, and less likely to be sustainable, with modest impact. Despite the

shortcomings in institutional strengthening the overall assessment of the combined project by the PCR

was successful.

66. The project was classified as SGE. On gender impacts, the PCR states that “The project did not

envisage any substantial impacts on gender. The PCR mission did not find any specific gender impacts

that could be attributed to the project” (p.13).

67. Interviews with the NHA confirmed that NHA is taking the CPS recommendation to develop

gender-responsive resettlement and land acquisition plans seriously but that considerations of gender

are limited exclusively to the safeguard policy. The safeguards team in NHA has been strengthened by

adding a gender specialist on its staff, in addition to having a female as deputy director of the safeguards

team. The NHA team was under the impression that compliance with ADB’s safeguard policy was the

sole requirement on gender and that by strengthening their capacity to implement safeguards they were

in full compliance with ADB’s expectations on gender too. There was no evidence or even awareness of

the CPS recommendation to develop gender-sensitive roadside facilities. And no thought had been given

to any other activities that could be integrated within highways projects to increase their gender impact.

68. Sindh Coastal Community Development Project (SCCDP) (2007). The SCCDP aims to improve the

economy and livelihoods of rural communities residing in the highly fragile and rapidly changing

ecosystem of the coastal areas of the Indus delta. The intended project impact was a reduction in poverty

for households in Sindh Province. The outcomes designed included improved, ecologically sustainable

income opportunities and access to services for poor residents in the eight coastal talukas (subdistricts)

of Thatta and Badin districts with a population of 1.2 million. Besides institutional capacity building and

project management, the main components are community development and improved coastal

management. The project was the last ADB-funded community development project in Pakistan before

they were discontinued by the CPS, 2009–2013.


16

69. The project outcomes were highly relevant to the government’s agenda of poverty reduction in

coastal areas and its integrated coastal zone management strategy. The project brought coastal

development into the mainstream of the Sindh development agenda. The project adopted lessons from

previous similar projects: (i) a project needs to be simple to be effective, (ii) should use institutions with

built-in capacity, (iii) adopt a demand-driven approach to community development, and (iv) balance civil

works construction with effective social mobilization. The Sindh Coastal Development Authority was the

executing agency but implementation of social mobilization and the SSI schemes was contracted out to

the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), an NGO with proven implementation capacity.

70. The project was highly effective in achieving the appraised results, including: (i) increase in

participant household incomes of 7% per year; (ii) increase of 40% in household access to drinking water,

high platform for safety against floods, and roads; and (iii) implementation by CBOs of sustainable

management plans for natural resource areas under their control. The project was highly efficient. The

project was completed on schedule, surpassed the appraisal targets for all key components, and was

completed for 83% of the projected cost at appraisal. The subprojects were pro-poor. The overall project

EIRR was 22.3%, compared to the appraisal estimate of 16%. The higher rate of return was mainly due

to the implementation cost being lower and the outputs higher than expected. The project is most likely

sustainable. All 1,291 small-scale schemes were executed and maintained by CBOs. All 168 MSI schemes

were operated and maintained by the district governments and municipal administrations. All the

community organizations and apex structures established under the project qualify for assistance from

NRSP, district governments, and other funding agencies. The operations and maintenance for mangrove

plantations has been added to the recurrent budget of Sindh Forest Department (SFD), which will work

with local communities. The PCR rated the project’s overall performance as highly successful. The project

has not been validated but the evidence suggests that its outcome rating is justified.

71. The gender strategy provided in the design and GAP developed during implementation worked

as an effective tool to achieve GAD results. The gender issues were addressed through increased

representation of women and targeted interventions such as the establishment of women’s CBOs,

training, physical infrastructure schemes with primary GAD objectives, and access to microfinance and

markets. Participation of women in community organizations grew from 26% to 46%, and 56% of the

microcredit loan beneficiaries were women.

72. Punjab Millennium Development Goals Program (PMDGP) (2008–2010), Subprograms 1 and 2.

The PMDGP was approved in 2008 and envisaged as a $500 million three-tranche program from the

Asian Development Fund (ADF). The program’s objective was to improve access to quality health services

and make them more equitable, and the program was classified as GEN. The expected impact was to

help the government achieve MDG 4 (reduction of the infant mortality rate [IMR] from 77 to 40 per 1,000

live births) and MDG 5 (reduction of the maternal mortality ratio [MMR] from 300 to 140 per 100,000

live births) in Punjab Province. The program was expected to improve availability and quality of primary

and secondary health services, and achieve better management of health service delivery, and sustainable

pro-poor healthcare financing. ADB released the first tranche of $100 million in January 2009 for

Subprogram 1 and $150 million in June 2010 for Subprogram 2. The third tranche of $250 million was

not released, in part because the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program was off track. However,

ADB did not disburse any of the TA funds approved for the program.

73. The program’s objectives of achieving better management of health service delivery and

sustainable pro-poor healthcare financing were not achieved. Although ADB disbursed $250 million

(PRs20.5 billion) in two tranches from ADF resources, funds were not transferred to the district level in a

timely manner, nor were the funds that were provided utilized efficiently. In 5 years (FY2009–FY2013)

only PRs12.8 billion was transferred to 36 districts and only 30% of the funds transferred to the district

governments for use as conditional grants, could be utilized by them. The unutilized amount was

returned to the finance department. The executing agency was the Health Department of Punjab Province

but the implementing arrangements involving multiple institutions at different levels proved to be


17

inadequate for the complex program design. The PCR was not available when the 2013 CAPE was

prepared, and it provisionally concluded that the PMDGP generally improved minimal service delivery

standards, despite little progress against health indicators. The PCR and the PVR rated the program less

than relevant. The program was under-resourced, needed more time, and management resources for

implementation. The program’s implementation arrangements were inadequate to achieve the

program’s expected results on sustainability of pro-poor health care financing and on improving the

availability and quality of primary and secondary health services. Although the budget allocation for

healthcare in Punjab doubled from PRs38.5 billion to PRs79.6 billion, most of the increased funding went

to tertiary care rather than primary or secondary care.

74. In 2007, ADB approved $900,000 for a project preparatory TA with GEN objectives (TA 7004-

PAK) mapped to public sector governance. The TA was designed to support the formulation of the

proposed PMDGP and AJP clusters through policy dialogue, diagnostic assessments, and stakeholder

consultations. The projects were to Focus on improving service delivery through enhanced public financial

management, public administration and sustainable sector financing. The TA was officially closed in 2010

but neither the project data sheet nor the PCR is available indicating that even the project preparatory

TA was not utilized.

75. The program was rated ineffective, efficient, and less than likely sustainable. Inadequate

attention to program and institutional design, absence of TA for implementation support, lack of

attention to monitoring results combined to provide for failure. Both borrower and ADB performance

were rated less than satisfactory. Although the program’s original objectives justified its GEN category,

its inability to delivery results led to a gender rating of not successful. The main shortcomings were in

the lack of rigor in the risk assessment and mitigation measures, underestimation of design complexity

and institutional capacity, absence of structured TA to support such a complex program, and inadequate

assessment of the policies and ownership of the reform program.

76. Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood Assistance Restoration Program (2007). This $400

million program was the second ADB loan for earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation in Pakistan

following the devastation caused by the October 2005 earthquake. The concessional emergency

assistance loan was to finance the ERRA Housing Program for the reconstruction of houses in earthquake-

affected areas. This was a follow-up to an Earthquake Emergency Assistance Project27

financed in 2005,

shortly after the earthquake, by a $385 million special assistance loan from ADB, primarily for

reconstruction of roads and other community infrastructure. That project was categorized as an EGM

project. Although the project was deemed to be successful, its gender rating was unsuccessful. The new

project was expected to be more responsive to gender equality and was categorized as a GEN project.

77. Under the new project, rural housing was to be provided to some 30,000 people who were living

in tents, and to 3.5 million more living in temporary or semi-permanent shelters. The intended impact of

the program was the restoration and improvement of the livelihood of the earthquake-displaced people

in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), as well as the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP, since renamed as

the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province). The loan proceeds were designed to flow to the government’s central

budget with the government contributing funds to ERRA through the budget allocation process. ERRA

adopted an owner-driven implementation approach, which required providing money to many individual

households for procuring needed materials and for building their own houses based on seismically

compliant housing designs provided by ERRA. An accompanying TA—Capacity Building of Institutions

Related to Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation—was financed to support capacity building of

ERRA and other related institutions in seismic training, financial and strategic management, and

environmental and social protection.

27

The 2005 project was rated successful by the PCR and the PVR, although the 2013 CAPE reported that poor management and

cumbersome procedures contributed to significant delays in the project.


18

78. The intended outcome was for most affected people to be living in seismically compliant houses

with greater safety and security. By the end of 2010, the program expected (i) at least 85% of the 3.5

million affected people have moved into seismically compliant houses; and (ii) of the people who have

moved into seismically compliant houses, more than 23% of the households in NWFP and 31% in AJK

will be headed by women. The performance indicators were that at least 85% of 585,000 houses would

be rebuilt and seismically compliant by June 2010, and that at least 50,000 additional house owners

would have been trained by May 2008, including women and other vulnerable groups. The program was

expected to support several activities to benefit women elaborated in a Gender and Vulnerability Action

Plan (GVAP). The ADB program financing had a tight time frame and was to be completed by May 2008,

while the TA was expected to continue until 2010 but was closed even later, in June 2011.

79. ERRA paid housing subsidies to the targeted affected people based on the extent of damage

caused to houses to enable individual households to carry out housing reconstruction based on standards

and designs specified by ERRA. ERRA is reported to have provided training to 783,314 people in

seismically compliant construction, part of it supported by an ADB-supported TA project designed to

finance community-based training on seismically compliant construction by beneficiaries, as well as build

institutional capacity for financial management, and environmental and social protection through

compliance with ADB’s environmental and social safeguards and use of environmental audits.

80. The rapid scale-up of a bottom-up housing program made it very difficult for ERRA to achieve

the program’s gender objectives and targets. Although ERRA used the services of national and

international NGOs to augment its training of a cadre of skilled individuals in earthquake-affected areas,

the PCR states that by the time the project was completed in June 2011, TA utilization and results in

terms of outputs and outcomes were well below the expectations and performance indicators specified

at appraisal:

The PCR reports that the TA project was used to strengthen ERRA’s financial management

capacity; financing of training by NGOs in 18 union councils of KP and AJK in seismically-

compliant building design; establishing a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system at ERRA;

undertaking a targeted vulnerability survey; and strengthening environmental and social capacity

in earthquake-affected areas. Notwithstanding comments to the contrary by the project team,

the TA completion report clearly acknowledges that only $220,271.04 (11%) of the $2 million

approved for the TA-4943 (PAK) in June 2007 was utilized even though the closing date of the

TA was extended to 2011. The TA completion report does not specify how much of the planned

activities were achieved. But with only 11% of the planned budget utilized, the TA could not have

provided the coverage it was designed to.

One of the activities reported to have been financed by the TA was a targeted household survey

by ERRA with sex-disaggregated data in all earthquake-affected areas. As per GVAP, the survey

was to be carried out at least twice a year and released to relevant stakeholders but it was carried

out only once in November 2007.

Women were to have 10% representation in senior management positions in ERRA and 20%

representation in technical positions ERRA and the two counterpart agencies in AJK and Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The PCR reported that there was minimal representation at senior

management level and technical positions in ERRA, with 12% representation in SERRA and 8% in

PERRA at the end of the project.

Instead of 85% of 3.5 million people, only 1.46 million people (50% of the 2.91 million in the

reduced ERRA program) had moved into seismically compliant houses;

Of the 319,304 houses reconstructed, 55,000 (16%) were female-headed households with

21,388 homes (7% compared to the target of 23%) in KP and 33,612 (11% compared to the

target of 31%) in AJK.

81. The program objective was highly relevant but the design suffered from an overestimation of

capacity and underestimation of the time and effort needed to implement such a large-scale program


19

using new construction standards. Relevance of design, and the overall rating was therefore assessed by

the PCR and the PVR as relevant. On the positive side, the owner-driven approach has fostered self-

confidence and self-reliance of the communities that participated in the program. Most people in the

earthquake-affected regions now have access to and knowledge of the formal banking system, as a result

of their having opened more than 600,000 bank accounts to receive subsidies from the program. Villages

are now more familiar with community-based approaches to address their needs. The PCR states that

housing training was completed as planned on 31 May 2008, with 786,314 beneficiaries trained in

seismic-resistant construction techniques and social organization. Over 55,000 households with female

heads (owning 16% of all houses reconstructed by ERRA) now have land titles, own houses, and enjoy

higher status in their communities. An ADB case study28

of gender outcomes claims that over 20,000

women received training in housing reconstruction. However, not enough attention was given to

outcome and impact monitoring, a key implementation activity that was to be supported by the TA

project. While the PVR concurred with the completion report’s overall rating of successful, it modified

some of the other ratings: the program was rated as less than effective, efficient and likely sustainable,

with an overall impact rating of significant and ADB performance as less than satisfactory.

82. The gender rating of the program was assessed by ADB as being successful. However, during the

country mission, the client29

attributed work on gender equality at ERRA primarily to the gender equality

TA provided by CIDA who took the lead on gender and helped ERRA develop a gender policy for

earthquake affected areas. In addition, the client identified the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF,

an agency created and financed by the World Bank) as the lead agency providing skills training for women

in many sectors. The project team has clarified that ADB led activities in education, health, power and

road. Many thematic activities like gender, safeguards, financial management, and M&E were led by

other development agencies, but financing to implement even the thematic work (including gender)

came from multiple sources. The PCR does not acknowledge the primary role of other development

partners in the gender activities within ERRA’s program.

83. The assessment team visited field sites and conducted interviews and FGDs with beneficiaries

(Box 1) and staff of implementing partners to obtain direct feedback from earthquake-affected areas.

The fieldwork revealed that although most public facilities (schools, water supply systems, rural roads,

health centers) have been reconstructed, and most people provided with some assistance to reconstruct

their homes, the training programs imparting construction skills were not offered to women in any of

the 12 locations visited in the two districts, Bagh and Malakand, which were selected in consultation

with the project team and where the NGOs contracted by ADB were to deliver training. Livelihood

programs and related training by NGOs were made available to slightly less than 20% of households

among the beneficiaries interviewed. Although the program envisaged training women in housing

reconstruction, the evaluation team was informed by the beneficiaries that it was the men of the

household who went to receive the training. At least based on the findings from the sample locations in

Bagh and Malakand districts, we found no evidence for the claim that over 200,000 women have been

trained in construction skills.

28

https://www.adb.org/results/pakistan-women-step-after-earthquake-2012

29 Interview with Lt. Gen. Nadeem, former Deputy Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, ERRA and Director General of the National

Disaster Management Authority.


20

84. There are two major deficiencies in ADB’s reporting of results. First, ADB reports on the entire

performance of ERRA without acknowledging the fact that ERRA received parallel financing of $638

million from the World Bank, in addition to support from the UN and many other development partners.

The largest NGO providing training to local communities (National Rural Support Programme) was

financed entirely by World Bank, which also financed housing reconstruction. The attribution of results

to ADB’s Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood Restoration Program alone is therefore extremely

problematic and should be qualified.

85. Second, the PCR acknowledges that gender results are considerably below appraisal estimates.

Although the GVAP was prepared as a compliance mechanism, implementation was not systematically

addressed during ADB review missions.30

The PCR acknowledges that the covenants pertaining to the

30

Ouellette, C. and Ummar, F. 2009. Making a Difference: Promoting Gender Equality in Pakistan’s Response to the 2005

Earthquake. Islamabad.

Box 1. Findings on Earthquake-Displaced Livelihood Restoration Program

Six focus group discussions (FGDs) each were conducted in Bagh district (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) and

Mansehra district (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), two of the nine districts most affected by the earthquake, with

most housing, infrastructure, and services destroyed:

FGDs in Bagh district:

Houses of 84% of FGD participants were destroyed completely, 14% destroyed partially

16% lost members of immediate family; 20% lost livestock

In three of six locations majority of women suffered personal injuries from the earthquake

Roads, water supply schemes, schools, and health centers were destroyed or badly damaged

Training in house reconstruction was provided to men only; women were not invited

Women worked with men in reconstructing their homes but decisions on construction design were

taken mainly by men

Most households received full payment (all installments) for reconstruction of homes, except for

those whose houses were partly destroyed

Most damaged schools and dispensaries were reconstructed to higher standards by ERRA

Roads rebuilt by city or local government, and water supply schemes by nongovernmental

organizations (NGOs) or World Bank

Skills training and inputs for livelihoods provided in two locations; training only in one

FGDs in Mansehra district:

Almost all the women were affected by the earthquake; 20% have been relocated to other villages

and tehsils of Mansehra and 29% are still living in shelters/ incomplete or rented houses

Houses of 78% of FGD participants were destroyed completely, 19% destroyed partially

23% had casualties in the form of deaths, 77% suffered major injuries and disabilities

64% of the livestock were killed in the earthquake

Most of the public infrastructure, schools, roads, hospitals, water source, mosques, and government

buildings were completely destroyed

48% reported household male (but no women) received training in house reconstruction, and 28%

reported construction of seismic compliant homes

36% of households received three checks for reconstruction (but not the fourth)

Schools, roads, and water supply schemes reconstructed by ERRA, NGO, and a philanthropist

Health facilities are still lacking in most locations; patients have to go to Mansehra

Participants did not recall any government assistance for livelihoods; a few reported NGO assistance

for livestock, kitchen gardening, etc. and asked for more systematic support

Source: Focus group discussions conducted by Asian Development Bank, Independent Evaluation Department in Bagh

district (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) and Mansehra district (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province).


21

GVAP were only partially complied with. Even so, several of the claims reported in the PCR could not be

substantiated during the fieldwork:

The GVAP for the program envisaged that all new houses would be registered under both the

wife’s name and the husband’s. This has not been done. Only 55,000 new houses belonging to

female-headed households were registered in their names.

Women were to have 50% representation in all Village Reconstruction Committees but women

participated only in 29% of the committees. Of the 5,595 committees formed, 22% were women

only and 7% were mixed.

Women were to compose 50% of the participants trained in housing reconstruction. The PCR

claims that 200,000 women (28% of trainees) received such training. The evaluation team could

not find a single woman who received such training in any of the 12 FGD locations where

fieldwork was undertaken. FGD participants said training was provided to males only.

Women were to compose 50% of the participants in nontraditional skills training. The PCR

reported that 200,000 women (27% of trainees) participated in such training. In Mansehra

district, none of the FGD participants had received any skills training. In Bagh district (AJK) some

participants from three of six FGDs received skills training but inputs (livestock, gardening kits,

etc.) to use the skills were provided in only two villages, so training was utilized only in those

two locations. While the fieldwork sample size is small, it was unable to validate these training

achievements and there was little evidence that the training had been utilized effectively.

86. Based on the findings from in-country fieldwork and the feedback from beneficiaries,

implementing agency staff, and development partners, this assessment concludes that the program has

been overrated both in the PCR and the PVR, in terms of achievement of its gender objectives. The PCR

states that the obligations in the loan agreement on the GVAP were partially complied with, and the PVR

rates the project as less than effective. This evaluation concludes that the program is rated high on

relevance of objectives; substantial on relevance of design; substantial on responsiveness to country and

beneficiary needs; moderate on gender results; and moderate on ADB performance in promoting gender

outcomes especially because of the absence of any acknowledgment of the very substantial contribution

of other development partners, and the lack of follow-up on the GVAP during implementation.

87. Social Protection Development Project (SPDP) (2013). The $430 million project supports the

Government of Pakistan's national social safety net program, the BISP.31

The project was approved to

enable the expansion of the unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program (paid to the female head of

targeted poor families) by registering an additional 2.4 million eligible families and financing the first 5

quarters of their cash transfers from a base of 4.5 million women. In addition, it committed to support

the strengthening and phased expansion of the pilot health insurance and skills development programs

to increase income and good health for targeted families. The project intended to provide TA and finance

part of the scaling-up costs of both programs. The substantial fiduciary risk of the project was to be

mitigated through the strengthening of BISP financial management systems and capacity.

88. The UCT program design has evolved with substantial TA from the World Bank and DFID since it

was first launched in 2008. While initially beneficiaries were identified by parliamentarians that has been

replaced by beneficiaries identified by a national Socioeconomic Survey (SES) conducted in 2010 which

uses a proxy means-tested approach. The SES identified 7.2 million households (23% of the total

population) under a predetermined threshold in the Poverty Scorecard eligible for the social safety net.

Cash transfers are released quarterly to the female head of eligible households.32

To minimize leakage,

BISP beneficiaries have to be in possession of a computerized national identity card (CNIC). The payment

31

ADB has also provided initial assistance through Accelerating Economic Transformation Program (AETP, 2008–2009) which

earmarked $150 million (15% of AETP) for social protection. The AETP was unsuccessful although some of the social protection

outputs were reported as achieved.

32 The original cash transfer was Rs 1,000 per month (about $30 per quarter) and has been increased gradually to $47 per quarter.

Eligibility is limited to households that fall within the range of 0–16.17 on the Poverty Scorecard.


22

modality has also evolved from initial transfers made through the post office to payments made through

debit cards issued to eligible women for withdrawals at ATMs. A by-product of the program has been an

increase in the number of women who have legal status through the CNIC, have access to disposable

incomes, and have greater possibility of using formal banking systems.

89. Of the 7.2 million people who met BISP’s eligibility criteria for the cash transfer, 2.4 million

eligible poor households were not receiving the cash transfer because the female head did not possess a

CNIC. The ADB project targeted this 2.4 million, in addition to supporting a health insurance and a skills

development component. The financial closing date of the project is June 2019. To meet this target date,

all new UCT beneficiaries would have to be enrolled by December 2017, so that their cash transfers can

be disbursed before the closing date. ADB and BISP had agreed that any beneficiary enrolled after 1 July

2013 would receive five installments from ADB project funds.

90. The two other components included in the ADB project were financing and scale-up of BISP’s

Waseela-e-Sehat health insurance scheme; and the Waseela-e-Rozgar training program. A project

preparation TA of $0.875 million was approved in 2013. Its major outputs included review of BISP’s

health insurance scheme and BISP’s vocational training and skills development projects to prepare the

operational designs of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for health and an alternate vocational

training program. The project included ambitious targets to increase enrollment in the health insurance

scheme from 37,525 in 2013, to 786,423 in 2018, and increase beneficiaries trained from 56,600 in 2013,

to 577,294 in 2018, of which at least 50% were to be women. The main targets in the GAP included

payment of regular quarterly cash transfers to all eligible BISP women; 95% of eligible beneficiaries (2.4

million new beneficiaries) have CNICs by 2018 (baseline is 70%) with debit cards issued to all new

registered women; health insurance cards issued to all BISP women (577,294) in 16 districts by 2018;

and courses designed to provide skills training through a community level delivery approach which can

be used by women for a broad range of local income earning activities.

91. In November 2015, both the health insurance scheme and the skills development program were

discontinued by the BISP Board of Directors which did not feel the programs were viable or in keeping

with BISP’s comparative advantage. While this cancellation could not have been anticipated at appraisal,

and there may have been political economy pressures from competing interests at play, clearly the 2013

TA did not lead to a design that was credible enough to achieve ownership of these programs by the

BISP Board of Directors. ADB has no choice but to restructure the project and is attempting to develop

an alternative program design for ultra-poor BISP beneficiaries. At the time of this evaluation the

alternative design was still in early stages of discussion.

92. The mission held several meetings with BISP personnel, including the chairperson, board

members, and senior managers to obtain updates on the BISP program and feedback on ADB’s support.

By August 2016, $121.92 million (30% of the loan amount) had been utilized and 162,000 beneficiaries

provided cash transfers with ADB funds (BISP Director General, cash transfers, and M&E). This is far below

the expectation of 2.4 million new beneficiaries to the program, suggesting that scaling up the UCT

program remains a challenge.

93. Meetings with BISP staff revealed that BISP receives substantial technical support from the World

Bank and DFID for the UCT and for a CCT program for schooling children. USAID has provided financing

to pay for Aurat Foundation, an NGO, to undertake a program of social mobilization in 32 districts to

organize local beneficiaries into BISP Beneficiary Committees (BBC), and monitoring of school attendance

by the children of CCT beneficiaries. Over 50,000 BBCs had been established in 30 months by the social

mobilization program, and they served as a forum for information exchange among beneficiaries and

with BISP regional offices. TA from other development partners included support for program and

institutional design, the design of the 2010 and the 2016 SES, strengthening BISP’s monitoring and

evaluation capability and the program’s results framework, and financing of an external impact


23

evaluation to assess results. The World Bank and DFID support the program with a shared set of DLIs,

and conduct joint supervision missions, adopting the discipline of a results-based approach.

94. While other development partners have clearly collaborated with each other in supporting BISP,

ADB has functioned in isolation. ADB is thus benefiting from the TA provided by others without

acknowledging their roles and without making any substantive contribution to the design of their TA.

Nor has ADB set up any independent mechanism to monitor results.

95. The FGDs shed light on several implementation challenges (Box 2), including inaccuracies in the

SES, ease and cost of accessing funds through the ATMs, as well as the benefits of the CCTs, and the

value of social mobilization. Beneficiary feedback from the FGDs revealed that there were significant

errors of exclusion (deserving women being left out) and inclusion (of undeserving women) in the 2010

round of the 2010 socioeconomic survey from which BISP’s beneficiary base is derived. A new round of

survey is scheduled to take place in mid-2016. But ADB appears to have no role in the design of the new

survey either. Nor does ADB participate in joint supervision missions or meetings among other

development partners.

96. Although the Social Protection Development Project and its accompanying TA are still ongoing,

ADB’s role can be assessed against the institution building aspects and results achieved to date. Relevance

of objectives was high. Somewhat in contrast, relevance of design is moderate. ADB’s appraisal design

was clearly off the mark. ADB’s project design targeted what it saw as low-hanging fruit by scaling up

the UCT program developed by other partners but it overestimated BISP’s ability to scale up the program.

ADB also prematurely committed to include BISP’s health insurance and skills training components which

were at an incipient stage. Responsiveness is low. Apart from the financial tranche, ADB has not made

any substantive contribution to the design of Pakistan’s social safety net program. Nor has ADB been

able to provide the TA that BISP needed to develop credible technical designs for health and skills training,

and both programs have been discontinued. Gender results to date are far behind the pace needed to

achieve end-of-project targets and are rated moderate. The limited results to date are because ADB has

essentially benefited from the UCT design and the survey and monitoring systems put in place by other

development partners. To date, ADB’s performance is clearly deficient and is rated low. Ironically, a

program which other donors consider their most successful flagship project in Pakistan, is floundering

under ADB aegis due to insufficient attention to implementation design and the quality of ADB’s technical

support, and ADB’s inability to enter into a collaborative partnership with other donors who are financing

BISP.


24

V. Overall Findings and Recommendations

A. Relevance

97. ADB’s country strategy has evolved from a more diverse range of sector interventions to a

stronger focus on the energy, transport, and infrastructure sectors, with one major intervention in social

protection under public sector management. Most of these sectors are typically not considered suitable

to promote gender equality, the assumption being that such infrastructure development will equally

benefit men and women. ADB’s strategy in the early 2000s was highly relevant in terms of targeting

Box 2. Findings on Social Protection Development Project

Six focus group discussions (FGDs) each were conducted in Bagh district (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) and

Mansehra district (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), three in small towns and nine in rural settlements. Participants

were 51 from Bagh and 64 from Mansehra districts. All of them were receiving unconditional cash transfers

(UCT) from Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), while 73% from Bagh and 67% from Mansehra were

also receiving conditional cash transfers (CCT) for school going children.

FGDs in Bagh district:

The majority (73%) felt the 2010 survey was accurate, while 27% said it had errors

84% feel that most BISP beneficiaries deserve the cash transfers but 71% feel some deserving women

(including female-headed households and widows) are excluded from BISP benefits

Most beneficiaries receive quarterly cash transfers regularly, but when debit cards are blocked or

captured by the ATM there are long delays in receiving replacement cards

All participants receive cash transfers via debit cards but only 7 of 51 are able to use the ATMs

themselves; 80% depend on family members to withdraw cash

84% incur higher transportation costs to reach ATMs but 73% said ATM was better than postal service

where staff extorted bribes and sometimes did not release payments

Most participants use cash transfers for food purchase and children’s education; a few saved money

to start home-based business selling poultry, eggs, and milk

Participants feel the BISP Beneficiary Committee (BBC) is an important platform for information

sharing and networking where they learn about BISP programs and other development initiatives;

they were concerned that nongovernmental organization (NGO) support for these committees was

being discontinued

FGDs in Mansehra district:

Most FGD participants reported the surveyor did the survey sitting in the house of influential or

community center; only 33% of participants said the survey was conducted in their homes

Over 30% of deserving families headed by women/widows are excluded from the program either

because they were left out of the survey or deemed ineligible to receive cash transfers

10% of beneficiaries are from households that should have been ineligible as their men are migrant

workers in the Middle East or in the army

The UCT is received regularly by beneficiaries but only 40% of entitled beneficiaries are receiving the

education CCT regularly

The majority prefer payment through debit cards at ATMs or through Ufone; one-fifth said the post

office was more accessible even though they had to pay Rs 50–200 to postal workers

55% women go to the ATM/Ufone themselves but 91% seek help from staff and pay a fee to withdraw

funds from their account; 45% rely on males of their household for withdrawals

75% of cash transfer is used for groceries, children’s expenses, or loan repayments; 20% used for

health expenses; only 5% for income-generating activities

Social networking is the main benefit of BBC; 50% feel the BBC helps them gain more knowledge

about BISP programs; only 20% visit the BISP office personally

Source: Focus group discussions conducted by Asian Development Bank, Independent Evaluation Department in Bagh

district (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) and Mansehra district (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province).


25

gender equality through more ambitious institution building programs—e.g., the Access to Justice

Program, and the Decentralization Support Program. Those were high risk, high reward programs, and

even those that were deemed partly successful in achieving their development objective, were successful

in achieving gender outcomes.

98. Under CPS, 2004–2006, ADB financed creative community-based rural development

interventions—the Sustainable Livelihoods in Barani Areas Project (SLBAP) and the Sindh Coastal

Community Development Project (SCCDP)—that were also successful in mobilizing women to participate

in development activities and in economically empowering them. Both sets of programs benefited from

detailed attention to program design and relatively ambitious gender objectives. Interviews with

implementing partners and ADB country office staff confirmed that both community development

projects (SLBAP and SCCDP) were far more effective in achieving gender outcomes than most of the other

ADB programs concurrently in the portfolio. Two noteworthy impacts were identified during the

interviews at NRSP. First, in order to achieve their gender targets the institutional design needed to be

modified to allow female extension workers to reach remote coastal communities. With that adaptation

the gender targeting in SCCDP proved to be so successful that NRSP has learned from that approach and

scaled it up in its programs in other districts. Second, although the ADB project has ended, the beneficiary

communities of the SCCDP are continuing to be supported by the NRSP with its own resources, further

enhancing the sustainability of the community-based interventions in that fragile environment.

99. Relevance of objectives in CPS, 2004–2006 was thus matched by relevance of design. On the

other hand, the Gender Reform Program, which led to the formulation of GRAPs by the federal and

provincial governments lacked ownership and yielded less successful results. Even the modest target of

5% females in all public sector employment has been difficult to achieve.

100. With the new CPS, 2009–2013 and CPS, 2015–2019, ADB’s leverage in promoting gender equity

has been reduced further by its withdrawal from the education and health sectors. The social protection

program remains most relevant to gender but with the exception of urban transport projects whose

results are not yet available, there is little evidence of serious attempts to mainstream gender in the

infrastructure portfolio.

101. ADB’s strategy commits the Bank to a target of 45% GEM projects among new approvals. ADB

has exceeded this target in the Asia Pacific region (51% in ADB and 57% ADF projects), but Pakistan’s

portfolio has lagged behind the regional target. During the evaluation period (2005–2015), of the 66

ADB projects approved for Pakistan, only 29% had GEM objectives. After 2009, ADB moved away from

targeted gender equity programs and expanded its infrastructure portfolio which was even less likely to

have GEM objectives. With the exception of water, most of these projects had little gender content and

were classified as SGE or NGE. In recent years, the gap has grown even wider and only 20% of projects

approved in 2010–2015 had GEM objectives (Appendix 2, Table 2.5).

102. The relevance of design of ADB’s assistance program was also affected by the choice of lending

modality, which evolved from project lending to program lending. ADB supported the Earthquake

Emergency Assistance Program (2005), the Earthquake-Displaced Livelihoods Restoration Program

(2007), and the Punjab MDGs Program (2008) by financing part of the government’s budget. These

national programs had relevant gender objectives but the programs suffered from flawed designs that

allowed disbursements without clearly identified performance criteria, and excessive dependence on

implementing agencies who were less interested in the TA needed to build their institutional capacity.

ADB was completely dependent on self-reporting by implementing agencies and did not institute third

party monitoring to verify results. ADB’s inability to develop partnerships with other development

partners who were working with the same agencies reduced its leverage and resulted in less relevant

design than should have been possible.


26

B. Responsiveness

103. ADB’s lukewarm responsiveness to the gender challenges facing Pakistan declined further over

the evaluation period. From being at the cutting edge of efforts to support gender equality, ADB has

become even narrower in the strategic objectives it supports, and more inhibited in providing analytical

and technical advice to its clients on gender responsive program design. During 2010–2015 (i.e., after

CPS, 2009–2013 was finalized), ADB approved 30 new lending operations of which 60% (10 energy and

8 transport) were for hard sectors, which typically have very few GEM projects. PSM (including social

protection), and agricultural and natural resources had five projects each, with one each in health and

water and urban projects (Appendix 2, Table 2.6). Of these 30 operations, only 20% had GEM objectives

(4 GEN and 2 EGM) (Appendix 2, Table 2.5). In contrast, the 36 projects approved during 2005–2009 had

a lower share of transport (8) and energy (5) projects (36%). Of even greater relevance, 36% of the

projects approved during 2005–2009 were GEM projects (7 GEN and 6 EGM), demonstrating a somewhat

higher commitment to promote gender equality.

104. The 2013–2014 CGA was a useful attempt to bring ADB back as an intellectual leader in the

gender debate. The collaborative effort to produce the CGA had promise but that has not been matched

by donor coordination at the operational level. The analytical insights of the CGA by themselves cannot

ensure responsiveness in operations without more substantial engagement with other development

partners who are working in the same sector with the same agencies. ADB needs to take a hard look at

its current strategy of isolationism and competitiveness, particularly when it supports national programs

which other development partners are also interested in, and where the results of ADB financing depend

in part on the contributions of other partners. TA needs to be coordinated to ensure more effective donor

coordination and synergies and to ensure more credible monitoring and attribution of results.

105. In recent projects, the rhetoric in ADB’s appraisal documents sounds more grandiose than the

effort it is putting in to achieve these lofty objectives. ADB’s contribution to project design is inadequate

and depends heavily, without giving due credit, on designs initiated by the government or assistance

from other development partners. This evaluation found that contrary to the CPS commitment of making

transport more sensitive and responsive to the needs of females, the capacity building at the NHA has

been limited to gender sensitivity in safeguard implementation. Constraints on female mobility are a

huge obstacle to their participation in the labor market. The ring-fencing of gender within the confines

of the safeguard policy misses the point about designing the transport network in a manner that makes

it safe and practical for women to use public or private transportation services.

106. Finally, ADB has underinvested in M&E and, even though it is not cofinancing programs with

other donors, has not put in place any mechanism to track its results as distinct from those of other

donors. Nor has ADB adopted third party monitoring for independent feedback on program

performance.

107. As a whole, during the review period the country program remains one that is less than

responsive to the gender challenges facing the country. Despite the higher level commitments in the CPS

and the effort made in undertaking the CGA, to the extent that this evaluation has been able to detect

any change, the responsiveness of ADB’s assistance program has deteriorated over the evaluation period.

C. Results

108. Among the 11 projects approved in 2005–2015 that have gender ratings, only two were listed

as successful on gender: the Sindh Coastal Community Development Project (ANR) and the Earthquake-

Displaced People Livelihood Restoration Program (FIN) (Appendix 2, Table 2.7). Both were also deemed

to be successful overall. Interviews with implementing partners and ADB country office staff confirmed

that both community development projects were far more effective in achieving gender outcomes than

most of the other ADB programs concurrently in the portfolio. Two noteworthy impacts were identified


27

during the interviews at NRSP. First, in order to achieve their gender targets the institutional design

needed to be modified to allow female extension workers to reach remote coastal communities. With

that adaptation the gender targeting in SCCDP proved to be so successful that NRSP has learned from

that approach and scaled it up in its programs in other districts. Second, although the ADB project has

ended, the beneficiary communities of the SCCDP are continuing to be supported by the NRSP with its

own resources, further enhancing the sustainability of the community-based interventions in that fragile

environment.

109. The earthquake rehabilitation project was also substantially responsive, justifying the successful

rating overall. However, like its predecessor the 2005 Emergency Earthquake Assistance Project (2005),

its performance on gender equality objectives was moderate and merits a rating of not successful (Table

1).

110. To provide some comparison, the 2005–2015 cohort was compared with the cohort of projects

approved between 1999-2010. Among the earlier cohort, 27 projects had gender ratings, out of which

all of the 21 projects from education and hard sectors were unsuccessful in achieving gender outcomes,

but 50% of the ANR and PSM portfolio approved was successful on gender (Appendix 2, Table 2.9). Due

to the overlapping time period, the FIN earthquake rehabilitation project is also found in the earlier

cohort. Excluding this FIN project from both cohorts, only 10% of the projects from 2005–2015 (the

evaluation period) had successful gender outcomes, compared to 19% from the 1999–2010 cohort.

111. Of the 28 new TAs approved in 2010–2015, one was classified as GEN, while four were classified

as EGM. The share of TA projects with gender equity and mainstreaming was 18% by number of TA

projects and 29% by ADB financing for those TA projects. Even though the TA associated with a lending

operation covers much more than support for gender equality, the total size of the TA is small and the

attention given to gender by those TA is even smaller. This is further compounded by the fact that, as

described earlier in the report, utilization of TA funds has been poor in most projects where it directly

targeted gender equity objectives. The TA project (1938) for the Gender Reform Program, which was

intended to support preparation and implementation of the federal and provincial GRAPs was only able

to utilize 1.8% of the TA loan despite extension of the closing date, and GRAP implementation remained

weak. Similarly, the TA supporting the Punjab MDGs Program was bot utilized. While the TA funds for

the SPDP have been largely utilized, they have been misdirected at components that have been cancelled,

and the deficiencies identified by this study have not yet been addressed.

112. Table 1 summarizes the findings from the projects assessed in greater detail by this assessment.

Relevance in this table is assessed for projects at two levels: relevance of objectives, and relevance of

design in relation to gender mainstreaming. All of these projects assessed were found have high or

substantial relevance of objectives. But weaknesses in the technical or institutional design of many of

these projects or programs lowered relevance of design, particularly among those approved in the latter

half of the decade.


Table 1. Gender Assessment of Selected ADB-Supported Operations

Name of Project

Approval

Year

ADB

Financing

($ million)

Gender

Category

PCR

Rating

PVR

Rating

Gender

Rating

Relevance of

Objectivea

Relevance

of Designa Responsiveness

a

Gender

Resultsa

ADB

Performancea

Access to Justice

Program 2001 350 GEN PS PS S H H S S S

Decentralization

Support Program 2002 270 GEN S PS S S H S S S

Sustainable

Livelihoods in Barani

Areas Project 2004 41 EGM HS S S S S S S S

National Highway

Development Sector

Investment Programb-

Project 1 2006 180 SGE S S n.a. S M M L M

Sindh Coastal

Community

Development Project 2007 36 EGM HS n.a. S S H H S S

Earthquake-Displaced

People Livelihood

Assistance Restoration

Program 2007 402 GEN S S S H S S M M

Punjab Millennium

Development Goals

Programc 1 & 2

2008,

2010 250 GEN U U NS H M M L L

Social Protection

Development Project 2013 430 GEN n.a. n.a. n.a. H M M M L

ADB = Asian Development Bank, EGM = effective gender mainstreaming, GEN = gender equity as theme, HS = highly successful, n.a. = not applicable, PCR = project completion report, PS =

partially successful, PVR = project validation report, S = successful, SGE = some gender elements, U = unsuccessful.

a Relevance, Responsiveness, Gender Results, and Asian Development Bank (ADB) Performance are rated by the Gender and Development evaluation team on a 4-point scale (H=High; S=Substantial;

M=Moderate; L=Low). ADB Performance is assessed in terms of ADB’s actions to promote gender outcomes.

b Relevant to National Highway Development Sector Investment Program MFF (2006) and National Trade Corridor Highway Investment Program (2014).

c The Punjab Millennium Development Goals Program was expected to have three tranches. The first two ($100 million in 2008, $250 million in 2010) were disbursed. The third was not released

as Pakistan’s International Monetary Fund program went off-track. The assessment covers the first two tranches.

Source: Asian Development Bank.


113. In terms of gender results, four of the eight projects scrutinized in greater depth were found to

be successful. Two of these were the public sector reform projects approved in 2001 and 2002, prior to

the evaluation period, to reform the justice system in Pakistan, and to support decentralization of

authority to a new local government system. Implementation continued into the evaluation period and

the PCRs finalized in 2009 found both to be successful in promoting gender equality. One of the

noteworthy contributions of the decentralization program was the reservation of 33% quota for women

in all local government councils. While the local government structure is going through reforms, the very

substantial reservation of women’s seats in local government has survived these structural changes. The

AJP faced difficulties in implementing the ambitious police reforms but did succeed in creating

acceptance of the need to recruit women into the police service and to provide dedicated service desks

and services for women. Having ambitious objectives in non-traditional areas has left a lasting effect on

gender equality. The other two projects with successful gender outcomes were the community-based

development projects from the ANR sector. By organizing women into community groups at the local

level, those projects were able to reach women, provide skills training, and offer microloans and TA to

induce their participation in local economic development. An innovative institutional design and

sustained assistance by local support organizations proved to be effective in promoting economic

empowerment of women.

114. The grand schemes which involved state largesse were less effective because they did not attempt

to modify social norms and power structures. While the earthquake rehabilitation projects contributed

to reconstruction of roads, housing and community infrastructure, they were less effective in achieving

their gender objectives.

115. The SPDP has the most promise and the evaluation fieldwork yielded credible examples of the

empowerment effect of providing cash directly to women. But the ADB project suffered from a

misjudgment about the feasibility of two components—health and skills development—during appraisal

and an overestimation of the ability to scale up the cash transfer program. ADB’s financing also suffers

from its isolation from the remaining program which is receiving TA from the World Bank, DFID, and

USAID. Attribution of results to the ADB project is still very tenuous and not easily separable from the

assistance of other donors. The Bank would do well to recognize this and be more proactive in joining

hands with other development partners to ensure achievement of the project’s results and gender results.

D. Recommendations

116. Pakistan’s track record shows that while it compares favorably with regional comparators in other

development indicators, it lags behind most of them (except Afghanistan) in addressing gender

inequality. The gender deficit has been adversely affected by inadequate attention to gender equity and

mainstreaming in ADB’s CSP. The findings of this evaluation lead to the following recommendations to

enable ADB to make a meaningful contribution to gender equality in Pakistan:

117. ADB should be much more proactive in integrating gender equity and mainstreaming (GEM)

objectives across the CSP by expanding the share of operations with GEM objectives and the depth of

gender integration within those operations. The Pakistan portfolio needs to catch up with ADB’s global

targets on the share of GEM projects and should begin from a default that all projects will integrate

gender mainstreaming or gender equity objectives. Any project that is unable to mainstream gender

should explain why it needs an exemption.

118. ADB should invest more heavily up front in technical design to ensure integration of GEM

objectives, and in assessment of institutional capacity and client ownership to enhance the likelihood of

success and sustained impact. While this is true of all operations, its need is most acute when ADB

provides budget support to national or subnational programs.


30

119. To enhance program effectiveness and achievement of gender objectives, ADB should replace

unconditional budget support for national and subnational programs with results-based lending, and

should ensure integration of GEM outputs and outcomes within the program’s results framework. The

experience of budget support without linking disbursements to predetermined indicators has not been

justified and should be replaced by the results-based lending instrument with clearly established DLIs,

including gender DLIs for all GEM programs.

120. ADB should be more proactive in coordinating with other donors and should formalize

partnerships and cofinancing arrangements with development partners who are providing finance or TA

to programs being considered for ADB funding. ADB should be an active contributor in the design of the

program and its M&E systems, and should seek to establish joint supervision missions to ensure

consistency and synergies across their programs.

121. ADB should invest more, whether individually or in collaboration with development partners, in

M&E of the programs that it supports, including through independent third party monitoring and impact

evaluations to assess the achievement of project/program objectives and gender outcomes. Contrary to

current practice where ADB relies solely on progress monitoring by the client and impact evaluations by

other donors, ADB needs to be involved in the design and oversight of these M&E systems to ensure that

results claimed by ADB can actually be attributed to ADB.

Appendix 1

31

COUNTRY COMPARISONS

Table A1.1 Comparative Country and Gender Indicators for South Asia

Indicators Pakistan Afghanistan Bangladesh India Nepal Sri Lanka

Gross National Income per capita, Atlas method (current $) 1,440 630 1,190 1,590 730 3,800

Gross Domestic Product growth (annual %) 4.7 1.3 6.1 7.3 5.4 4.5

Net official development assistance and official aid received (current

$ billion)

3.6 4.8 2.4 3.0 0.8 0.5

Youth literacy rate, population 15–24 years, gender parity index 0.8 0.5 1.1 0.9 0.9 1.0

Youth literacy rate, population 15–24 years, female (%) 64.5 32.1 83.3 81.8 80.2 98.6

School enrollment, secondary (gross), gender parity index 0.8 0.6 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.0

Expected years of schooling, female 7.4 7.6 10.1 11.9 12.7 14.3

Gender Development Index (GDI) 0.726 0.600 0.917 0.795 0.908 0.948

Gender Inequality Index (GII) 0.536 0.693 0.503 0.563 0.489 0.370

Human Development Index (female) 0.436 0.328 0.541 0.525 0.521 0.730

Human Development Index (male) 0.601 0.546 0.590 0.660 0.574 0.769

Sources: Economic and education indicators from World Development Indicators (2015); Gross Development Index and Gender Inequality Index from United Nations Development

Programme’s Human Development Report. Data are from 2015 or any of the previous five years when data were available.

Table A1.2 Comparative Gender Empowerment Indicators for South Asia

Indicators Pakistan Afghanistan Bangladesh India Nepal Sri Lanka

Health Empowerment

Life expectancy at birth, total (years) 66.2 60.4 71.6 68.0 69.6 74.8

Maternal mortality ratio (modeled estimate, per 100,000 live births) 184 425 188 181 275 31

Births attended by skilled health staff (%) 52.1 38.6 42.1 52.3 55.6 98.6

Fertility rate, total (births per woman) 3.6 4.8 2.2 2.4 2.2 2.1

Contraceptive prevalence, any methods (% of women ages 15-49) 35.4 21.2 62.4 54.8 49.6 68.4

Economic Empowerment

Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (modeled

International Labour Organization estimate)

29.9 20.1 68.6 33.8 91.8 46.1

Labor force participation rate, female (% of females ages 15+)

(modeled ILO estimate)

24.8 15.9 57.6 27.0 79.9 35.1

Borrowed money from a financial institution, female (% age 15+) 0.3 0.7 9.8 4.9 9.6 17.3

Saved any money in the past year, female (% age 15+) 6.7 10.3 26.2 16.8 16.0 35.3

Social Empowerment

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) 20.7 27.7 19.8 11.4 29.5 5.8

Female legislators, senior officials and managers (% of total) 3.0 n.a. 5.4 13.8 18.3 28.4

Final say in all decisions (%) 38.2 n.a. 46.0 39.3 45.5 n.a.

Source: World Development Indicators. Data are from 2014 or from previous 6 years when data were available; asterisks indicate older data of ADB’s actions to promote gender outcomes.

Appendix 2

32

STATISTICAL TABLES

Table A2.1. Number of Approved Loans and Grants in Pakistan, 2005–2015,

by Sector and Gender Equity and Mainstreaming (GEM) category

Gender Equity and Mainstreaming (GEM) Categories

Primary Sectors GEN EGM SGE NGE NC Total

ANR 2 3 2 4

11

EDU 1

1

ENE

1 14

15

FIN 1

1 3

5

HLT 2

2

IND

1

1

PSM 1 3 2 4 2 12

TRA

2 3 11

16

WUS 1 2

3

Total 8 11 9 36 2 66

ANR = agriculture and natural resources, EDU = education, ENE = energy, EGM = effective gender mainstreaming, FIN =

finance, GEN = gender equity as theme, HLT = health, IND = industry and trade, NC = not categorized, NGE = no gender

elements, PSM = public sector management, SGE = some gender elements, TRA = transport, WUS = water and other urban

infrastructure and services.


Table A2.2. ADB Financing for Loans & Grants in Pakistan ($ million), 2005–2015 by Sector and Gender

Equity and Mainstreaming (GEM) category



ANR 80.20 228.00 270.77 400.57

979.54

EDU 205.00

205.00

ENE

50.00 4,005.31

4,055.31

FIN 402.00

10.00 1,124.00

1,536.00

HLT 250.00

250.00

IND

5.00

5.00

PSM 430.00 770.00 700.00 481.35 6.00 2,387.35

TRA

578.19 1,047.40 1,169.10

2,794.69

WUS 60.00 137.10

197.10

Total 1,427.20 1,718.29 2,078.17 7,180.33 6.00 12,409.99

ADB = Asian Development Bank, ANR = agriculture and natural resources, EDU = education, ENE = energy, EGM = effective

gender mainstreaming, FIN = finance, GEN = gender equity as theme, HLT = health, IND = industry and trade, NC = not

categorized, NGE = no gender elements, PSM = public sector management, SGE = some gender elements, TRA = transport,

WUS = water and other urban infrastructure and services.


Table A2.3. Number of Approved Technical Assistance in Pakistan, 2010–2015, by Sector and Gender

Equity and Mainstreaming (GEM) category



ANR

5 1 1 7

ENE

1

5 1 7

FIN

1

1

PSM 1

2 1 4

TRA

2 2 4

8

WUS

1

1

Total 1 4 7 13 3 25

ANR = agriculture and natural resources, ENE = energy, EGM = effective gender mainstreaming, FIN = finance, GEN =

gender equity as theme, NC = not categorized, NGE = no gender elements, PSM = public sector management, SGE = some

gender elements, TRA = transport, WUS = water and other urban infrastructure and services.


Appendix 2

33

Table A2.4. ADB Financing for Technical Assistance in Pakistan ($ million), 2010–2015 by Sector and

Gender Equity and Mainstreaming (GEM) category



ANR

2.25 0.23 1.00 3.48

ENE

1.50

5.03 0.55 7.08

FIN

0.23

0.23

PSM 0.88

0.72 0.23 1.82

TRA

2.33 0.23 4.50

4.75

WUS

1.30

1.30

Total 0.88 5.13 2.48 10.70 1.78 20.95

ADB = Asian Development Bank, ANR = agriculture and natural resources, ENE = energy, EGM = effective gender

mainstreaming, FIN = finance, GEN = gender equity as theme, NC = not categorized, NGE = no gender elements, PSM =

public sector management, SGE = some gender elements, TRA = transport, WUS = water and other urban infrastructure

and services.


Table A2.5. Number of Projects by GEM Category & Approval Year

Gender Equity and Mainstreaming (GEM) Category

Approval Year GEN EGM SGE NGE NC Total

2005 2 1 1 4 8

2006 1 2 3 4 10

2007 1 1 4 6

2008 2 1 1 4 8

2009 2 2

4

2010 1 1 2 1 5

2011 1 2 1 4

2012 1 2 3

2013 1 2 3

2014 1 1 6 8

2015 1 6 7

Total 8 11 9 36 2 66

EGM = effective gender mainstreaming, GEN = gender equity as a theme, NC = not classified, NGE

= no gender element, SGE = some gender elements.


Table A2.6. Number of Projects by Primary Sector & Approval Year

Primary Sector

Approval

Year

ANR EDU ENE FIN HLT IND PSM TRA WUS Total

2005 1 1

1 4 1 8

2006 3

2 3

1

1

10

2007 1

1 2

1 1

6

2008 1

1

1

3 1 1 8

2009

1

2 1

4

2010

2

1

2

5

2011 1

1

1 1

4

2012 1

1

1 3

2013

2

1

3

2014 2

2

1 3

8

2015 1

2

4

7

Total 11 1 15 5 2 1 12 16 3 66

ANR = agriculture and natural resources, EDU = education, ENE = energy, FIN = finance, HLT = health, IND = industry and

trade, PSM = public sector management, TRA = transport, WUS = water and other urban infrastructure and services.


Appendix 2

34

Table A2.7. Gender Rating for Loans and Grants, 2005–2015* by PCR Rating

PCR Rating

Gender Rating HS LS PS S U Total Percent

Successful** 1 1 2 18%

Not Successful

1

2 6 9 82%

Total 1 1

3 6 11 100%

HS = highly successful, LS = less than successful, PCR = project completion report, PS = partly successful, S = successful,

U = unsuccessful.

* Includes projects for which both project completion report and gender rating were available.

** The two projects with successful gender ratings are the Sindh Coastal Community Development Project (agriculture and

natural resources) and the Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood Restoration Program (finance); the gender rating for

the latter is not supported by fieldwork results (see Table 1).


Table A2.8. Gender Rating for Loans and Grants, 1999–2010*

PCR Rating

Gender Rating HS LS PS S U Total Percent

Successful** 2 1 3 6 22%

Not Successful

1 4 4 12 21 78%

Total 2 1 5 7 12 27 100%

HS = highly successful, LS = less than successful, PCR = project completion report, PS = partly successful, S = successful,

U = unsuccessful.

* Includes projects for which both project completion report and gender rating were available.

** The six projects with successful gender ratings in the projects database include three agriculture and natural resources

projects, 2 public sector management projects and one finance project which overlaps with Table A2.7.


Table A2.9. Gender Rating for Loans and Grants, 2005–2015* by Primary Sector

Gender Rating

Primary Sector Successful Not Successful Total

Percentage

Successful

ANR 3 3 6 50%

EDU

6 5 0%

ENE

1 1 0%

FIN** 1 1 100%

HLT

2 2 0%

IND

1 1 0%

PSM 2 4 6 50%

TRA

2 2 0%

WUS

2 2 0%

Total 6 21 27 22%

ANR = agriculture and natural resources, EDU = education, ENE = energy, FIN = finance, HLT = health, IND = industry

and trade, PSM = public sector management, TRA = transport, WUS = water and other urban infrastructure and services.

* Includes projects for which both project completion report and gender rating were available

** The finance project is the Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood Restoration Program also listed in Table A2.7, whose

gender rating of successful is not supported by the fieldwork results.


Table A2.10. Gender Category/ADB Financing for new TAs, 2010-2015

Gender Category Count of Gender category

ADB Financing

(in $ million)

GEN 1 0.875

EGM 4 5.125

SGE 7 2.475

NGE 13 10.695

NC 3 1.775

Total 28 20.95

Percent GEN + EGM 18% 29%

ADB = Asian Development Bank, EGM = effective gender mainstreaming, GEN = gender equity as theme, NC = not

categorized, NGE = no gender elements, SGE = some gender elements, TA = technical assistance.


Appendix 3

35

EVIDENCE FROM PROJECT VALIDATION REPORTS OF EARLIER PROJECTS WITH GENDER EQUITY AND

MAINSTREAMING (GEM) OBJECTIVES

Creating a New Industry: the Khushhali Microfinance Bank Story

Project Number: 29229, Loan Number: 1805-PAK (SF)

1. Financial inclusion in Pakistan lags far behind regional comparators. The Khushhali Microfinance

Bank was founded in 2000 as the first-ever commercial microfinance bank in the country with Asian

Development Bank (ADB) support from the $70 million Microfinance Sector Development Program

(MSDP). It was incorporated through the Khushhali Bank Ordinance, 2000 as a corporate body with

limited liability and commenced its business with issuance of a license by the State Bank of Pakistan on

11 August 2000. A $68 million credit line from MSDP supported its microfinance outreach program.

2. The Khushhali Bank was established to mobilize funds to provide microfinance services to lesser

privileged persons, particularly poor women for mitigating poverty and promoting social welfare and

economic justice through community building and social mobilization with the ultimate objective of

poverty alleviation.

3. Shortly after incorporation of the Khushhali Bank, the government enacted a new law—the

Microfinance Institutions Ordinance 2001—which is recognized globally as providing a world class legal

environment for the microfinance industry which has grown rapidly. Pakistan now has 10 microfinance

banks with 2.6 million active borrowers. ADB provided further assistance to the Government of Pakistan

through the Improving Access to Financing Services Program approved in 2008 to improve governance

of the microfinance sector. As part of this assistance all microfinance institutions were required to operate

under the Microfinance Institutions Ordinance 2001. Consequently, with the approval of the State Bank

of Pakistan, the Khushhali Bank Limited was incorporated in 2008 as a public limited company with the

Securities and Exchange Commission under the Companies Ordinance, 1984, and all assets and liabilities

were transferred to the new entity.

4. The macro trend in the microfinance sector in Pakistan shows an increase in deposits and

decrease in reliance on debt in the year 2015. The microfinance sector as a whole successfully mobilized

Rs 60 billion at the end of 2015, an increase of 51% over the 2014 figure of Rs 43 billion. With a gross

loan portfolio of PRs 90.2 billion, in 2015 the microfinance industry in Pakistan serviced 3.6 million active

borrowers, 54% of which were in rural areas and 55% (2 million) were women1.

5. Khushhali Bank is the second largest microfinance lender in the country. In 2015, it had total

assets of PRs 26.6 billion ($254 million) and net assets of PRs 3.9 billion ($37.6 million). The bank

improved market share in deposit from 20.0% to 24.1% with accelerated growth of 79% year-on-year.

The growth trajectory helped it reach over a million clients and achieve more than PRs One billion in pre-

tax profit, amongst the highest in the sector. By the end of 2015, the bank had 1,128,901 active clients

and 520,517 active borrowers.

6. The project validation report (PVR) for the MSDP, which was rated partly successful, indicates

that Khushhali Bank expanded slower than estimated at appraisal. Actual loan disbursements for credit

at the loan’s conclusion in February 2006 totaled PRs 5.5 billion ($93.66 million) against an appraisal

estimate of PRs9.29 billion ($165.9 million). Outstanding loans were $43.5 million, also significantly

lower than the estimated $153 million. As of 31 December 2007, Khushhali Bank had 283,695 active

borrowers, 50% of the target of 560,000 households. On the positive side, the PVR validated the project

completion report (PCR) finding that the financial performance of Khushhali Bank indicated a fast-

1 Pakistan Microfinance Network. Pakistan Microfinance Review 2015: An Annual Assessment of the Microfinance Industry.

Islamabad.

Appendix 3

36

growing, commercially solvent and highly liquid institution with a rapidly growing network of branches

covering 88 districts that included some of the most marginalized areas in the country.

7. The MSDP project was partly successful in helping Pakistan develop its microfinance industry.

From the perspective of the GAD evaluation, the investment loan had targeted 40% female borrowers.

In actuality, female borrowers from Khushhali Bank declined from 32.1% in 2001 to 15.7% in 2007 due

to a change in the gender-targeting policy which midway through the project specified that only those

women should quality for lending who are actually users of loan funds. Elimination of surrogate

borrowings by women for loan funds actually used by their male relatives led to a decline in female

lending but allowed Khushhali Bank to adhere to its commitment to use microfinance as an instrument

of poverty reduction among women who owned and managed their own business.

8. Although the microfinance industry tracks its borrowers and reports annually on the gender

distribution of active borrowers in the industry, Khushhali Bank does not routinely report on its client

base. Its publications focus primarily on financial results and profitability of the sector. Monitoring of

beneficiaries and gender outcomes does not seem to have been part of the ADB assistance to the sector,

consequently their annual reports do not include updates on gender distribution of their lending

activities.

Access to Justice Program (AJP)

Program Number: 32023, Loan Numbers: 1897/1898/1899(SF)

9. The AJP’s key development objective was to assist the government in improving access to justice

by supporting five inter-related governance objectives: (i) providing a legal basis for judicial, policy, and

administrative reforms; (ii) improving the efficiency, timeliness, and effectiveness of judicial and police

services; (iii) supporting greater equity and accessibility to justice services to the vulnerable and poor; (iv)

improving predictability and consistency between fiscal and human resource allocations and the

mandates of reformed judicial and police institutions at the federal, provincial, and local levels; and

(v)ensuring greater transparency and accountability in the performance of the judiciary, the police, and

administrative justice institutions.

10. The AJP focused on judicial reforms (including reforms relating to administrative justice

institutions) and police reforms. The program was expected to deliver benefits in three components—

policy, institutions, and budget and expenditure management.

11. The program was approved in December 2001, and comprised two loans in the amount of $330

million to be released in four tranches, a technical assistance (TA) loan for $20 million, and a TA grant

for $900,000. Capacity development activities were to be accomplished through the TA loan and grants.

The Ministry of Law, Justice, Human Rights, and Parliamentary Affairs (MOL) was the executing agency.

12. The PCR adequately described the complexity of the implementation arrangements between

different branches of government (judiciary and the executive branch) and across different layers of

implementation (federal, provincial, and district offices). The PCR also noted a high degree of compliance

with the loan conditions, with the exception of the setting up of citizen police liaison committees, which

was waived due to a lack of ownership. In all, there were 64 policy actions: 58 of these were fully

complied with, 5 were substantially complied with, and 1 was waived.

13. The expected impact was to contribute to the nationwide efforts to influence the exercise of

political, administrative and judicial powers in order to improve accessibility to public entitlements for all

citizens, in particular the poor, women, and minorities. The AJP intended to tackle gender issues through

the creation of competent legal, judicial, and police institutions through which existing basic and

constitutional rights could be implemented fairly and accountably. The AJP was expected to promote

research and debate on the quality and equality of existing laws through the reformed Law Commission,

Appendix 3

37

as well as the Women's Commission, and help build constituencies for change and elicit consensus for

reform.

14. Although the PCR and the PVR rated the project partly successful overall, the PVR found that the

program helped mainstream gender reforms into the justice sector. MOL partnered with the Ministry of

Women Development to implement the national Gender Reform Action Plan. The number of women

judges in different courts nearly doubled between 2001 and 2007. Greater awareness of the rights of

women and human rights was incorporated into police training programs.

Appendix 4

38

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS

Methodology

In consultation with the government, Asian Development Bank (ADB) staff, and other stakeholders, the

evaluation identified two districts—District Bagh in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and District Mansehra in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—of the nine earthquake-affected districts as suitable for the assessment fieldwork

since Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) had a substantial beneficiary base in those two districts

and they were among the most seriously affected districts which had subsequently received ADB

assistance for housing reconstruction. The fieldwork was thus designed to provide feedback on ADB

assistance for the Social Protection Development Project and the Earthquake-Displaced People Livelihood

Support Program.

In each of the selected districts, six focus group discussions (FGDs) were organized by two separate teams

working in parallel. Each team consisted of a district supervisor responsible for quality assurance and

synthesizing the individual FGD reports, and a two-person team of facilitators (one male, one female) to

conduct and document the FGD meetings. The six locations were identified from the locations where

BISP Beneficiary Committees (BBC) had been established under the BISP program. The existence of BBCs

made it easier to convene the FGDs and, since all participants were members of these BBCs, it ensured

that the FGD participants were females who were aware of the BISP program and who resided in villages

that had been affected by the earthquake.

The locations were selected in consultation with the district BISP offices to ensure balanced coverage of

the districts—two near urban centers, and four more distant villages—to achieve a broader range of

opinions about the two programs. In Bagh district this included one location inhabited by recent

immigrants displaced by the border conflict. In Mansehra this included two villages where a substantial

portion of households had been displaced from their original villages and resettled after the earthquake.

Most focus groups consisted of 6-12 participants, except for one village in Mansehra district which had

only 4 participants since the research team arrived late in the afternoon by which time other women

living in more distant parts of the village had returned to their homes.

The FGDs followed a template that was pretested during the fieldwork conducted by the evaluation

mission. The FGDs covered the following topics:

Beneficiary feedback on BISP eligibility

Regularity of cash transfer payments

Ease and cost of receiving cash transfer payments

Use of funds

Benefits of the BBC

Impact of the 2005 earthquake

Assistance for housing reconstruction

Assistance for reconstructing public works

Additional benefits or programs for women

Participant recommendations to improve future programs

The discussion of each FGD was documented and reviewed by the district supervisors who sought

additional clarificiations from the field facilitators as appropriate, and then prepared a synthesis district

report.

Appendix 4

39

Summary Report: Bagh District, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 1

District Profile

Bagh is located 80 kilometers (km) from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir. It is 160 km from

Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Bagh City is the main town and district headquarters of Bagh District.

The town is situated on the confluence of two small nullahs, Malwani & Mall which flow all year. The

locally recognized "Haji Peer Pass" is about 32 km from Bagh City. In 2011–2012, the population was

287,523 (47,920 households with an average household size of 6). Middle-standard hotels and forest

resthouses are available for visitors, and basic necessities are available in the Bagh bazaars. In district

Bagh, 23% of households are BISP beneficiaries.

Selection of Focus Groups

The FGDs were organized in areas spread across the district at an approximate distance of 20-km radius

away from the city. Only one FGD was done in an urban location because urban results seemed good.

Urban people are living near the facilities and they don’t face a lot of problems in both programs

(unconditional cash transfer [UCT] and conditional cash transfer [CCT] for children’s education) as

compared to people from rural areas.

A total of six villages, one from each union council, from all the three tehsils of Bagh were included for

FGDs where Army/ERRA and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) implemented the rehabilitation

process as well as BISP survey. Out of selected six villages, the residents of five villages are permanent

residents of Azad Jammu & Kashmir while one village named ‘Mong Bajri’ consists of migrants (migration

from Indian Occupied Kashmir) who migrated during 1990–1998. The government of AJK allotted to

these migrants this specific area for their residence. The residents of the villages Seri Bandi, Bangran, and

Dhall Qazian belong to very poor families while the residents of the Village Kanna Mohri & Village Jaglari

Shehar are well-off compared to the other villages. Aurat Foundation worked with the BISP beneficiaries

of these selected villages from May 2013–July 2016. Out of 6 villages, only two villages ‘Mong Bajri &

Jaglari Shehar’ are located on the main road where public transport is available while other four villages

are linked with the main road via small link roads and public transport is not available for the residents

of these villages. However, taxi service is available to access the city or travel from city to the village. This

not only increases their traveling expense, but also limits their fluent mobility to city as compared to the

residents of the villages at main road. Except one village ‘Mong Bajri,’ all remaining villages are situated

in mountainous locations.

Findings from FGDs

A total of 51 participated in 6 FGDs conducted in the selected outreach of district Bagh. All 51 participants

are the beneficiaries of UCT Programme of BISP. Out of 51 participants, 37 beneficiaries are also the

beneficiaries of Waseela-e-Taleem Programme (CCT) which shows that 73% of beneficiaries have their

children under the bracket of 5–12 years and families have gone through the process of registration of

children followed by their enrollment in schools under the BISP Waseela-e-Taleem Programme.

The participants of the FGDs have diverse experience; the majority of the participants (65%) were from

middle age bracket, i.e., 36–49 years while 25% participants were up to 35 years of age and 10%

participants were over 50 years of age.

1 This summary report was prepared by Aftab Ahmad Qayyum, District Supervisor for Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzaffarabad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azad_Kashmir

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamabad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagh_District

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullah

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Haji_Peer_Pass&action=edit&redlink=1

Appendix 4

40

Table A4.1. Village-wise Participant Profile

Village/Union Council (UC)

Number of

participants

Number of UCT

beneficiaries

Number of CCT

beneficiaries

Participant Age

Up to

35 36–50

Above

50

Dhall Qazian, UC Banipasari 12 12 6 3 7 2

Kanna Mohri, UC Bagh 8 8 7 1 6 1

Seri Banid, UC Topi 7 7 6 2 5 0

Bangran, UC Thub 8 8 5 3 5 0

Jaglari Shehar, UC Jaglari 6 6 5 1 4 1

Mong Bajri, UC Mallot 10 10 8 3 6 1

CCT = conditional cash transfer, UCT = unconditional cash transfer.


FGD Questions on BISP

1. Beneficiary feedback on eligibility

Most of the participants of the FGDs in all six locations were of the opinion that the poverty score card

survey conducted in 2010 was accurate and most of the beneficiary households who are getting UCT

actually deserve for BISP UCT programme. However, they are also of the opinion that there are still a lot

of poor households who do not receive UCT who should be considered for the programme. These include

female-headed families, families with disabled persons, widows, and others living below the poverty line.

Similarly some of the participants were of the opinion that there are many households who belong to

well-off families but are getting UCT under BISP-NCTP and this shows inclusion as well as exclusion errors

of the poverty score card survey. The survey was conducted by NRSP and Pak Army in district Bagh while

five villages out of total six (selected for FGDs) were surveyed by NRSP and one village covered by Pak

Army. The majority of the participants said surveyors (data collection team) visited door-to-door to

complete the survey while some indicated that surveyors did not go door-to-door and gathered

information of the whole village from one place, particularly for remote areas.

The salient findings of this section are:

37 out of 51 (73%) participants responded that the poverty score card survey was conducted

accurately and selection of beneficiaries for UCT was on merit while remaining 27% participants were

of the opinion that survey was not conducted properly which led to inclusion and exclusion errors.

Participants were reluctant to name the households who should not receive UCT as per their opinion

though.

43 out of 51 (84%) participants said that the beneficiary households who are getting UCT actually

deserve this cash transfer and meet the eligibility criteria.

The majority of participants (36 out of 51, 71%) share the opinion that there are many households

who actually deserve the UCT programme but were not included. It includes female headed families,

families with disabled persons, widows, and orphan families.

Some of the participants also mentioned that some of the families were not surveyed due to their

seasonal migration or computerized national identity card (CNIC)-related issues (but these are very

few in number).

five out of six locations selected for FGDs were surveyed by NRSP while remaining one was covered

by Pak Army.

2. Regularity of cash transfer payments

The BISP beneficiaries are categorized into two types: those entitled for UCT only and those who are

getting both UCT and CCT. All UCT beneficiaries receive CCT if they have children within the age bracket

of 5–12 years who are enrolled in school. The CCT payment is transferred if a child complies with a

minimum 70% attendance in each quarter. Both the UCT and CCT are released on quarterly basis. The

participants of all six FGDs said they are getting UCT and CCT payments on time. CCT payments are

Appendix 4

41

released after validation of children’s school attendance. However, the CCT beneficiaries faced problems

due to nonfunctional case management system at BISP tehsil office level. For example, if a child changed

schools (which is common at the end of an academic year and even in middle of the session), payments

cannot be processed at tehsil office level due to nonfunctional case management system. This results in

non-generation of payment for that particular case. Similarly, problems with the beneficiary debit cards

or ATM machines (mostly due to the use of wrong PIN code) cause delays in getting cash.

Key findings of this section are summarized as follows;

UCT and CCT are received on time. However, beneficiaries face problems in cases of blocked debit

cards or in ATM machines due to the use of wrong PIN code. Retrieval of ATM cards takes long and

blocked cards are very common in these areas. Another issue was highlighted by a beneficiary who

was under Sanity Check2 from BISP since December 2014 and her card has been blocked since then.

The participants revealed that the BISP case management system for CCT programme is not yet

functional at tehsil level which resulted in many beneficiaries’ children being deprived of CCT

payments. 4 out of 37 CCT beneficiaries (11%) said that they changed their children’s schools and

informed the respective BISP tehsil offices through an application. No response has been received

from BISP Office although 1 year has passed. Until these particular cases are properly resolved by

BISP Tehsil office through case management system, the families of these children will not receive

CCT even though they attend school on regular basis.

Another important issue was beneficiaries who had children turning 5 years old in 2015 at the time

when Aurat Foundation performed the registration and admission of children. These children have

now reached the 5+ years of age and are now eligible for schooling. Parents are worried about where

to register when respective tehsil offices do not have the knowledge and skills to entertain these

families. A beneficiary said she enrolled 3-4 months ago to the BISP office and was told she would

receive the CCT but that this has not yet been added to her entitlements. Similarly, a beneficiary’s

child registration was not done since the parents don’t know where to go for new registration of

children after the Aurat Foundation office closed. The relevant BISP tehsil office does not know how

registration procedures for new beneficiries.

3. Ease and cost of access of payment

The responses of the participants from all 6 locations revealed that currently all 51 participants (100%)

are getting their quarterly payments via debit cards using ATM machines. Most of the participants seek

help from their family members (husbands, daughters, or sons) to withdraw cash from ATM machines as

they do not know how to use a debit card themselves. A very small number of beneficiaries (7 out of 51)

are able to use ATM machines and do not depend on others. It is also noted that some beneficiaries who

don’t know how to operate ATMs visit the banks themselves and seek assistance from strangers to

withdraw their cash. Mostly these beneficiaries request bank security guards to help them in withdrawal

of cash from the ATM. Payment through BISP Debit Cards is more costly in terms of transportation cost

particularly for those who are living far from cities and consumes more time as compare to postal

payment. Still majority of the beneficiaries are of the opinion that ATM is much better than the postal

payment method as previously postmen used to charge money from beneficiaries on each payment. The

key findings of this section are as follows:

Majority of the participants 41 out of 51 (80%) do not visit ATM machines and seek help from their

close family members (husbands, sons or daughters) to withdraw cash from ATM.

14% beneficiaries (7 out of 51) know how to use ATM machines and they withdraw cash on their

own without depending on others. While 6% (3 out of 51) request strangers to help them in

withdrawal of cash from ATM. Mostly these beneficiaries seek cooperation from bank security guards.

2 In early 2015, BISP launched a Data Sanity Check with the help of NADRA to weed out undeserving cases from the system. About

125,000 beneficiary payments were blocked and these beneficiaries need to provide necessary documents to prove their eligibility.

Appendix 4

42

The responses of the participants revealed that payment through post offices was less costly

compared to ATM method since post offices were located closer to their homes. The transportation

cost for majority of the participants who previously used to receive their quarterly payments from

post offices was zero while only 31% (13 out of 42) said that they have to spend an average of 70-

175 rupees on transportation. However, 55% participants (23 out of 42) claimed that respective

postmen used to receive an average of 116-200 rupees from each beneficiary for each quarter’s

payment. The remaining 45% never paid any amount to postmen.

The participants’ responses also revealed that receiving cash from ATM involved higher transport

costs than postal payment. 84% (43 out of 51) said that they have to bear an average cost of Rs. 150

to 240 each time on transport. Most of the participants said they had to go more than twice for

withdrawal of cash from ATMs [either because the money had not yet arrived or because some ATMs

had limits on the amount that could be withdrawn on one day]. The remaining 16% who do not bear

transportation cost actually live in cities or near to ATM machines; otherwise everyone has to bear

this cost.

Though cash received through debit cards is comparatively costly as well as consumes more time

than postal payment, still 73% of participants (37 out of 51) prefer the debit card/ATM mode to the

previous mode of payments through the post office.

Some of the beneficiaries also said that previously when they used to receive quarterly payments

through the post some of them were not paid the initial amount of Rs. 10,000, as the postal staff

said their payments had not arrived, although the BISP office said the payments had been sent. It is

possible that someone in the post office signed the receipts on their behalf and kept the payments.

4. Use of funds

The responses of all participants reveal that almost all use UCT payments on food items and children’s

education. A very small number said they saved some for emergencies while some started small home-

based businesses after saving some quarterly payments. This includes poultry and eggs business as well

as selling out of buffalo’s milk at the local market. The most common use of UCT and CCT is:

Education-related expenses including books, stationary, school uniform, shoes, and monthly fees.

Food expense, health, and other house necessities including washing machines, gas cylinders, and to

some extent, furniture and fixtures, etc.

5. Benefits of BISP Beneficiary Committee

It was noted that all participants considered the BBCs as a very important forum. This is the only platform

where they meet and share information pertaining to BISP initiatives. They also use it to discuss day-to-

day issues pertaining to UCT and CCT including, but not limited to, issues relating to use of BISP Debit

Cards, debit card blockage, release of quarterly payments, cases of pending beneficiaries, and provision

of necessary guidance which help them with their pending cases. Another very important thing which

was came into light was that the platform of BBCs actually bridges the prevailing gaps between

beneficiaries and BISP tehsil offices and helped in developing the linkages between service providers and

beneficiaries. As BBC members are expected to meet on a monthly basis, it is a bit alarming that four out

of the six BBCs where FGDs were organized are not confident about their ability to conduct their meetings

monthly after Aurat Foundation. They were of the opinion that the foundation’s representatives were

the major source of providing updated information about the BISP programme and the meetings are

worthless as the foundation is no longer working in the field. The most common benefits of BBCs

discussed by the participants are described below:

It provides an opportunity for beneficiaries to discuss and learn about the different initiatives of BISP.

It is the most effective forum for BISP beneficiaries to gather/attain information about the prevailing

issues and possible solutions.

Appendix 4

43

It is the major source of timely information about the release of UCT and CCT quarterly payments by

BISP.

It is the source of developing linkages and communication with development agents and other

stakeholders.

It provides a platform to all beneficiaries where they exchange views with each other and learn from

the experiences of others particularly pertaining to the best use of UCT and CCT.

Using the BBCs, the beneficiaries communicate their issues to relevant BISP tehsil office; and their

issues have been resolved more frequently when they approach the BISP tehsil office as BBC members

than meeting with BISP staff in their individual capacity.

FGD Questions on Earthquake Reconstruction and Livelihoods Support

6. Impact of the 2005 earthquake

District Bagh was one of the three main districts affected by the disastrous earthquake of 8 October

2005. Basic infrastructure including hospitals, schools, and roads were badly damaged and rescue

services including police and armed forces were paralyzed. Bagh was the second-most-affected district,

and accounted for 15% of the total casualties (ERRA report). The FGDs responses revealed that 84% of

participants (43 out of 51) lost their houses completely, and 14% (7 out of 51) of participants’ houses

were partially damaged. Only 1 out of 51 respondents (2%) said that her house remained safe during

this earthquake. The responses of the FGD participants revealed that 16% of them (8 out of 51) lost their

immediate family members (husbands, sons and daughters) and 20% (10 out of 51) also lost their

livestock. In three of the six locations, most participants suffered injuries from the earthquake. Public

infrastructure including roads, water schemes, schools and hospitals in the respective villages of these

beneficiaries were also badly damaged or demolished completely. The damages caused by the

earthquake in the respective communities where FGDs were carried out are summarized below:

Table A4.2. Losses from the 2005 Earthquake

Village & Union

Council (UC)

Loss/damage to

participants’ house

Loss or injury to

member of

household

Loss of

livestock

Damage to public services

(such as roads, schools, etc)

Dhall Qazian,

UC Banipasari

11 fully damaged;

1 partially

damaged but

uninhabitable

1 woman lost 2

daughters at

home; most

suffered injuries

3 women lost

livestock

Primary school, two high

schools (one for girls, one

for boys), mosque, road,

water tanks destroyed

Kanna Mohri, UC

Bagh

7 fully damaged; 1

not damaged

1 woman lost 1

son and 1 lost her

husband; most

suffered injuries

1 woman lost

livestock

Two high schools (one for

girls, one for boys), one

middle school (for girls)

mosque, road, water tanks

destroyed

Seri Banid,

UC Topi

7 fully damaged; 1 woman lost her

husband and 1

lost her son;

most suffered

injuries

1 woman lost

8 goats and 1

cow while 1

lost 2

buffaloes

one primary school,

electricity posts

Bangran,

UC Thub

8 fully damaged; 1 woman lost her

brother-in-law and

1 lost her son;

1 female suffered

injuries

No losses

one primary school and one

middle School, dispensary,

two madrassas

Jaglari Shehar,

UC Jaglari

4 fully damaged;

2 partially

damaged

No loss of life

occurred; 1 female

suffered injuries

1 female lost

a cow and

one ox;

1 lost a goat

one primary school, two

high schools, one

dispensary

Appendix 4

44

Village & Union

Council (UC)

Loss/damage to

participants’ house

Loss or injury to

member of

household

Loss of

livestock



Mong Bajri,

UC Mallot

6 fully damaged;

4 partially

damaged

1 woman lost her

husband and a

child; no injuries

No loss. one high school


7. Assistance for house reconstruction

The FGDs revealed that ERRA provided financial assistance to the respective villages of the respondents.

As far as technical assistance is concerned, except for one location where training was not conducted,

technical training sessions were conducted in the remaining areas for affected communities by NRSP or

Army. However, FGD participants revealed that only men participated in these trainings. On the whole,

both males and females of the respective households took part in the reconstruction of their houses. Due

to joint family systems, some individuals did not receive any compensation from ERRA, and some of these

families are still living in shelters or mud/kucha houses.

Key findings of the discussions are:

The training sessions on reconstruction of the houses were conducted for male participants only,

females were not invited to attend these sessions.

In most cases, both males and females worked on reconstructing their houses but decisions were

mostly taken by male members; females were not consulted in the process of new construction.

Majority of the households received their full payments for house reconstruction. ERRA released the

installments after verifying the completion of reconstruction phases and techniques. However due to

joint family systems some individuals did not receive any compensation from ERRA. Some of these

families are still living in temporary shelters or mud houses.

The households with partial damage received compensation ranging from Rs 25,000 to 75,000.

Model houses in some areas were also constructed for the most vulnerable families so that others

could copy the construction techniques.

8. Assistance for reconstructing public works

Public infrastructure damaged during earthquake 2005 included schools, health facilities, water supply

schemes, roads and mosques. Discussion with the participants of FGDs revealed that reconstruction of

public works has been mostly completed in the respective villages of these participants. All participants

were of the opinion that the schools constructed are better than the previous ones. Roads have been

constructed by the local government as well as under the City Development Project (CDP)3, while water

supply schemes were reconstructed or rehabilitated by NGOs. There are some water schemes which have

been completed with funds from the World Bank. The salient findings of this section are:

Most of the damaged schools have been reconstructed by ERRA. Newly constructed school buildings

are constructed on the basis of earthquake resistance technology, as well as with more capacity than

the previous one. However some school buildings have still been not reconstructed although 11 years

have passed since the earthquake.

Some health facilities which were damaged during the earthquake have been reconstructed but in

one of the villages, a dispensary has not yet been constructed.

Most of the damaged roads have been reconstructed again. This was done under city development

project and in some areas they were reconstructed by local government.

3 In 2008, an umbrella contract was signed between ERRA and Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for

rehabilitation of earthquake affected areas in AJK under which the PRC extended a $300 million loan for rehabilitation works.

Three cities were selected for rehabilitation: Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot, and Bagh. The works were contracted to two state owned

firms—China International Water and Electricity Corporation (CWE) and China Xinjiang Beixin Group (CXB). The work included

both design and construction of infrastructure facilities.

Appendix 4

45

Water supply schemes have been rehabilitated or reconstructed. Most of the rehabilitation or

reconstruction of damaged schemes has been done by NGOs. In some cases, World Bank financial

assistance has been utilized for this purpose.

9. Additional benefits or programs for women

The findings of the discussions with all six groups revealed that some additional projects were

implemented in four out of six villages (where FGDs were conducted) which directly or indirectly

benefited the women of that area. In the remaining two villages no additional assistance for women was

provided by government or non-governmental actors. Key additional interventions alongside earthquake

reconstruction efforts for women in those four villages selected for FGDs are:

In two of the villages different initiatives relating to the restoration of livelihood included training on

kitchen gardening and vocational skills, provision of seeds, provision of livestock, and credit to

selected women etc. were provided by some NGOs. The participants did not know whether it was

NRSP or another NGO.

However, beneficiaries from another FGD who were provided training said they did not receive

further support to make use of the training. “I have attended the 15 days training on vegetable

farming and livestock management but nothing in terms of seeds or cash grant has been provided

to me.”

In one of the villages, a community center was built and later a dispensary was also established for

the local community in two rooms of the existing community center building

In one of the villages, a new road was constructed which connected the villagers to the nearest

market. “This newly constructed road linked us to the nearest market and increased females’

accessibility to the market compared to our previous life,” stated one of the beneficiaries.

10. Participant recommendations to improve future programs

Participants suggested that a representative from the BBC should be involved in the next survey

because they know all the households in the village and can identify deserving households left

out of the BISP beneficiary during the previous survey. BBC participation can also help to increase

the accuracy of survey, as suggested by another group.

Most of the participants suggested that skill development programs for youth (children of

beneficiaries) should be launched by BISP (revival of Waseela-e-Rozgar program)

Some beneficiaries suggested that health cards should be provided to beneficiaries so that they

can receive timely treatment in hospitals when household members fall sick. (implementation of

Waseela-e-Sehat Programme)

One of the beneficiaries suggested that soft loans should be issued to beneficiaries so that they

can initiate small business; this would also decrease their dependency on BISP in the longer run.

Observations and Comments by the Evaluation Team:

It was observed that although beneficiaries are of the opinion that some who are receiving UCT are

actually not entitled to it, they are reluctant to provide names. It was also observed that CCT beneficiaries

are worried about the future of CCT payment as this is conditional on the validation of 70% attendance

of children. At the end of the social mobilization programme implemented by Aurat Foundation, no

mechanism has been put in place to collect and report the attendance of children to process the quarterly

payments.

Appendix 4

46

Summary Report: Mansehra District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4

District Profile:

District Mansehra is located at the eastern border of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, 4 hours away from

Peshawar and 3 hours away from Islamabad. The district is located at 34°-12' and 35°-50' and 47°-07'

longitude and mostly hilly areas with difficult terrains. Mansehra shares its borders with numerous other

districts: the Kohistan and Diamir districts to the north, Abbottabad District to the south, the Neelum

District of Azad Kashmir to the east, Swat district to the west and Batagram District to the northeast. Its

total area is 4,579 square kilometers with population of 1,152,839 (1998 census) with an average annual

growth rate of 2.4%, household size 6.7 persons, literacy rate 36.3 and disabled population 1.6%. Most

of the population (84.3%) owned their houses. Only 32.1% of the population has the facility of drinking

water inside their homes.

Culturally, the residents of Mansehra district consist of a mixed population which historically has been

more patriarchal and conservative than those of Bagh district.

In October 2005 an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude struck the northern areas of Pakistan including district

Mansehra which was the worst affected district of NWFP in terms of 15,997 human lives loss, 9,903

major injuries, and great destruction to physical infrastructure and livestock. The district also suffered a

significant loss of livelihood due to the earthquake that has caused damage to the land, crops, livestock,

and infrastructure.

The district consists of three tehsils, which are divided into 59 Union Councils (UCs)

1. Balakot (12 UCs)

2. Mansehra (36 UCs)

3. Oghi (11UCs)

The total number of BISP beneficiaries in district Mansehra is 60,383, with over 135,000 children between

the ages of 5-12 years. More than 40,000 beneficiaries and 60,000 children are admitted/ verified under

the BISP CCT program.

Selection of Focus Groups

The FGD survey targeted the BISP beneficiaries of district Mansehra. The beneficiaries were randomly

selected to ensure they are 1) BISP beneficiaries getting UCT as well as CCT grant from government (BISP),

2) members of BISP Beneficiary Committee (BBC), 3) earthquake affectees 4) and mixed groups from both

urban and rural settlements of district Mansehra. A total of 6 FGDs were planned, two from urban and

four from rural settlements. The FGDs were conducted for feedback of rehabilitation and reconstruction

work, livelihood support and other gender sensitive intervention undertaken and the status of BISP

unconditional cash transfer (UCT) and the conditional cash transfer (CCT) cash grant to encourage

children’s education. For each FGD, 4-12 participants selected to have a manageable group with

maximum attention to get the participants feedback/ views.

4 This summary report was prepared by Dr. Nasira Malik, District Supervisor for Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Appendix 4

47

Findings from Focus Group Discussions:

Table A4.3. Village-Wise Participant Profile

Village/Union Council

(UC)

Number of

participants

Number of UCT

beneficiaries

Number of CCT

beneficiaries

Age profile of participants

Up to 35 36–50 Above 50

Dhaka Mohalla, Chitta

Bhatta, UC Sandesar

12 12 11 2 10 0

Babar Colony, Village

and UC Garhi

Habibullah

4 4 2 1 3 0

Gran Thalli/

Bhogarmang village, UC

Bhogar Mang

12 12 5 1 7 4

Kotli Bala, UC Ichrian 12 12 10 1 10 1

Ochri (Ochir+Bari),

UC Mohandri

12 12 8 4 6 2

Sandu (Sangar),

UC Ghanool

12 12 7 4 6 2

CCT = conditional cash transfer, UCT = unconditional cash transfer.


A total of 64 women between the ages of 35–60 years (up to 35 years-30, between 35 to 50 years-66

and above 50 years-14) were selected at two urban and 4 rural locations from over 90 beneficiaries who

were approached for the focus group discussions. Most of the women were of 35-50 yrs. age group. All

were getting UCT, while only 43 were receiving CCT for school going children between the ages of 5-12

years. All the participants were affected by the October 2005 earthquake.

FGD Questions on BISP

1. Beneficiary feedback on eligibility

For eligibility criteria of BISP grant-UCT question related to survey methodology, inclusion and exclusion

of deserving beneficiaries and undeserved beneficiaries were asked. The majority of the participants

(67%) were of the opinion that the Poverty score card survey conducted in 2010 was not up to mark in

relation to the methodology, (door to door). It was performed in clusters with political influence and

biases. At most of the places communities were gathered at one main point/house of well-known person

/ community center etc by the surveyor, “The surveyor sat in one location and asked us to come and

enroll in the survey [did not visit door-to-door]”, “we all were called at Qari Hameed’s house at main

Balakot-Naran Road for survey”. Only 33 % participants stated that the surveyor visited their houses.

“Survey was done door to door, but results are not transparent”, “Door-to-door survey was conducted

and they came to our house”. Over 30% deserving families headed by women/widows were either left

out of the survey or not included in cash grant due to ineligibility, “All women were included in the

survey, all received survey receipt, but many are not receiving Cash from BISP”, “More than 30 most

deserving and poorest women are not receiving BISP grant”, “my mother and brother live separately but

do not receive BISP benefits, while I do”, “About 80 HHs are deserving but not receiving cash, they were

surveyed but are not in eligible category”. 10 % undeserving women who are well off and have male

members in armed forces or abroad etc were included in the survey for cash grant, “There are people in

our village who should not be entitled but are included in BISP list. Most of them are from families of

people who are working in Saudia (Saudi Arabia) or in the army and are still receiving BISP grants”, sardar

caste is living in our near-by mountain, most of their women are receiving BISP grant, while in our village

out of 150, only 15 women are receiving BISP grant.” The survey conducted in 2010 has more errors of

exclusion of deserving women than errors of inclusion of undeserved ones.

Appendix 4

48

2. Regularity of cash transfer payments

The UCT payment is received quite regularly by all women but CCT payment is irregular. Only 40% of

participants reported they were receiving CCT payments on regular basis, “UCT Regularly received.” “The

CCT is received when the attendance is verified. The first installment was received with the UCT but one

received it after six months, while the majority receive both in time on quarterly basis.” 50 % have

irregular payment, “I have received only first installment of CCT”, “only received two instalments.” 10 %

did not receive it at all even their children are admitted in schools, “our children are registered and we

also received admission slips, by we did not receive CCT”, “and don’t receive CCT while our children were

registered”. Furthermore the CCT payment is not received with UCT and they have to visit the ATM point

separately, “Do not get it with UCT, and comes separately.”

3. Ease and cost of access of payment

Initially all the women received payment through Post office and they were charged Rs. 50-500

depending upon the amount paid; if large amount then more deduction, “We used to go to the post

office to collect our money. The postal worker used to charge us Rs. 50-200 to give us our BISP money.”

19% of the women considered it better option as they had easy access to the post office in the village

even they had to wait for quite some time and pay the amount to PO staff, “Post office was very good,

no wait, no time, no rush”. 81% of the women preferred ATM/ Ufone even though an average of 2 visits

are needed for cash withdrawal, difficulty in travel, biased attitude of bank and Ufone staff and payment

of Rs. 50-500 to facility staff, “The debit card is better than payment through the post office. The post

office made us wait till late and used to charge more money”, “ATM & Ufone is better than post office”.

55% of the women themselves visit the Bank/ Ufone and 91% draw amount with the assistance of staff

by paying the fee, while 9% by themselves. 45% of the cash withdrawal through ATM/Ufone is made by

male members of the family.

4. Use of funds

The BISP grant is used mainly for children’s expenses, groceries, loan repayments, and health expenses.

75% of the grant is for groceries, children expenses, loan payment, “My husband is handicapped, his one

leg was amputated in the earthquake. Due to poverty, I sent my two sons in Madrassa (Balakot) and

other two are studying in the village. My whole cash is spent on my children and grocery”, “we always

wait for our installment, upon receipt, we purchase food and other household stuff to pass our time.

20% is for personal and family’s treatment and health expenses, “I am sick, BISP money is totally used

on medicines”, “I am suffering from hepatitis C, all is spent on my treatment, that cost 8000-

9000/month”, “My husband is suffering from epilepsy, I use my cash on his treatment.” “My daughter-

in-law is also BISP beneficiary and she has cancer, her installment is also used for her treatment”, “My

husband is suffering from mental disorder, he works casually to earn money.” Only 5% of the cash is

spent on livelihood and income generation, “I purchased 1 hen, I now have three; they lay eggs and full

fill our food and nutritional needs”, “we purchased goats a year ago from our installments, both goats

have 2 baby goats each, after about 1 year, we will sell them, from each we will earn Rs. 12,000/- besides

the number of goats, we get milk for our home use.

5. Benefit of the BISP Beneficiary Committee

All the participants (100%) mentioned the main benefit of the BBC is the opportunity for social

networking, “we got introduced especially with Bari Mohalla Beneficiaries”, “BBC has organized us and

gave chance to meet each other”, “We get to know each other and also get information about

surroundings”.

50% have the benefit of better communication with the BISP program staff for solving their

issues and exchange of information about program benefits and problems: “We go to BISP office

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for any issue related to debit card and payment“, My daughter in law is a women’s leader

(president of BBC) she attended the Women leaders Training and learned a lot about BISP and

its waseelas (channels) and she shared all of her learning with the rest of us”.

50 % of beneficiaries have never visited BISP office but know about the programme. 80 % of the

BBCs are not mature enough and still need assistance to conduct their meetings and also to visit

BISP office at tehsil for resolving their issues.

20% have been visiting the offices with their women’s leader and are confident to run the BBC

meetings on their own.

FGD Questions on Earthquake Reconstruction and Livelihoods Support

6. Impact of the 2005 earthquake:

In October 2005 an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude struck the northern areas of Pakistan. District Mansehra

which was the worst affected district of NWFP in terms of 15,997 human lives lost, 9,903 major injuries

and great destruction to physical infrastructure: 108,283 (71%) houses were completely

damaged/destroyed and 34,001 (22%) were partially damaged, while 10,673 (7%) were negligibly

damaged. Education sector faced very heavy losses in terms of destruction of school buildings. Besides,

loss of lives of the students and teachers was unimaginably higher. There were 935 institutions recorded

as fully destroyed and some 624 partially damaged by the earthquake. The district also suffered

significant loss of livelihood due to the earthquake that has caused damage to the land, crops, livestock,

and infrastructure. The earthquake created thousands of widows due to death of the husbands. Many

became the household head and bread earner due to disabilities of men in the family.

The table below shows the overall and personal damage and loss of infrastructure, deaths, injuries,

livestock and socioeconomic impact of earthquake in the villages where FGDs were conducted.

Table A4.4. Damages from 2005 Earthquake

Village &

Union Council Loss/damage to house

Loss or injury to member

of household Loss of livestock



Dhaka

Mohalla,

Chitta Bhatta,

UC Sandesar

11 houses fully

destroyed and people

relocated; 1 home

partially destroyed

5 households suffered loss

of life, and one injured.

One extended family from

Balakot lost 14 people

9 households

suffered loss of

livestock and

property

All public infrastructure was

destroyed for 11 households

Temporary camp after

earthquake washed

away by flood; two

families lost all

belongings in the flood

Babar Colony

UC

Garhi

Habibullah

1 house fully damaged

3 houses partially

damaged

3 households suffered

from Injuries

3 people died in 1

household

No livestock Hospital

School

UC Office

Road

Gran Thalli &

Botang UC

Bhogar Manag

9 houses were fully

damaged and

destroyed, 3 were

damaged but were not

livable

2 died in two beneficiaries

houses

9 injured in 4 HHs

1 participant injured due

to leg fracture

Did not have

livestock

School, Mosque dispensary

at Bhogarmang

Kotli Bala,

Ichrian

5 houses of

participants totally

destroyed

5 houses partial

2 women were

tenants/houses

destroyed

5 injured in 4 HH 0 School,

Drinking Water Supply

Scheme

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50

Village &

Union Council Loss/damage to house

Loss or injury to member

of household Loss of livestock



2 children of 1 woman

came under school wall

but remained safe

Ochri+Bari 12 houses fully

destroyed

4 died in 4 HH

3 women injured in 3 HH,

1 woman’s son’s arm

separated, he is disabled

and can’t do anything

2 cows

2 goats

School,

Drinking Water Supply

Scheme (DWSS)

Sandu

(Sangar),

Ghanool

12 houses fully

destroyed

1-2 deaths and injuries in

all participants’ houses

All cows and

goats

GPS,GGPS

Almost all the women were earthquake affectees; 20% have been relocated to other villages and tehsils

of Mansehra and 29 % are still living in shelters/ incomplete or rented houses. After the earthquake they

were shifted to camps for over 6 months and later relocated due to floods to other camp areas. 81 % of

the infrastructure was completely damaged and destroyed. 19% was partially damaged but was not in

livable condition. 23% of the families had casualties in the form of deaths, 77% suffered major injuries

and disabilities. 64% of the livestock and property destroyed. Most of the public infrastructure, schools,

roads, hospitals, water source, mosques and government buildings were completely destroyed.

7. Assistance for house reconstruction

20% of the women do not recall who provided the assistance after the earthquake, “we don’t know, as

we were in tents away from here”. 80% reported that ERRA, Army, NGOS and Mr. Adnan (a

philanthropist) provided support for reconstruction, rehabilitation and livelihood restoration. 23 families

received 3 cheques (25, 000, 50,000 &75,000) for construction of houses according to seismic

specification. 31 male members were trained and only 18 constructed houses as per specification.

8. Assistance for reconstructing public works

At almost all the places schools, roads, mosque, water supply and other public facilities were

reconstructed by ERRA, Army, an NGO and a philanthropist. No hospital facility is available at most of

the places. At Ghari Habibullah, one Rural Health Centre was reconstructed but there is no doctor in the

hospital and patients have to travel to Mansehra for treatment, No health facility and roads constructed

except the jeep road was repaired”, “Not much work done apart from houses reconstruction”. At Jared

Balakot children are still studying under shelter and in open places.

9. Additional benefits or programs for women

No formal additional measures and programs by the government were initiated specifically for women’s

involvement in income generation. Few NGOs provided support of livestock (cows, goats), skill

development for tailoring, gardening and donated sewing machines, gardening kits, seeds etc. Water

supply schemes provided at one or two location save time spent on bringing water from nearby streams.

The few vocational centers established are located far away, and young girls and women cannot access

it due to security reasons, “One vocational Training center was established but cannot go as it is far and

not safe to go there. (Garhi Habibullah)”

10. Participant recommendations to improve future programs:

The next survey should be conducted door-to-door, or gather all of us in one place so that we

can answer all the questions correctly. That will ensure that the poor women who are left out

of BISP can be enrolled.

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51

Political agents should be avoided during survey to avoid favoritism, so that all deserving could

be surveyed properly and non-deserving could be prevented from becoming eligible.

Undeserved families should be excluded from BISP grants

BBCs should be involved in the survey as they know all the people in the village

Schools for boys and girls should be reconstructed (Jared, Sandu)

Livelihoods support and trainings for women should be focused in future, e.g. household level

income generation activities, hand embroidery, food preservations, marketing (Jared)

Hospital facilities should be provided along with Doctors and staff

Multiple ATMs should be installed at places for easy access

A vocational center (for tailoring training) is needed in the village, where we and our daughters

can learn sewing and cutting, which will help us to save dress sewing costs. We will also start

tailoring on commercial basis”

Observations and Comments by Evaluation Team:

BISP In most locations more women than expected participated in the FGDs. Many visited just to record

their concerns pertaining to poverty and issuance of BISP grant. Women even waited for hours to meet

the team. BISP cash grant has provided many families with means of living, and improved their social

status, mobility and empowered them to raise their voices for their betterment and resolving their issues.

However in one location only 4 members of the BBC could attend the FGD because the research team

arrived late and other women had to return to their homes located at greater distance from the main

village.

In the 2010 national socioeconomic survey many deserving families were missed and some undeserving

women were included. The future survey should be monitored more carefully and conducted door-to-

door to reduce the errors of inclusion and exclusion.

The irregularity in CCT payment may be due to delay in release of payment by BISP, or school change by

the beneficiaries, leading to lengthy process of case management, or sometimes due to attendance

compliance for two quarters being combined due to vacations (summer and winters) in schools.

Earthquake assistance Apart from the infrastructure damage, human lives and livestock loss in

participants’ houses many village infrastructure was completely destroyed along with other livestock and

public infrastructure as in Sandu, Ochri and Kotli Bala. The rehabilitation and reconstruction work was

undertaken in the earthquake-affected areas of Mansehra but still many villages are lacking basic public

facilities, safe drinking water, schools, hospitals and proper roads. The houses were not reconstructed as

per seismic specification due to lack of training and funds provision. Negligible support was provided for

livelihood restoration and women’s skill enhancement. Training was not provided to most of the women.

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52

List of Persons/Organizations Met Ministries and Government Agencies Ministry of Finance Tariq Bajwa, Secretary Economic Affairs Division Anjum Assad Amin, Additional Secretary-I, Economic Affairs Division Amjad Mahmood, Joint Secretary, Finance Division Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, Secretary Nisar Ahmed, Deputy Chief, Planning Commission, Planning and Development Division Naeem uz Zafar, Member Social Sectors, Planning Commission Ministry of Human Rights Humera Azam Khan, Joint Secretary Arshad Mahmood, Director General Ministry of Law & Justice Nayla Qureshi, Acting Secretary Raja Naeem, Legislative Advisor Moazzam Warraich, Assistant Director Iftikhar Anjum, Deputy Secretary Development, Development Wing National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) Khawar Mumtaz, former Chairperson, NCSW Samina A. Hasan, Secretary, NCSW Shahid Iqbal Khan, Director, NCSW, Ministry of Human Rights Suleman, Director Programmes Shahid Iqbal Khan, Director Administration and Finance Khalid Imran, Programme Officer Fareeha Bajwa, Consultant, Research Alam Bajwa, Consultant, Research Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Marvi Memon, Chairperson Dr. Muhammad Tahir Noor, Director General – National Socio-Economic Registry/Management

Information System (NSER/MIS) Humaira Mufti, Director General (Cash Transfers) Dr Muhammad Najeeb Khan, Director, Waseela-e-Taleem (Education) Dr. Iram Shaikh, Director, Waseela-e-Sehat (Health) Syed Asif Ali, Director, Waseela-e-Rozgar (Livelihoods) Syed Ahmad Mumtaz, Director, Donor Coordination Zeba Sathar, Country Director, Population Council, Pakistan, and Member, BISP Board of Directors National Highway Authority Abdul Ghaffar, General Manager (EALS) Aamera Riaz, Deputy Director (LM&S) (focal point for ADB) Shaukat Ali Shahid, Resettlement Specialist (SSMC) Saira Roohi, Gender Specialist (SSMC) Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority Lt. Gen Nadeem Ahmed, Managing Director & CEO Mari Petroleum Company Ltd. (former Director

General, Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority and Director General National Disaster Management Authority)

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National Institute of Management Muhammad Naeemul Haq, Director General (former member National Reconstruction Bureau) Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad Dr. Farzana Bari, Director, Gender Studies Department, Government of Punjab Dr. Mahmood Khalid Qamar, Member (Social Sectors), Planning and Development Department Muhammad Irfan Elahi, Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat (Aviation Division), former Chair, Planning &

Development Department, Government of Punjab Fauzia Viqar, Chairperson, Punjab Commission on the Status of Women Development Partners The World Bank Illango Patchamuthu, Country Director, Pakistan Anthony Cholst, Operations Adviser Imtiaz Alvi, Senior Rural Development Specialist Amena Raja, Operations Officer Sana Shahid Ahmed, Operations Analyst Department for International Development Dr. Louise Walker, Group Head, Economic Growth Group Mazhar Siraj, Team Leader and Social Development Adviser, Economic Inclusion and Poverty Shamas Bajwa, Infrastructure Adviser, Economic Growth Group UN Women Fareeha Ummar, Programme Specialist – WLSR, UN Women Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund Qazi Azmat Isa, Chief Executive Officer Samia Liaquat Ali Khan, Group Head, Compliance and Quality Assurance National Rural Support Programme Dr. Rashid Bajwa, Chief Executive Officer Jawad Ahmed, Director Operations Malik Fateh Ali, Manager Operations (former Project Director, Sustainable Livelihoods Barani Areas

Development Project) Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) Shoaib Sultan Khan, Chairman, Board of Directors, RSPN/NRSP Khalil Ahmed Tetlay, Acting Chief Executive Officer/Chief Operating Officer, RSPN Muzaffar Ud Din, General Manager, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme Aurat Foundation M. Younas Khalid, Chief Strategy & Policy Simi Kamal, Chief of Party, Gender Equity Programme Asian Development Bank, Pakistan Resident Mission (PRM) Sunil Mitra, Deputy Country Director Donneth A. Walton, Unit Head, Project Administration Guntur Sugiyarto, Principal Economist Ismat Shahjehan, Project Officer (former Gender Specialist PRM) Munir Abro, Head, Social Sectors M. Shaukat Shafi, Disaster Relief Management Specialist Uzma Altaf, Gender Consultant

Appendix 5

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Field Visits District Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ms. Afandi, Assistant Director, Benazir Income Support Programme, Bagh Mohammad Ajmal Khan, Assistant Compliance Officer, BISP Bagh Raja Maroof, Data Entry Operator, NADRA (based at BISP Bagh) Syed Shafqat Gardezi, District Programme Officer, National Rural Support Programme Shabbir Sheikh, District Programme Officer, AJK Community Development Programme Masood Ahmed, Manager, SAMBA Bank Members of BISP Beneficiary Committee at one urban and one rural location District Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkwa Mohammad Ali, Assistant Director, Balakot Muhammad Hussain, Assistant Director, Mansehra Members of BISP Beneficiary Committee at one urban and one rural location

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