News Reporter
ISLAMABAD:The practitioners need to realize that social protection is the agent of social development, therefore, the horizon of social protection system must be expanded beyond the social assistance in the local context.
This was stated by Dr. Franz von Roenne, Programme Director, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ, Pakistan) here at the launch of a training course on ‘Social Protection in Pakistan’ for government’s functionaries to develop a better understanding of the social protection concepts, instruments, and systems-based approach.
The course was organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with GIZ under a BMZ-financed programme, Oxford Policy Management (OPM), and Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (HBRS), Germany.
Dr Franz said that GIZ is supporting the federal as well as the provincial governments through its reform program, namely Support to Social Protection – Social Health Protection.Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director, SDPI said that the government must think of social protection in context of post disaster situations such as floods and pandemic that calls for this kind of course. While discussing the fragmentation of the existing social protection system in Pakistan, he stressed the need for an integrated approach.
Tauseef Dilshad Khatana, the Chief Executive Officer, Punjab Social Protection Authority, said this course provides an opportunity to learn from diversified experiences and is a step forward to build capacities for the improved implementation of social protection.
