Major Challenges

DFID: Working to reduce poverty in Pakistan

Education | Health | Inclusive growth | Governance | Gender | Humanitarian | Making aid effective

In November 2006, the UK and Pakistan signed a ten-year Development Partnership Arrangement and the UK announced an increase in aid to Pakistan for the period 2009–13 to £665 million.

In July 2008, DFID published its new country plan for Pakistan, which focuses on:

• improving access to better health and education
• growth and jobs for poor people
• making government more effective
• ensure that the international community works better together.

We will extend our work further into the insecure border areas, including in Balochistan and the FATA, while building upon our work in NWFP and Punjab. This will depend on security in these areas.

Education

Education indices in Pakistan are extremely poor compared with countries of similar per capita income. There are thought to be at least 6 million primary school-age children out of school and a weak vocational education system serves only 600,000 young people from a youth population currently estimated at 40 million.

• The Secretary of State has agreed a substantial investment of up to £250 million over the next five years for education.
• DFID plans to help 5 million more children to attend primary school, improve the quality of education and provide stipends for girl’s education.
• DFID is collaborating with the government of Pakistan (GoP) and the World Bank to support the National Education Assessment System to measure learning outcomes at elementary levels.
• DFID is supporting a Gender and Education Policy Support Project with GoP and UNICEF to strengthen understanding of gender issues by policy-makers, planners and managers.

Health

Federal and provincial governments increased budgets for health from £402 million in 2005/06 to £503 million in 2007/08. DFID has provided £114 million in support of the health sector over the past three years.

• We have provided the National Health Facility (NHF) with £90 million in sector budget support over the past six years with a focus on seven national programmes (Lady Health Workers, EPI, TB, Malaria, Aids Control, Nutrition and Population Welfare) and £10 million for technical assistance.
• This has increased immunisation coverage from 53% in 2001/02 to 76% in 2006/07, trained 96,000 lady health workers, successfully treated 91% of TB cases and there are 200,000 fewer child deaths and 800,000 fewer children who are malnourished.
• Since 2005 DFID has provided £25 million to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme, for national immunisation days and polio surveillance. In 2008 there were 117 polio cases (over 5,000 in 1993).
• DFID has committed up to £90 million over 2008-13 to support the National Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programme which has helped enrol about 5000 community mid-wives and work is underway to upgrade hospitals and health centres.
• Fewer than 0.1% of the population is infected with HIV/AIDs, but more than 5% of the most at risk populations such as injecting drug users. DFID has contributed £3 million this year to the World Bank’s “Enhanced HIV & AIDS Control Programme” and is planning a further £12 million over the next four years. We have provided technical assistance to the NACP to strengthen the monitoring evaluation framework, improve legislation, and promote behaviour change.

Inclusive Growth

A range of targeted programmes is being supported to improve livelihoods and employment opportunities for the poor, to ensure the benefits of economic growth reach all groups in Pakistan. DFID interventions include:

• A microfinance programme with the Kashf Foundation which has increased incomes of 300,000 women and their families, by up to 51%.
• A £50 million Financial Inclusion Programme aims to increase the number of borrowers from 1 million to 3 million over five years, levering support from commercial banks and the private sector.
• A proposed Punjab Economic Opportunities Programme of £30 million will help the Government of Punjab to design and implement new livelihoods and employment opportunities for people in its poorest districts.  About 0.5 million people are likely to benefit from this programme.

Governance

Pakistan has invested in major changes to several areas of governance since 1999. These include a decentralisation of functions, power and funds to local governments, reform of the justice sector, and improvements to the revenue collection and administration functions. The gains made through such reforms are substantial, yet Pakistan continues to face serious challenges in its ability to provide citizens with fair, equitable and effective access to their rights. DFID supports better state effectiveness in Pakistan through working for increased capability, greater accountability and increased responsiveness of government.

DFID also supports state capability at the federal, provincial and district levels through support for improved planning and budgeting, better systems for monitoring and evaluation and more predictable resource allocation. It also supports increased engagement of citizens in the political process at both the local and national level, particularly through support for women’s participation in public life and has contributed £3.5 million to strengthening the electoral system.

Gender

Despite some successes, gender-based exclusion is seen all over Pakistan. Gender inequality cuts across all classes, sectors and regions of the country. There are significant differences in development outcomes between men and women, and between women from different socio-economic groups.

Pakistan is ranked 136 out of 177 countries in the UNDP Gender Development Index (2007/08) with violence against women including ‘honour killing’, trafficking, and physical abuse. DFID Pakistan is addressing gender inequality (and more broadly social exclusion) in a number of ways:

• DFID has committed £6 million to the UNDP Gender Support Programme to increase economic opportunities for women and participation and effectiveness of women political representatives: £2 million of this has been used to establish in 2007 a Gender Justice and Protection Fund to tackle violence against women.
• Mainstreaming support for gender in our programmes. For example, in 2007 a £3.5 million Gender in Education Policy Support Project was approved to close the gender gap in education. The new Strengthening Education in Pakistan programme (£150 million over five years) will ensure greater participation by poor and vulnerable groups, including girls, in education.
• DFID funded the Women's Empowerment in Muslim Contexts (WEMC) programme, which has recently helped produce a short film, 'A Small Dream', which debates Pakistan's culture and women's status in it. It has been shown at the Gender Studies Department of the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) and has been featured on the LCWU radio station. It is also being used in teaching by other universities in the city.
• Policy dialogue with the Government to reduce gender inequality.

Humanitarian aid

DFID has made available £22 million in humanitarian assistance for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have been forced from their homes because of the current conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and parts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). This funding is for the provision of shelter, water, sanitation, food and medical services. DFID is currently assessing how to best disburse its remaining £10 million allocation.

DFID provided £53 million in immediate emergency relief in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of October 2005. We are now providing substantial direct budget support to the Pakistan Government's Earthquake Reconstruction Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), which has been tasked to oversee and coordinate the reconstruction effort in NWFP and Pakistan Administered Kashmir. Overall, DFID has committed £126 million to post earthquake relief and rehabilitation. DFID also contributed over £2.2 million to help those affected by the devastating flooding of June 2007 in Sindh and Balochistan. A further £0.5 million went towards assisting the victims of last year's earthquake in Balochistan.

Making aid effective

DFID has been at the forefront of efforts to better align donors’ programmes and policies in Pakistan to help address poverty. We are working to ensure that the international community works together better through, among other things, better coordination between donors and a reformed UN system aligned behind clear government plans. We also co-founded and currently chair the Donor Poverty Reduction Working Group, to share information, promote joined up engagement with government and develop common positions.