THE RATIONALE

The mean overall Poverty Headcount Ratio (HCR) for the province is reported at 31.61 percent
(calorified) and 40.96 percent for rural Punjab, whereby eight districts including Rajanpur,
Muzaffargarh, Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, D.G.Khan, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran and Pakpattan
house an extraordinarily high incidence of income and human poverty.
The districts are contiguous to each other and form a u-shaped continuum at the southern tip of
the province, adjoining districts including Multan, Khanewal, Vehari, Sahiwal and Jhang with
HCR averaging 35.7 percent and Poverty Gap averaging 8.24 percentage points, much lower
than the farmer districts. Overall 39 percent of the poor in the Punjab reside in the eight poorest
districts, while housing 21 percents of the province’s total population. The districts adjoining the
eight poorest districts consistently perform better in terms of economic and social development
results.

DETERMINANTS OF POVERTY IN THE EIGHT POOREST DISTRICTS OF PUNJAB.

Determinants

• Low assets ownership by households

• Weak farm-to-market infrastructure

• Low skill and education attainment

• Low local industrialization / urbanization

• High Dependency Ratio

• Provisioning of Basic Services

Eight poorest districts can be addressed by creating livelihood opportunities for the
chronic poor; economic empowerment through skill training, jobs creation and market
integration will be key for transitioning the poor out of their plight, by enabling capital formation
for the poor households.

EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME MODEL

An employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) is built upon the model of the Government
functioning as an employer of last resort, whereby the public sector develops the institutional
capacity to introduce an automatic stabilizer in the job market. The Government puts systems in
place to absorb surplus labour during varying economic cycles; the number of jobs generated by
the programme expanding and contacting in consonance with the excess labour supply. Some
important characteristics of an EGS are as follows:

1) Creating / improving skill by on-the-job training in public works projects and social
services delivery.
 2) Facilitate assets creation in the future through skill development and protecting /
maintaining existing assets by sustaining incomes.
3) Mirror side of an EGS must be the creation of private sector demand, through improved
market integration and a friendly business environment.
4) EGS spending is non- inflationary as it only remunerates for basic sustenance without
fueling a wage push.
5) An EGS providing a social protection function may substitute costs employed in other
direct cash support/ social protection schemes.
6) An EGS platform provides leverage to the Government for adapting the labour market to
structural and technological changes.
7) It can be operated in collaboration with Civil Society Organizations.
8) The beneficiaries are selected by households to mitigate the risk of catalyzing in –
migration from external labour markets.
9) Local Administration capacities required for developing / determining EGS projects, and
supervising the assignments.
NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT GENERATION PROGRAMME IN PAKISTAN

Objectives & Outputs

The proposed Programme has the following objectives:

To reduce poverty and exclusion through promoting productive and gainful employment.

The proposed outputs are as follows:

i. Developed and strengthen institutional capacities at national and sub- national levels to
protect the poor by generating public employment.
ii. Build marketable skill of poor and contribute to alleviating poverty.
iii. Stimulate demand for skilled labour through creation and strengthening of employment
cells.
iv. Support effective targeting of cash transfer programms.
INSTITUTIONAL ROLES:

Alongwith the relevant Government Ministries / Departments (Planning & Development,

Laour, Agriculture, Livestock, Industries etc….) other institutional platforms that could be
considered for institutional supports include NAVTAC, National Training Bureau, Benazir
Income Support Programme at the Federal, and TEVTAs, Skill Development Centers, Trade
Associations at the provincial and District levels.
The NEGP programme framework will:

• Identify the most appropriate institutional structures at Federal, provincial and local level
to implement NEGP.

• Define institutional roles, responsibilities and mandates of suggested Departments at

different tiers of Government.

• Propose alignment of NEGP with Government ongoing employment, cash transfer or

Labour Market Information programme.

• Elucidate funding options and requirement and proposed resource mobilization channels.

• Describe mechanisms and templates for Employment Guarantee Initiative designing

including beneficiaries targeting, work contracting clauses, remuneration determination,
exit clauses, spatially tailored, work type (agriculture, infrastructure, social service…)
and so on.

• Define monitoring indicator aligned to the objectives and outputs of the EGS at different
tiers. Elaborate a comprehensive results and resource framework for five year.