I. SOCIAL ACTION PROGRAMME (SAP)
Pakistan's economic growth over the last four decades has been more than satisfactory compared with the developing countries having similar level of per capita income. However, this impressive economic performance has not been translated into improvement of social sector. This indicates that Pakistan's overall economic performance is incongruous with its social development. Economic growth and human resource development are mutually dependent phenomena, that is, one reinforces the other. Higher economic growth increasing incomes of both the government and households, further motivates them to spend more on human resource development. Improvement in human resources directly increase productivity of labour and capital which contributes significantly to sustained high economic growth. It is evident that sustainable socio-economic development cannot take place without adequate human infrastructure. At the time of independence, Pakistan's social infrastructure was extremely poor and underdeveloped. The government's preoccupation with the objective of GNP maximization through import substitution industrialization, precluded proper development of the social sector. As a result of growing population, the condition of social sector further deteriorated. Consequently, the chain between economic growth and social development became weak and adversely affected growth momentum. The deceleration of growth during the last four years (1996-2000) can partly be attributed to the past neglect of the social sector. The Table 14.1 indicates that almost all the social indicators of Pakistan reflect poor performance as compared to other developing countries.

Source: i) Federal SAP Secretariat, Planning & Development Division, Islamabad.
ii) Human Development report 1999.

The lagging social sectors have now started exerting severe limits to economic growth. The development of social sectors has now become critical for the country's medium to long term growth prospects. The main aim of the Social Action Programme (SAP) is to improve access and effectiveness of basic social services like primary education, primary health care and population welfare services, potable water and sanitation. The provision of these services are essential for the daily lives of the people and achieving sustainable broad based economic growth. It is in this background that the Social Action Programme was designed to improve the country's social indicators. These benefits will accrue only if the programmes are well designed and implemented effectively with involvement of the communities they serve.

Social Action Programme Project (SAPP-I)
The Social Action Programme was conceived in 1992-93, with an investment outlay of Rs.103.15 billion, purely as a domestic effort from own resources. Subsequently, the donors evinced keen interest in financing the SAP. Accordingly, Social Action Programme Project-I (SAPP-I) was formulated and launched in 1993-94 with an outlay of Rs.127.4 billion for three years with the assistance from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Netherlands and the U.K. Of the total outlay, about 25 percent financing was to be contributed by donors and 75 percent by the Government of Pakistan.

The actual expenditure during SAPP-I aggregated to Rs. 106.4 billion, indicating utilization of 83.4 percent. The shortfall in actual expenditure was caused mainly due to less financing by foreign donors agencies which amounted to Rs. 13 billion, as against the target of Rs. 28 billion. The objectives of SAP-I have been to increase the level of allocations and expenditures on SAP Sectors, to improve the services design with focus on access and quality; institutional Strengthening, involve-improvement of NGOs, private sector and community participation; and building of political will and bureaucratic support.

The SAP has made sufficient efforts in addressing the implementation issue by (a) accelerating policy reforms to improve social sectors design (b) achieving financial targets, (c) raising political commitment, (d) involving stakeholders for efficiency and cost effectiveness, and (e) improving social services delivery. However, overall progress remains below expectation mainly due to bottlenecks confronted at the implementation stage. Difficulties were faced on timely release of funds to a number of important programmes, such as, Federal Programmes of Population Welfare and Health which hampered their progress. The Federal SAP Secretariat, Provincial SAP Cells and AG's office have not been effective in carrying out their essential roles due to lack of funding and staffing. This has adversely affected coordination, monitoring and evaluation as well as improvement in governance and financial management. However, the key physical achievements of SAPP-I are given in Table 14.2.

Source: Federal SAP Secretariat, Planning & Development Division, Islamabad.

Social Action Programme Project (SAPP-II)
After completion of SAP phase-I (1993-96), the Government has initiated another five and half year SAPP Phase-II (January 1997 to June, 2002) with an outlay of Rs. 498.8 billion w.e.f 1st January 1997. Out of total expenditure, the donor assistance is envisaged to be Rs. 101.0 billion (20.2 percent) and the Government of Pakistan financing is Rs. 397.8 billion (79.8 percent). Like Phase-I, the main focus of the Phase-II is also on the four priority areas of social sector namely, the elementary education, (ii) the Primary-health and population, (iii) the rural Water Supply and Sanitation, and (iv) the Population Welfare and Cross sectoral strategies.

The actual expenditure of SAPP-I, projected outlay of SAPP-II and the percentage share of different sector as percent of total expenditure are given in Table 14.3.

Source: (i) Federal SAP Secretariat, Planning and Development Division.
(ii) Figures in brackets ( ) represent sectoral shares.

Objectives of SAPP-II
The SAPP-II has been assigned with a view to improving

i) financial allocation, to social sector increasing from the current level of 1.7-2.0 percent to 2.5 percent of GDP.

ii) improving service design with focus on consolidation and quality of service delivery unlike the expansion of service points during SAP-I.

iii) institutional strengthening through technical assistance and training for up-grading planning, implementation and monitoring capacity of executing agencies.

iv) involving NGOs, private sector and communities in social sector services delivery.

v) disseminating understanding of SAP through a well formulated communication strategy, instead of just depending on building political will and bureaucratic support.

vi) increasing transparency and improving governance through administrative and financial decentralization, development of public-private partnership with the involvement of communities/beneficiaries and enforcement of checks on staff absenteeism, adherence to site selection criteria and merit based recruitment.

The scope of SAPP-II has been expanded to cover middle schools and non-formal education in the Education Sector, tehsil level referral hospitals, tuberculosis and nutrition in Health sector; and water supply and sanitation in urban slums.

Financial Allocations, 1999-2000
Overall financial allocation for SAPP-II in 1999-2000 is Rs.67.3 billion. Of which, Rs. 46.0 billion is recurrent expenditure (68.4%) and Rs.21.2 billion development expenditure (31.1%). The allocation for non-salary expenditure aggregate to Rs.6.2 billion which constitute 13.5 percent of the overall non-development allocation. The government's share is Rs. 59.4 billion (88.3%) and Rs.7.9 billion is to be contributed by the SAP donors (11.7%). The higher allocation for non-salary component will help to improve quality of services, through provisioning of additional supplies of text books, instructional materials, medicines, contraceptives, etc. Against these allocations, Rs. 52.7 billion would be actually utilized. Out of which Rs. 14.7 billion (27.9 %) on development side and Rs. 38.0 billion (72.1 %) on recurrent side. The lower utilization will be due to macro resource constraints/tight economic situation.

The physical achievements, 1998-99 and targets, 1999-2000 of the SAPP-II by sectors/sub-sectors are given in Table 14.4: [See next].

Implementation Strategy of SAPP-II
The strategy under SAP-II is to provide adequate funds for both development expenditures on facilities and to cover for costs of hiring additional teachers, doctors and other operating costs. This will eliminate the imbalance between development and recurring expenditures. In addition, institutional arrangements will have to be modified to expand the coverage of social services in a more effective manner. The responsibility of provision must shift toward local governments, NGOs and CBOs who are in a better position to recognize local needs and demands, and mobilize direct funding on a continuing basis. Sector wise programmes are discussed below.

Elementary Education
The major thrust of the implementation strategy under SAPP-II is on adding new rooms in existing primary and middle schools, provisioning of facilities for the existing schools and construction of buildings for shelterless schools, hiring of local teachers, providing additional incentives to female teachers in the shape of higher allowances, re-deployment of teachers, and initiation of teachers training programme. Efforts will be made to decentralize administrative and financial powers to the grass root level for establishment of School Management Committees (SMCs) and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), strengthening of education management information system (EMIS) and ensuring of enhanced budget allocations for non-salary items like reading materials, furniture etc.

Source: Planning and Development Division, Islamabad.

Primary Health and Population
The principal strategy comprises health care, general health education, training of paramedics, decentralization of administrative and financial powers, strengthening of health management information system, ensured supply of medicine at the health outlets, development of reproduction health package and integration of health and family health services.

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS)
The major features of the strategy are to involve communities in planning, implementation and management of RWSS system, strict enforcement of unified policy adopted in SAPP-I, categorization of completed schemes and their transfer to the communities through social mobilization, introduction of low cost and appropriate technology based on the choice of the community, strengthening of community relation units and involvement of NGOs for community mobilization.

Cross Sectoral Strategies
It is envisaged to address the governance issues, namely, merit-based recruitment, proper site selection, transparency in procurement and reducing absenteeism, increasing accountability and third Party Validation by the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan. Moreover, strengthening of Planning and implementation capacity of the SAP Cells and the line departments, upgradation of existing monitoring system and creation of new monitoring mechanism for effective monitoring would also be undertaken.

During implementation, the SAPP-II confronted major constraints like phase-I which include: (a) Lack of the ownership of the programme at all levels, (b) inadequacy of institutional capacity, (c) weak monitoring system, (d) non-implementation of the recommendations of the Accountant General's Office on governance issue, (e) concentration of administrative and financial powers, and (f) frequent transfer of officials. These administrative and financial constraints necessitated the restructuring of the on going phase II of the SAP.

Restructuring of SAPP-II
A restructuring proposal of SAPP-II has been prepared for negotiation with the SAPP-II donors. The Social Sector Coordination Committee (SSCC) of the Cabinet set-up at the federal level has been re-constituted and re-activated by the present Government with the responsibilities of monitoring the implementation of SAP and removing bottlenecks. The proposal for restructuring of SAPP-II has been approved by the SSCC of the Cabinet at its meeting held on April 6, 2000. The restructuring will mainly focus on the followings to accelerate implementation of the programme:-
- Replication of SSCC at provincial levels.
- Yearly revision of financing and expenditure plans of SAP.
- Initiation of steps for the approval of PC-I for capacity building and monitoring.
- Identification of non functional SAP facilities and their rehabilitation.
- Integration of the SAP programme at the grass root level with the district level local bodies.
- Formulation of PC-I for engaging NGOs and CBOs for mobilizing communities for the purpose of the establishment of the grass root level committees in each SAP sector.
- Redesigning of Participatory Development Programme (PDP), simplification of monitoring indicators etc.

II. SOCIAL WELFARE
In a market economy some segment of the population are unable to fend for themselves due to circumstances beyond their control. The disabled and handicapped persons, poor's and socially marginalized people come under this category. Civil Society has to take care of such unfortunate members of the society. In order to mitigate the miseries of the disabled and socially marginalized groups and to reduce poverty, the government has designed Social Welfare Programme.

During the current fiscal year, 1999-2000, Rs. 136.8 million have been provided to the Social Welfare Sector under the Annual Development Programme which is 25.1 percent higher than last year's utilization of Rs. 109.4 million. Priority has been given to the education and rehabilitation services to the handicapped, as 64.1% of the total funds have been allocated to it. The ADP for 1999-2000 largely consists of on-going projects. The government has designed the following programmes for the welfare of the poor and targeted groups as discussed below:

Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM)
Islam enjoins upon its adherents compassion and service of fellow human- beings. The basic object of an Islamic State is the welfare of its citizens. Following the injunctions of Islam, Pakistan Bait-u-Mal was established in 1992 through an act. The main objectives of the PBM are to provide financial assistance to destitute and needy widows, orphans and other poor persons. It also provides assistance to the needy people specially in the fields of (i) education, (ii) residential accommodation, (iii) free medical treatment and rehabilitation (iv) stipends to educated youth before employment, and stipends and financial assistance to brilliant but poor students who can not afford to acquire higher technical education abroad, and (v) self employment schemes. Pakistan Bait-u-Mal is striving to search out different ways to minimize hardships of the needy people. Beside Bait-ul-Mal, following social welfare programmes are also in operation:

i) National Centre for Rehabilitation of Child Labour (NCRCL)
Responding to world-wide clamour against hazards of child labour, the PBM has undertaken the onerous task to wean away children from this menace. To achieve this objective, a country wide network of schools to prevent child abuse and child labour was set up in November, 1995. Worse-hit areas like Sialkot Soccer industry and carpet weaving units were specially focussed. So far, the PBM has established 33 NCRCL to impart quality education to the children, involved in hazardous labour. These children are provided free uniforms, School Bags, Stationary and other necessary requirements and their parents are also given an allowance of Rs. 300/= P.M. to compensate for loss of wages of the children. Moreover, a stipend of Rs. 150/= P.M. is also given to each child who wants to avail the school facilities. An amount of Rs. 10.848/- million has been incurred from July, 1999 to April, 2000 to prevent the child labour in Pakistan.

Another scheme has also been evolved to extend present NCRCL for further studies of those children in regular schools where they will be provided free text books and writing material, monthly stipend of Rs.100/- P.M. and Rs. 200/- per month for the parents of child labour under the "Atta" subsidy scheme. This scheme is likely to start next year.

(ii) Educational Stipends:
Another programme of Educational Stipends to poor students at the rates of Rs. 50/- per month at primary level, Rs. 100/- per month at High School level and Rs. 200/- per month at post Matric level are also in vogue. If a student is residing in hostel, another Rs. 200/- P.M. is granted, as hostel charges. In total, Rs.412,708 as hostel charges were given to 222 deserving students during July-April, 1999-2000.

(iii) National Trust for the Disabled (NTD)
The NTD was established in 1988 with an independent and autonomous status for the welfare and rehabilitation of the disabled people. Various Community Organizations, volunteer agencies, national and international agencies came forward to increase the effectiveness of the Trust. The NTD completed the construction of the Purpose-Built Special Education Complex at Karachi and a similar complex at Naushahro Feroz is at final stage. Another complex is also functioning in a rented building at Mianwali. The total enrolment of Special Children in these three centres of the NTD is 242 with all the four disabilities, i.e. physical, hearing, visual impaired and mental retardation. Another 120 Special Children are on the waiting list.

Vocational training was also provided to make the Special Children as useful members of the society. In collaboration with the NGOs, they obtained 50 hearing aids, eye glasses, and wheel chairs for disabled students. A Mental Health Rehabilitation and Treatment centre was developed in collaboration with Potohar Mental Health Association. An amount of Rs. 3.5 million was allocated in the Budget for the National Institute of Special Education and total expenditure upto 9-2-2000 were Rs. 1.7 million.

(iv) Individual Financial Assistance
According to the PBM Programme, individual financial assistance is also provided to poor and deserving persons. An amount Rs. 4.020 million was distributed to 1192 beneficiaries during July-April, 1999-2000.

(v) Dastkari Schools
Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal has established Dastkari schools for poor girls and widows to train them so that they are able to earn their livelihood honourably and become self-reliant. At present, there are only 10 schools in Pakistan. The PBM has further planned to establish one Dastkari school at each District level for better results of the project. For this purpose, an amount of Rs. 1.123 million has been spent from July 1999 to April 2000.

(vi) Mobile Dispensaries
The PBM is providing free medical care and medicines to sick poor people in all provincial headquarters and in Islamabad. Mobile teams visit major towns where health facilities were almost not existent. An amount of Rs. 1.085 million has been spent from July, 1999 to April, 2000.

(vii) Community Education & Action Centres (CEACenters)
The PBM has invited many organizations for their cooperation/guidance in eradication of child labour. The ILO has entered into an agreement with PBM to establish 18 CEA Centers through out the country and these centres have been made functional w.e.f February 1, 2000. To meet the next six month requirements, an amount of Rs. 12 million has been disbursed to the PBM Provincial Head Quarters. An agreement has been signed between the ILO & the PBM under which the ILO will provide 14 percent of total amount of Rs. 20.336, million as first installment.

(viii) "Atta" Subsidy Scheme
This scheme was introduced in 1997 to augment kitchen budget of families having monthly income of less than Rs. 1500/-. Subsidy of Rs.200/- P.M. was provided to each family to mitigate the burden of price-hike. Approximately 230,865 beneficiaries including, widows, orphans, aged, disabled and other deserving persons were provided subsidy of Rs. 35.732 million from July 1999 to 31st November, 1999.

(ix) Kidney Dialysis Centres
The PBM has provided Rs. 1.5 million for purchase of dialysis machines in Muzaffargarh Kidney Centre. For smooth running of the project, a committee comprising the members of PBM, Municipal Committee, and local administration, Muzaffargarh has also been constituted. A sum of Rs. 50 million was, however, transferred to Chief Executive Secretariat Islamabad on account of "National Dialysis Treatment Scheme" as that Secretariat is the overall incharge of this scheme.

(x) National Zakat Foundation (NZF)
The National Zakat Foundation provides grant in aid to NGOs registered under voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance 1961. This foundation has registered many organizations and has provided them grants for sharing the capital cost of their projects for helping the needy and poor people like orphans, widows and disabled persons. During July-March 1999-2000, some 0.34 million beneficiaries were served through NZF funded facilities i.e. 0.312 million from health services, 0.012 million from training and 0.016 million from special education services. The foundation has sanctioned during July-March 1999-2000 an amount of Rs. 19.680 million, as grant-in-aid for 72 projects and disbursed Rs. 15.330 million for 71 projects. Province-wise sanctions and disbursements are shown in Table 14.5:

Source: Ministry Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education, Islamabad.

III. PROGRAMME FOR WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT
The present government gives top priority to the empowerment of women and to bring a positive change in their lives. For this purpose, special efforts have been made for the protection of Women's rights. Many activities have been undertaken during 1999-2000 to make women fully productive and efficient member of the society.

The present government has announced a package of facilities for the development/welfare of women to enable them to participate in the policy and decision making process at various levels. Consultation at the ministerial level was held to review, discuss, and analyse the present condition of women and make recommendations for their improvement. The National Commission on the Status of Women is likely to be established shortly. It would effectively deal with all matters relating to policy formulation, review and implementation of various laws, concerning women's rights and struggle for the respectable status of women.

Various women projects both in public and private sectors are being funded. The main purpose of these projects are to provide various services to women, especially in the field of education, training, mother and child health, micro credit, and skill development programmes.

In the National Plan of Action (NPA) for women, tangible programmes could be launched towards improvement of women's status. The Ministry of Women Development (MOWD) is playing the role of coordination for all activities of NPA, while implementation of the NPA is the basic responsibility of provincial departments and the NGO's. The Advisory Boards on Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education have been constituted. These would help enhance effectiveness of the MOWD to take immediate steps and measures for resolution of women's issues and their needs.

IV. RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Rural development is a multi-sectoral approach for development of physical and social infrastructure. It aims at realizing fully the productive potential of rural areas and spread benefits of development to the rural population which currently forms about 68 percent of the total population. The implementation strategy includes provision of infrastructure and social amenities which include construction of roads, supply of potable water, village electrification, provision of educational and health facilities etc. During the financial year 1999-2000, an amount of Rs.3370.0 million including foreign aid of Rs. 3348.6 million was provided for rural development sector. Out of which, Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development would utilize Rs. 3220.0 million including Rs. 3210.0 million of foreign aid for construction of about 500 km farm to market/rural roads. The Norcotics Control Division is expected to utilize Rs. 145.3 million including Rs. 138.6 million of foreign aid on Integrated Area Development project in Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies and Dir District in the NWFP. Interior Division will utilize Rs. 4.7 million on construction of rural roads in Islamabad Capital territory.

The major sectoral programmes being implemented during 1999-2000 to facilitate both short and long term environmental and rural development and regional development include: projects under Narcotic Control Division, special development areas, different foreign aided projects assisted by the Asian Development Bank for Farm-to Market Roads and Japanese Assisted Rural Roads Construction Project (under overseas Economic Corporation Funds) are also under implementation.

During the year (2000-2001) an amount of Rs. 2419.8 million including Rs. 2387.6 million of foreign aid has been proposed for rural development sector. Out of which Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development has been provided Rs. 2226.0 million, including Rs. 2214.0 million of foreign aid for construction of 500 km farm to market roads, under ADB assisted rural access roads project and Japanese assisted farm to market roads. Interior Division have been provided Rs.10.9 million for construction of rural roads, women development, and income generating programmes for Islamabad. The Norcotics Control Division has been provided Rs. 182.9 million including Rs. 173.6 million of foreign aid for Agriculture and Area Development Project in the Poppy Growing Areas of NWFP.

Village Electrification
Provision of electricity of the rural area is a basic amenity of life which improves the productivity and income of village folks. During the current year (July-March 1999-2000) 863 villages have been provided electricity bringing the total number of electrified villages to 67351, as per details given in Table 14 .6.

Source:- Ministry of Water and Power.

Integrated Rural and Urban Development Programme for Poverty Alleviation
The Government has initiated a comprehensive Programme for poverty alleviation through small social and infrastructure development works at grass roots level, with an allocation of Rs.15.0 billion for the calendar year 2000.

The Projects/schemes eligible under the Programme are Farm-to-Market Roads, Water Supply particularly the rehabilitation and lining of canals, repair and surfacing of small rural roads, pavement of streets etc. The Ministry of Finance has released a total of Rs. 3,500 million to the Provinces, as first tranch. The Provincial break-up of the funds released is given in Table 14.7.

Source: Planning & Development Division.

Execution of the Programme shall be the responsibility of the District Administration with close coordination of the NGOs/CBOs of good record of accomplishment, respectable citizens and Army Monitoring Teams. Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development shall be the focal point for this Programme and shall act as facilitator, monitor and third party validator. It shall collect report/data about physical/financial progress of this Programme and will submit to the Social Sector Coordination Committee (SSCC) of the Cabinet for review on quarterly basis. While a Steering Committee will review the programme bi-monthly.

National Rural Support Programme(NRSP)
The NRSP was established in 1992 and was provided an initial grant of Rs. 500 Million by the Government of Pakistan to set up a countrywide programme for poverty alleviation and improvement of living conditions in the rural areas. This programme is trying to set up a network of grass root organizations or CBOs called community organizations through social mobilization. The NRSP's strategy is to "harness people's potential to help themselves" for which the NRSP provides social guidance to the organized communities.

Up to February 2000, the NRSP has facilitated formation of 9,744 community organizations. Nearly 239,691 households have been organized. The total credit disbursed up to February, 2000 amounts to Rs. 1952 billion. The cumulative credit recovery rate was 98.2 percent in 1998-99. Nearly, 57,992 community activists have been trained by the NRSP. Some 2,179 infrastructure schemes have been initiated in collaboration with the NRSP and 57,688 households have availed the benefits of these schemes. Nearly 5.1 million animals were vaccinated and 6,499 million trees were planted through the NRSP. In collaboration with the UNDP, an urban poverty alleviation programme has been started, as pilot project in the "Katchi Abadies" of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The performance of the NRSP project is as under:

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme
The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) is a private, non communal, and non-profit company, established by the Aga Khan Foundation, and presently funded by a consortium of international bilateral and multilateral donors, to help improve the quality of life of the people of the Northern Areas and Chitral. It was established in 1982 with a mandate to focus on economic and institutional development of local communities in collaboration with Government departments, elected bodies, and national and international development agencies. The AKRSP has, over the years, acted as a catalyst for integrated rural development; organizing local human, physical, and financial resources in order to enable communities to bring about their own development in an equitable and sustainable manner. Major programme components include: social organization, women's development, natural resource management, development of productive physical infrastructure, human resource development, enterprise promotion, credit and savings services.

The AKRSP has contributed significantly to rapid economic growth and development in Northern Pakistan. Results of the periodic Farm Household Income and Expenditure Surveys conducted by the AKRSP show that per-capita income in the programme area has increased by almost 55 percent during 1991-1997. As a result of this significantly higher rate of increase in incomes in the area compared to the rest of the country, per-capita incomes in Northern Pakistan as a proportion of national per-capita incomes has increased from 35 percent to 56 percent in the same period. Because of this rapid economic growth, the poverty level in the area, as measured by standard poverty line definitions, decreased from 49 percent of the population in 1991 to 32 percent in 1997. At the same time, the Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, exhibited a small decline from 0.37 in 1991 to 0.36 in 1997, indicating that the significant economic growth in Northern Pakistan was not accompanied with higher levels of income inequality.