The National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) in Pakistan was used to facilitate the delivery of non-contributory schemes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NSER is used for enrolling beneficiaries into various schemes under Pakistan’s multi-sectoral multi-stakeholder poverty reduction strategy, Ehsaas, along with the biometrically enabled Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC). With a coverage of 85 per cent and seamless interoperability with the CNIC, the NSER formed a strategic pillar for shock-related expansions of the social protection system.1
The NSER was pivotal to the implementation of the Ehsaas Emergency Cash (EEC) scheme that provided a one-off emergency assistance of PKR 12,000 to 16.9 million families at risk of extreme poverty.2 The EEC was targeted at five types of beneficiaries (Table 1). The NSER was used to identify Category I and II groups. Because the NSER covers only 85 per cent of the population, it was complemented with other targeting mechanisms to identify the remaining 15 per cent, Category III, III-A and IV. The process of updating NSER started in 2019 and when the COVID-19 outbreak started, it had only been completed for 40 per cent of the population.3
Table 1: Targeting mechanisms underpinning various beneficiary types under the EEC
| Category | Population covered | Use of NSER for targeting | Alternative targeting mechanism |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 5 million Ehsaas Kafaalat (EK) beneficiaries | Households with a poverty score below 16.17 on NSER poverty score card 2010-11 | None |
| II | 4 million additional poor and vulnerable families identified from the NSER | Households with a poverty score between 16.17 and 38 on NSER poverty score card 2010-11 or 2019-20 | None |
| III | 3.5 million additional poor and vulnerable families identified through provincial and district administration | No | Individuals with 6 monthly average mobile and landline telephone bills of less than PKR 100 |
| III-A | 0.7 million additional poor and vulnerable families from Punjab identified through district administration | No |
Same as Category III, Category IIIA was introduced to provide provincial governments the flexibility to expand EEC beyond their federally-funded allocation via their own budget. This was implemented only by Punjab province |
| IV | 1.2 million labourers who suffered livelihood loss due to the pandemic |
Yes + Poverty score between 16.17 and 38 in the NSER poverty score card of 2010-11 or 2019-20 |
Individuals with 6 monthly average mobile and landline telephone bills of less than PKR 100 Self-reported monthly income below PKR 30,000 |
| V | 2.5 million new poor families that fit the category II or III eligibility criteria but were excluded due to reaching limit of total beneficiaries |
Yes + Either Category II or III, who became eligible in June 2020 when population-based district-level quotas were eliminated to expand the program to all eligible beneficiaries |
|
Category I beneficiaries were automatically registered and notified about the additional emergency cash disbursement. All remaining beneficiaries were expected to nominate themselves through one of the Short Messaging Service (SMS), web-based or district-level registration services.
With the combination of the NSER and broader digital capabilities in terms of CNIC, SMS/web service and analytics powered by data interoperability, the EEC was able to scale-up to include new caseloads quickly. The SMS and web-based registration systems were used during the crisis to enable remote enrolment. Similarly, the data integration via the CNIC proved instrumental in deploying similar data analytics to verify eligibility for the EEC.
The central challenge was that the NSER does not capture short-term fluctuations in wealth along with outdated data on existing households. Moreover, because only 25 per cent of women living in poverty have access to both a CNIC and a mobile phone, compared to 68 per cent of men living in poverty,4 the combined requirements of CNIC and EEC also faced issues of excluding the most vulnerable groups.
The EEC presents several key policy implications for strengthening the NSER. First, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to lead to more frequent updates of socioeconomic data to improve shock-responsiveness. Second, the crisis has highlighted the need for strengthening the governance and institutions, particularly at sub-national levels.
Further reading:
- Nishtar, S., (2020) Ehsaas Emergency Cash Report. Available at: https://www.pass.gov.pk/userfiles1/files/Ehsaas%20Emergency%20Cash%20Report_17dec2020.pdf
- Markhof, Y., (2020) Pakistan’s social protection response to the COVID-19 pandemic: the adequacy of Ehsaas Emergency Cash and the road ahead. Brazil: IPC-IG. Available at: http://ipcig.org/sites/default/files/pub/en/WP188_Pakistan_s_social_protection_response_to_the_COVID_19.pdf
- World Bank (2020) COVID-19 G2P Cash-Transfer Payments Country Brief: PAKISTAN. Available at: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/760541593464535534/World-Bank-G2Px-COVID19-Pakistan-Brief.pdf
- Democracy Reporting International (2020) Evaluating Ehsaas Emergency Cash Transfer Program – Successes, Oversights and Possibilities. https://democracy-reporting.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DRI-Brief_Ehsaas_small.pdf
- Lone, T. & Shakeel, M. (2021). Assessment of social protection responses to COVID-19: Pakistan case study. Oxford, UK: Maintains Programme, Oxford Policy Management. Available at: https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/77053
Footnote
- https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/77053
- https://www.pass.gov.pk/userfiles1/files/Ehsaas%20Emergency%20Cash%20Report_17dec2020.pdf
- Ibid.
- https://www.cgdev.org/publication/womens-access-cash-transfers-light-covid-19