Publication details

• Tuesday | 05 Nov, 2013
• Vaqar Ahmed, Muhammad Zeshan, Muhammad Tahir Ali, Syed Nazer Hyder
• Research Reports,Project Publications
• 31

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Executive Summary

This study was initiated to carry out poverty and social impact analysis of the project titled: Stipend Program for Secondary School Girls of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study mainly has the following key objectives to deal with.

• A review of the outputs and outcomes associated with the subject program and input being assigned, suggesting ways to improve the effectiveness of the program

• Overall performance of the program to date in terms of its progress towards the targeted objectives and outcome indicators 

• Identifying prospective change(s) required in program design and compensatory schemes to enhance the progress and meet the targets/expected outcomes within the time frame of the program

• Evaluating the transmission channels and its capacity to reach the poor; its impact on different groups of population and the analysis of groups to benefit the most from them.

• Analyzing the educational as well as non-educational factors adding to or detracting from the intended impact of the program

• Evaluating the role played by the program in reducing the gender gap in educational indicators

• Evaluating the monitoring & evaluation system associated with the program and the risk factors including the role of “Parent Teacher Councils”

• Reviewing the process of stipend distribution10

• Identifying the actions needed for better implementation of the recommendations taking into account the socio-economic and institutional factors The findings suggest that PC-1 exercise for this project should be accompanied with the strengthening of inter-departmental coordination including Finance, Planning and Development, Pakistan Post Office, Accountant General Office, and EDOs. This will be essential if operational efficiency of this transfer program has to be improved. It should also meet the criteria of project appraisal that are laid down by Planning Commission of Pakistan. Different cross-functional difficulties necessitate the implementation of the mid- year review of PC-1 that might be chaired by Chief Secretary, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

An in-built monitoring an evaluation procedure is needed to ensure routine accountability. It should be based on two prongs comprising of desk and field monitoring. There is also a need to define a feedback mechanism in the monitoring process. It is important to note that the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is responsible for monitoring and evaluation of social sector development projects after the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

The household surveys and community level focus group discussions reveal the absence of complaint registration mechanism in case of delayed disbursement of stipend money. A formal grievance redressal mechanism is needed which could explain the scope of the problems and their possible solutions. In this regard, it is advised to reduce the transaction cost of grievance redressal by making the process more responsive through IT enabled services. The officials who would manage such complaints would also be responsible for follow ups to expedite the remedy.