Enumerating success: designing the Benazir Income Support Programme

by Azmat Budhani

Benazir Bhutto, clipboard and pen

Copyright: Dawn archive; Source: http://bit.ly/1xpE2L3

The appointment of the energetic Marvi Memon as Chairperson has signalled a welcome revival of interest in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) at the highest levels of government.  BISP was partly an upshot of the slogan “Benazir aaygee rozgar laaygee” (Benazir is coming, she will bring employment) in the election manifesto of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP).  The cash transfer programme was introduced in 2008 when the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) were in coalition, to help families cope with a sharp hike in food prices.  It later became a flagship social protection programme and was enacted into law with unanimous cross-party support in both houses of parliament.

Research (uptake) – so what?

by Samar Zuberi

'Come and have a BCG vaccine' poster

So what exactly is research uptake? 

Individuals and organisations conducting research in the social sciences are increasingly being called upon to ensure that there is uptake of their work. I recently spent a week with 150 professionals from across the globe discussing the concept of research uptake. I came away with the realisation that there is no accepted definition of the term and in fact disagreement over whether it should be used at all, however there is consensus amongst many that the idea behind research uptake is the right one - researchers should leave their ivory towers and demonstrate how their work positively affects society.

Rights beyond property: The Boohars of Rohi

by Natasha Ansari

Natasha Ansari/Collective for Social Science Research

While issues concerning the ownership of land have been the subject of political debate and policy dialogue, much less attention has been paid to the rights of land use which may not necessarily be connected to ownership. For many of the most marginalized communities the right to use land which they may not own is a critical element of their economic and social well-being which is under threat.  I saw this at close quarters in the Rohi region of southern Punjab which I visited as part of the Collective team conducting fieldwork for a study under the research programme Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) on women’s work in agriculture.

DNA and the Pursuit of Justice

by Ayesha Khan

The press recently reported that the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice has approved amendments in the country’s anti-rape laws. If they are passed, DNA profiling will be admitted as crucial evidence during investigation into rape cases. Also it was proposed that medical examination in cases of rape take place only in government-run hospitals and character assassination of victims during the trial be barred.

The Taliban in FATA: Resistance Fighters or Political Entrepreneurs?

by Yasser Kureshi

Tari Sar observation post before mortar attack on Shigal Tarna garrison, Kunar, 1987 by

Erwin Franzen

Pakistani society finds itself in a moment of deep self-reflection today, as it confronts the horrors of the attack on the children at the Army Public School in Peshawar. State and society are both trying   to grapple with the reality that the people responsible for this attack emerged from within Pakistani society. The infrastructure for recruiting, training and mobilizing the militants behind this attack lies within Pakistan’s borders. The public gaze has thus fallen upon Pakistan’s tribal belt on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan where Jihadi militant organizations, such as the Taliban, have deeply entrenched themselves, driving out many of the traditional tribal leaders, and establishing autonomous principalities. Understanding how Pakistan’s tribal belt has become such a hotbed of sustained militant activity has now become a subject of national and international concern.

Karachi is Open to Survey

by Ilma Ghouse

 

Hussain Bux Mallah/Collective for Social Science Research

Sometimes the process of gathering data itself throws up findings about the subject that were not part of the original research questions. Recently, the Collective for Social Science Research undertook a Karachi wide data collection exercise for a study on the well-being of adolescents, supported by UNICEF and the Government of Sindh. Data were collected on over 2,800 adolescents from 120 localities in the city excluding upper income areas. The challenges faced while conducting this research provided unique opportunities for insight into the functioning of the city.

Ameliorate or leverage?

by Haris Gazdar

Photo Credit: Fatima Zaidi

‘Poverty, Inequality and Economic Growth’ was the title of this year’s annual general meeting of the Pakistan Society of Development Economist (PSDE) – the largest professional association of economists in the country – held in the national capital in early December.  Inequality, as distinct from poverty, has occupied many minds of late. The financial and economic crises of 2008 and 2009 swung opinion against fat cat bosses who were seen to have been further enriched as the middle classes were impoverished.  The work of Thomas Picketty, the French economist whose analysis of wealth and income distribution trends, added academic gravitas to popular discontent with the plutocrats, was frequently mentioned at the PSDE meeting.  Not to be left behind, the World Bank came up with its own South Asia report on inequality, which actually showed that at least in terms of consumption expenditure the region was among the least unequal.