admin 
ISLAMABAD, (MANEND NEWS): Under the Ehsaas umbrella, there are
many programs for 14 different target groups. But often, a poor family
is not aware of the benefits they are entitled to and, if they are aware,
they have to go to multiple offices to seek help. With One Window
Ehsaas, the aim is to deliver services through a single window, a one-
stop shop. One Window Ehsaas has six pillars: A One Stop Shop, the
Ehsaas Center; a public facing digital information and services
platform; mobile app; back office consolidated digital interface;
Cognitive API architecture, or the integrated national socioeconomic
database; and finally, the Ehsaas One-Window Beneficiary Selection
and Targeting Policy. The first One Window Ehsaas Center is opening
in Sitara Market today (Wednesday) in Islamabad.
In this center, all Ehsaas services can be accessed in one place. To
facilitate Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries, whose families receive
stipends, both Point of Sales machines as well as cash machines or
ATMs have been placed in the One Window Center. Partner banks have
opened their branches in the center, and NADRA office has been set up
as well. Having all these services in one center can significantly
facilitate an Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiary, who often previously needed
to go to many offices to get complaints resolved.
Ehsaas stipends for children can be accessed at the center also. The
digital system, which has recently been put in place does real time
verifications from three data sources before the child is enrolled in the
program and if the child doesn’t have a Birth registration form—which
is a prerequisite for enrollment—the mother can just walk the
courtyard to get it made in the NADRA center rather than taking taxi
to go to another site.
Ehsaas Nashonuma services are also available in the center. Children
at risk of stunting and pregnant mothers can get specialized nutritional
food from the office and cash stipends from the ATM. They get
awareness session as well on health and nutrition. Antenatal services
and immunization services are available at the center. Students can
walk into the center and get information about Ehsaas Undergraduate
Scholarship, and they don’t have to pay in an internet café to fill their
application. In the One Window center, there is free use of internet,
computer and printer. In the One Window center, someone, looking for
a livelihood opportunity can visit Ehsaas Amdan and Ehsaas Interest
Free Loan Desks. A person in need of financial assistance for health
can find out about Sehat Sahulat and, if not entitled in Sehat Sahulat
or not in an empaneled hospital can be channeled to Ehsaas Tahafuz
or PBM’s health related financial assistance systems. In One Window
service, there also are many care services. Somebody wanting to
spend a night in Panagah can book a bed and get free One Star bed
and breakfast facility. People can admit a child in an orphanage; and a
young woman can get information and be admitted in a vocational
center.
A street child can be admitted in one of our free schools. Ehsaas
Registration Desks have been set up where people can get surveyed,
to ascertain if they are eligible for Ehsaas benefits. In the center,
Dashboards, display information relevant to people’s needs and
complaints are addressed in real time. There is also a beneficiary
retiring room, in case a woman comes with a child and needs to feed
her. A differently abled individual can have multiple avenues of redress
in the center. Processes are being made simpler so that they can get a
disability card made with ease. In the same disability room, NGOs are
given space to provide free prosthesis and orthoses. Also, a
customized wheelchair can be ordered. The second part is the digital
e-portal with people centered information; this was built learning from
the questions on social media about various Ehsaas programs.
The third part of One Window Ehsaas is an app which mirrors
information on the digital portal but in addition, it also marks locations
of our service sites: Langars, Panagahs and payment sites. When
opened from a mobile, an individual can be navigated to the address.
This app is enabled with a camera, which allows a photograph to pick
the geolocation of an Ehsaas social welfare site to be mapped. The
fourth part is the integrated digital interface facing the back office,
which facilitates access of all those working in the Ehsaas ecosystem
to appropriate links and resources. The fifth component of One
Window Ehsaas is the integrated database. Previously the 2010 BISP
data was siloed; even provincial social protection agencies had to do
paperwork to access the database and there were costs involved.
Now, under the Ehsaas data reform, all federal Ehsaas implementing
agencies will be able to access data from the 2021 Ehsaas National
Socio-economic Registry through APIs with no cost at all. This two-way
data sharing will also enrich the data repository. Data integration will
also enable transparency. Agencies will be able to see what benefits an
individual or the family are getting, and the entitlements they have in
terms of various Ehsaas programs. The sixth pillar of One Window
Ehsaas, is the Standardized Beneficiary Targeting Policy.
Previously, all agencies used their own eligibility ascertainment
system—this Policy will compel standardized beneficiary targeting
using the Proxy Means Test, which uses information on household and
individual characteristics to compute an algorithm generated score (0-
100) for each household, which then serves as a proxy for welfare
status. The information needed to generate the score comes from the
National Socioeconomic Survey.
So, in the One Window Policy specific PMTs were stipulated for each
program and a policy devised to do away with duplications. “We will
open Ehsaas One Window Centers in every district”, said Special
Assistant to PM on Poverty Alleviation Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar.
