What to do as social work

Now a days all students are being busy to now that how they can express their art work as social workers.

SOCIAL POLICY IN PAKISTAN

Modern SOCIAL POLICY IN PAKISTAN

Far as the very important outcome has been the secular rise in poverty and destitution in Pakistan over last twenty-five years. Before some enthusiastic official rises to defend the performance of the current incumbents in government on the basis of spurious numbers, let me hasten to add that I do not subscribe to what might be called the newsmagazine view’ of history, in which the history of nations is seen as nothing more than the biography writ large of a few charismatic individuals. On the contrary, I believe it is more often the case that underlying historical structures and forces explain both social outcomes and the rise and fall of individuals. (In other words, I would discount accusations that Hamid Karzai is responsible for the rise in poppy production in Afghanistan, nor give credit to Nuri El-Malki for peaceful conditions in Kurdish controlled Iraq.

What then are these underlying structures and forces? In my view, the proximate determinants of this rise in poverty are once again (1) the colonial nature of the state in which governments continue to view the people as ‘natives’, a source of civil disturbance to be placated, and, under the influence of poor advice (2) the abdication by government of even the small policy space available in the mistaken belief that markets—that are known to be imperfect in more ways than one will take care of things. To illustrate the extent of the problem let me cite the case of how the government is responding to the emerging market in the sale of kidneys by the poor to repay their debts. There are now apparently entire villages in the Punjab and elsewhere where many people are living on one kidney, having sold the other. The evidence is not just anecdotal. According to an article in the daily Dawn of August 27, 2006 by Dr Farhat Moazam, an eminent physician and bio-ethicist, a recent survey, in which 70 people from three villages in the Punjab were interviewed, found that the bulk of the people who had sold their kidneys were illiterate bonded labourers or women employees in the household of the landlord, who earned less than Rs 1,000 per month plus some grain following the harvest.

 Their net proceeds from the sale of their kidneys were about Rs 80,000, of which 94 percent was spent to pay off their debts to the landlord. “In some families as many as two or more members had sold a kidney—first the parents (25 percent of sellers were women) followed by children once they attained adulthood… in some villages 30 percent of 11 the villagers have only one kidney. Once a kidney is removed in the hospital and the individual sent home, there is no further contact with the hospital”. There is no provision in other words for the medical costs associated with follow-up care required by the removal of a kidney, which can be substantial. In a two-part nationally televised programme on Geo Television, hospital administration officials on government salaries joined private entrepreneurs in taking the position that this is a voluntary market transaction in which they are merely facilitators.

 The powerful lobby of medical practitioners reaps enormous profits as brokers not just from domestic recipients but from foreign recipients as well.  As Pakistan is the only country in the world that allows a free market in kidneys, hospitals in Lahore advertise on the Internet, giving a whole new meaning to export diversification. How is the government responding to this situation? Physicians (along with lawyers, accountants, and other less well-organized professionals) are an important component of the state. It is not surprising then that the medical

Establishment is trying to persuade the government to regulate the market for kidneys rather than ban it outright. Multilateral pharmaceutical firms know which side their bread is buttered and their governments have not been unsupportive. Foreign lenders to Pakistan who operate in the health sector would find it suicidal to oppose their own pharmaceuticals, the happy kidney recipients, and the local medical élite to demand that the market in human organs be banned as it is in all other countries in the world.

Since ‘natives’ are under-represented, if represented at all, in government there is little countervailing pressure. The government therefore has tabled a bill in Parliament, to legalise the market in human organs, subject to conditions to be regulated by government under the proposed Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissue Ordinance 2007 What is the government policy on poverty? In a few words it is an act of faith in investment and growth that will ‘trickle down’ to the poor. This should be familiar to many in this room who were witness to, or have read about, the enthusiasts of trickle down in the heady days of the martial law regime of Ayub Khan; from which these enthusiasts recanted with equal fanfare when growing disparity led to the secession of East Pakistan a decade or so later. It is said that history repeats itself; the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce The government seems to be in denial about the alarming rise in poverty, especially in rural areas, that has taken place in the last decade or so. In his Preface to the Medium-Term Development Framework published in May 2005, General Musharraf writes that: “ GDP growth rates have accelerated,

 and there is a visible decline in unemployment and poverty”. Fortifying this message, in his last budget speech (2006), the finance minister has assured the nation that: “The undeniable truth is that the rapidity with which the economy is growing  unemployment and poverty is being eliminated at the same pace. [sic.] …jobs are available but trained people are not available”. 12 Unfortunately, these claims are not supported even by official data. These published data show, first, that for the last 30 years of the last century, average annual economic growth per decade exceeded 4.8 percent and in two of these three decades (1960s and 1980s) it exceeded 6.5 percent; by contrast, in 7 of the 10 years ending on June 30, 2006, economic growth was less than 4.8 percent—the lowest, in other words, in 46 years, on average. Second, despite serious fiddling with population and employment numbers, official statistics show that while on average 400,000 persons in the labour force were unemployed in the 1980s, 2 million persons

were unemployed in the 1990s, and over 3.5 million persons have been unemployed in the last five years. These numbers may double if underemployment is also taken into account. In urban areas, close to 10 percent of the labour force has been unemployed during the last six years. As for poverty, reliable statistics are notoriously difficult to compile, and as all economists know miniscule changes in criterion can shift millions into and out of poverty. Even so, government statistics on a simple headcount of the poor in rural areas shows that their numbers increased from 29 million (24.6 percent) in 1992- 1993 to 55 million (39.0 percent) in 2000-2001. In urban areas, by contrast, lower headcounts have been reported; this would explain the growing urban-rural disparity and, incidentally, the rise in kidney sales by the rural poor. There is no reason to believe that these trends would have been reversed.

As for jobs being available but no trained people, the State Bank of Pakistan in its last Annual Report finds it“disquieting” that unemployment among the literate labour force has risen far more sharply in recent years than among the illiterate. This would call into question the government’s strategy of relying on investment in human capital to create jobs. Finally, on income distribution, a recent paper by Talat Anwar (Research Report No. 3, UNDP Centre for Research on Poverty Reduction and Income Distribution, 2006) reports that: “…inequality worsened in Pakistan during this period [from 2001-02 to 2004-05]…. in both rural and urban areas, [but] the rise in inequality was more pronounced in urban areas than in rural areas”. Viewed together with the data on poverty, official statistics tell us that poverty has increased while a small urban class has enriched itself beyond measure in the last five to ten years. But then any beggar on the streets of Karachi could have told us this. With apologies for this lapse into statistics let me return to my main theme.as we all know aggregate data on indices of poverty and income distribution are next to useless in shedding any light on specific vulnerable groups. An assessment of the extent of malnutrition, and the risk of starvation, by specific social groups, must be the basic point of departure for any policy that addresses poverty and income distribution.

I think we would all agree that the government has yet to design such policies, or do anything else for the poor. But the thrust of my critique in this talk is not a distributional one: that the share of the poor in national income has been low; rather, it is that the government has run a kind of ‘apartheid’ state, in which rights, 13 entitlements, and capabilities have been denied to the ‘natives ’ at large, with the result that they have been impoverished. In other words, what is marketed by government as a ‘safety net’—evoking the image of a society in which all have equal opportunity to risk the hazardous (high wire) act of economic enterprise, from which some might fall—is not a safety net at all; it is a kind of blackmail that a colonial government pays to the most threatening members of a potentially angry mob who perpetually threaten the safety of the state, often through the notables (the shurafa) who ‘represent’ the mob.

I find this to be a more revealing way of looking at the problem the continued, even if increasingly unsuccessful, pursuit of a colonial policy than the conventional view that seeks to explain the government’s persistent ‘failure’ to allocate adequate resources to social policy. In other words, to say that the lemon tree ‘fails ’ to produce oranges is not wrong; it is simply not the most enlightening point of view available, especially if it has to serve as the basis of policy

Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC)

SPDC is a private sector research organization established in 1995 That serves as a focal point for policy-relevant research on social sector development. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the Centre Assists both public and private sector institutions including nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) to plan, design, finance, execute and manage social sector programmes in a cost-effective manner. The results of its research are made available to policy makers, interested groups and general public to promote informed discussion and action on vital social sector issues. SPDC being an independent and non-partisan organization Cooperates and collaborates with organizations/institutions working on issues of common concerns (both) within Pakistan and abroad.

Being an autonomous and independent organization, the center identifies its own research agenda and parameters remaining within the mandate and objectives identified. Key activities include research and policy analysis; social sector government database support; pilot project monitoring and evaluation; training of personnel in government, private sector and nongovernmental organizations; and information dissemination through publications, conferences, seminars and workshops. In addition to the core funding from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) SPDC generates its alternate funding through contract research. Its Board of Directors consists of eminent personalities selected for their commitment to social sector development and their belief in the use of analytical tools in developing public policy to ensure sustainable social sector development. The members are:

The Social Policy and Development: (SPDC)

Centre (SPDC) is a non-profit, policy research institute which was established in April 1995 as a limited company with headquarters in Karachi and Liaison Office in Islamabad, Pakistan. SPDC has made significant intellectual contribution in placing issues of pro-poor growth and social development on Pakistan’s policy-making agenda. Main areas identified for research are: poverty, inequality, governance, provincial finances, social sector policies, gender issues and pro-poor macro economic policy

Social Development in Pakistan 2006-07

Implementation of the Devolution Plan in 2001 represents a big move towards the centralization of the provision of basic services in Pakistan. There has been faster expansion in local expenditures since 2003-04 due more to larger transfers arising from the faster economic growth and improvement in macroeconomic conditions rather than because of any enhanced priority to local allocations. The resulting expansion in outlays on basic services is beginning to contribute to improvement in some social indicators. However, inequality among districts in access to basic services has increased, especially in Punjab and Sindh. Also the efficiency gains from decentralization have been limited by the absence of delegation of authority and lack of coordination between provincial and local governments and limited institutional capacity at the local level.

Although wider representation has been given to the under-privileged groups like women, real empowerment has been frustrated by election malpractices and elite capture at the local level. These are the key findings highlighted in the Annual Review of Social Policy and Development Centre on “Devolution and Human Development in Pakistan”. The basic question raised in the report is whether decentralization has contributed to human development through improvement in efficiency, promotion of equity, enhancement in peoples’ participation and thereby, promoted peoples involvement in matters affecting the quality of their lives While some local governments have initiated innovative approaches to improve efficiency in local service provision, they continue to be faced with issues of local Institutional capacity, absence of mechanisms for improved accountability and transparency, difficulties in inter-governmental coordination and mechanisms of public safety.

Key issues relate to the "mind-set," lack of political will and reluctance of the provincial governments to implement the Devolution Plan in letter and        spirit. A number of significant processes have been put in motion including greater representation for the marginalized groups, especially women. However, ‘state capture’ by local elites remains an important and persistent challenge. Analysis of the characteristics of District Nazims demonstrates the overwhelming influence of family, Zaat/Biradari/tribal ties and of political affiliation. Also, the indirect choice of District Nazim and Naib Nazim provides an opening for political maneuvering. Overall, it appears that the devolution process has not yet led to significant empowerment of the people. The report highlights that the devolution process has led to the transfer of a large number of functions from provincial to local governments.

However, the lack of enhancement in local fiscal powers is a major weakness in the process of fiscal decentralization. Analysis of the budgets of a sample of local governments reveals that over 90% of expenditure is financed by transfers.The share of local governments in the provincial allocable pool of resources has fluctuated between 37 percent and 39 percent. It appears that the priority attached by provincial governments for allocations to local governments has declined somewhat during the last five years. It is also significant that although provincial governments have handed over a number of major services to local governments, their share in public expenditure has remained unchanged at about 23 percent.

Overall, Pakistan has achieved a higher level of decentralization. As far as the pattern of sectoral allocations in local budgets in concerned, within current expenditure, the largest share is accounted for by primary and secondary education, in excess of 60 percent. On the evelopment side, it is observed that many of the district governments are devoting a significant part of their expenditure to the construction of roads, implying the same higher priority given to economic infrastructure. The most neglected sector appears to be health which receives less

Than 10 percent of the development allocation in most cases 10 On the whole, as far as fiscal decentralization is concerned, the report concludes that the process of devolution has been facilitated more by the improvement in the macroeconomic environment in recent years which has led to larger transfers to local governments than by any conscious effort on the part of provincial governments to support the process of decentralization

The report also analyses the trends in regional disparities, gender equality and poverty in Pakistan. At the most aggregative level for the country as a whole, the trends in key outcome indicators of social development show that, in particular, the rate of enhancement in literacy of the population and access to water supply and sanitation has increased perceptibly in the post-devolution period. However, there are no indications yet of any impact of devolution on the rate of improvement in health indicators.

In fact, Pakistan remains largely off-track in the attainment  of the health related MDGs. The level of disparity in the provision of different local services among districts within a particular province has been quantified in the report. It is surprising that the inequality in access even to a basic service like primary education remains so large throughout Pakistan. Inequality in access to basic health services like immunization also appears to be quite pronounced, especially in NWFP and Balochistan. Similarly, differentials in access to water supply and sanitation are unacceptably high. As far as gender equality is concerned, the largest gap continues to be in NWFP and Balochistan. In the period after devolution, up to 2005-06, there is very little change in the trend of gender parity in education observed prior to devolution. In order to realize the full potential of decentralization in bringing more benefits to the people, a 'second generation' of reforms is required to address the problems that have arisen.

The report identifies a number of reforms related to the allocation of functions, intergovernmental relations, and process of election, local institutional capacity, fiscal decentralization and some supporting measures. Many of the reforms are doable and can have a significant impact on improving efficiency and equity in the delivery of local services. They will contribute to deepening the process of democracy, raising the level of human development and improving the quality of life of the people. The authors of the report strongly reiterate their commitment to more effective decentralization in Pakistan.

Social Development in Pakistan 2007-08:

WOMEN AT WORK

In Pakistan, although women's labor force participation rate has increased from a very low level to almost 22 percent, it is still disappointing as out of the total female population, 78 percent of women of productive age are out of the labor force. A large part of employed women are working as unpaid family helpers or engaged in residual jobs. These alarming statistics guided SPDC to investigate questions such as: Is there any dynamism in the structure of female employment in Pakistan? Has improvement in women's education translated into their greater integration in the economy? Can women labor force participation be increased by encouraging women entrepreneurship?

Will development of the micro credit sector help in generating employment opportunities for women? Does gender differential exist in access to paid jobs, especially at higher levels of education? Does vertical gender segmentation prevail in the labor market of Pakistan? What explains the gender wage gap? Is there any evidence of sexual harassment and violence against women in the workplace in Pakistan? Does domestic legislation provide an enabling environment for working women? How have the recent adverse economic developments affected the working woman? Women at Work, SPDC's ninth Annual Review of Social Development in Pakistan attempts to answer these questions. It also sets out a multi-pronged strategy for promoting women's employment in Pakistan by addressing gaps in various socio-economic policies.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTAN ANNUAL REVIEW 2007-08

2009 by Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) Karachi, Pakistan Growth of Pakistan's economy has been decelerated in recent years. In Particular, the manufacturing sector has confronted a number of internal as Well as external challenges that caused negative growth during 2008-09. Though, the impact of a weakened economy on employment opportunities, in General, has been rather limited, apparently, its impact on women during the present economic crisis has been disproportionately more intense leading to their social Isolation, psychological trauma, reduced level of nutrition, school drop out of girls, and incidents of abandonment of children and suicides. In Pakistan, traditionally participation of women in the labour force has remained low. The social paradigm of the country continues to play a very important part in preventing female participation in the workforce.

The existing paradigmatic structure determined by the feudalistic mindset discourages women's empowerment including employment and considers it a socially reprehensible phenomenon. The slight increase noticed in female employment ratios is due to the expansion of the informal

sector, spread of education, urban living, and the growth of a number of civil society organisations working for female development programmes. Female participation in economic activities in the agricultural sector in rural areas has always been supplementary to male participation, and limited to short term work available at the time of sowing and harvesting.

In urban areas, on the other hand female participation has been limited to a lower cadre work force, both in offices and factories. Gender discrimination still persists and male employees of offices and factories would hesitate to accept a female as their superior, and rarely as the chief executive. This makes it absolutely necessary to work for promoting women's employment and for the improvement and eventual replacement of the social paradigm of the country. The focus, therefore, needs to be on comprehensively addressing the multifaceted challenges confronted in mainstreaming female labour force participation. Annual Review of Social Development in Pakistan 2007-08 deals with the subject of women at work and presents objective and in-depth analyses of the various aspects of women's employment in the country.

Chapter 1 traces the trends of female labour force participation and employment during the last four decades and examines whether women have gradually integrated into the labour market or do they continue to perform low-paid residual jobs. Chapter 2 looks into various aspects of women entrepreneurship and highlights the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, while Chapter 3 deals with access to microcredit for women and brings forward the existing potential of microcredit for improving women's employment. Considering the various forms of gender discrimination in the labour market, Chapter 4 explores the gender discrimination in access to paid work, examines occupational segregation and quantifies gender wage gap.

Chapter 5 provides evidence of widespread prevalence of sexual harassment against women in the workplace while Chapter 6 discusses gender aspects of labour laws, identifies legislative gaps, and proposes the required changes in the law. Chapter 7 focuses on the nature of the impact of the current economic crisis on women, while Chapter 8 identifies measures needed to promote women's employment in Pakistan. The report has made a number of recommendations for improving the working conditions needed to encourage female participation including access to credit, tax benefits, labour law reforms, social protection and other gender specific labour policies. We earnestly hope that the suggestions made in the report would be taken very seriously by policy makers to promote the process of economic empowerment of women.

Assessing Vulnerability to Poverty: Evidence from Pakistan:

The paper assesses the extent of household vulnerability to poverty in Pakistan. Preferably, household panel data of sufficient length is used to measure the incidence of vulnerability. However this data is rare in developing countries and if available is not nationally or regionally representative. As a second best option, this study estimates the extent of vulnerability as "expected poverty" using cross sectional household surveys. The estimates show that about 52 percent population was vulnerable to poverty during 2004 05. The rural headcount ratio in terms of household vulnerability is relatively high as compared to the vulnerability incidence in urban areas. Although monetary poverty has declined during the period 2001 05, the relative incidence of vulnerability has increased from 50 in 2001 to 52 percent in 2005

Assessing Vulnerability to Poverty: Evidence from Pakistan

The paper assesses the extent of household vulnerability to poverty in Pakistan. Preferably, household panel data of sufficient length is used to measure the incidence of vulnerability. However this data is rare in developing countries and if available is not nationally or regionally representative. As a second best option, this study estimates the extent of vulnerability as "expected poverty" using cross sectional household surveys. The estimates show that about 52 percent population was vulnerable to poverty during 2004 05.

 The rural headcount ratio in terms of household vulnerability is relatively high as compared to the vulnerability incidence in urban areas. Although monetary poverty has declined during the period 2001 05, the relative incidence of vulnerability has increased from 50 in 2001 to 52 percent in 2005

Estimation of Multidimensional Poverty in Pakistan

This study is the first attempt to quantify the extent of multidimensional poverty in the context of Pakistan. It involves developing multidimensional poverty indices (headcount, poverty gap, and poverty severity) and comparing them with the traditional income approach.
It has been estimated, using household data for 2004 05, that about 54 percent of the population is poor in terms of socio economic dimensions (including income) used in constructing multidimensional poverty incidence, while the estimated income/consumption poverty for the same year was 30 percent. The results also show that rural multidimensional poverty indices are substantially high as compared to urban poverty indices.

To check the consistency and inter temporal sensitivity of methodology, multidimensional poverty indices were also estimated for 2000 01 It has been estimated, using household data for 2004 05, that about 54 percent of the population is poor in terms of socio economic dimensions (including income) used in constructing multidimensional poverty incidence, while the estimated income/consumption poverty for the same year was 30 percent. The results also show that rural multidimensional poverty indices are substantially high as compared to urban poverty indices. To check the consistency and inter temporal sensitivity of methodology, multidimensional poverty indices were also estimated for 2000 01

UNDERSTANDING RURAL POVERTY DYNAMICS: THE CASE OF THE POOREST DISTRICT OF SINDH PAKISTAN

This research focuses on changes in the poverty status of rural households to explore the main determinants of upward and downward income and poverty mobility. The study uses panel survey data for District Badin, which is among the poorest districts of the Sindh province. Households interviewed earlier by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) during 1986-91, were surveyed again in 2005 with almost identical survey instruments. Household characteristics in terms of demography, human capital, physical capital and income composition are analyzed with reference to households falling into poverty and those overcoming poverty during the period of analysis. On the basis of field observations and statistical analysis of panel data, the paper recommends public policies to escape from poverty in future. The analysis suggests that in deprived rural regions, education, especially female education as well as non-farm income opportunities and crop diversification are the major drivers for escaping poverty.