Impact

Building State-Citizen Trust

Over the past decade, the MDTF has benefited 6.24 million citizens, including beneficiaries at the community level, business owners and civil servants, and five million women, men, girls and boys. The MDTF generated outcomes affecting change at both the grassroots and policy levels, and increased substantially to support provincial governments in improving public resource management, increasing citizen engagement and stimulating economic growth.

In Motion

Child Wellness Supported in Newly Merged Areas

  • Over 500,000 families supported through the Child Wellness Grant.

Improving Government Capacity in Balochistan and Newly Merged Areas

  • 143 Drawing and Disbursing Officers trained on Public Financial Management including a women only cohort of 79 participants in Balochistan
  • 75 government officials, including 24 women trained in gender mainstreaming, project management, and monitoring and evaluation in newly merged areas.
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MDTF One of the First Responders to COVID-19

  • USD 6.5 million in funds mobilized
  • USD 2.5 million worth of orders in health equipment placed
  • USD 1 million worth of health equipment delivered

Impact by Pillar

Pillar I: Policy Reform and Governance

A key step towards enhancing citizen state trust has been an improvement of the efficiency of the core government departments for better service delivery and an increase in transparency and accountability. For example:

  • Provinces have recorded substantial increase in government revenue as tracked through increase in STS (Sales Tax on Services) and the number of filers.
  • The Balochistan Revenue Authority has been able to increase the number of registered sales taxpayers that filed returns from 158 in FY 2016/17 to 3514 in FY19/20. Similarly, sales tax collection has increased from PKR 2.2 billion to 4.6 billion (Over 100% increase) over the same period.
  • In KP, there has been a 43% increase in STS collection between 2015-16 and 2018-19 (PKR 7.3 to PKR 10.4 billion).
  • The three (3) governance and policy projects initiated various activities to establish adequate structure and functions for public financial management (PFM) systems. In Balochistan under financial management reforms, the project helped establish a Tax Policy Unit, a Risk Assessment & Investment Management Unit, an Internal Audit Unit, a Debt Management Unit and a China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Unit.

Pillar II: Growth and Job Creation

The MDTF has further strengthened the state citizen trust by fostering job creation and growth by supporting SMEs, improving livelihoods at the community level, and preparing KP for a digital world. The key active projects in this regard are the Economic Revitalization in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Newly Merged Areas (ERK – now solely, Economic Revitalization in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), the Digital Jobs project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Balochistan Livelihoods and Enterprise Development Project (BLEP). Key activities include attracting investments towards priority areas, provision of business development support, including grants, and skills training. For example:

  • ERKF has successfully leveraged support to the SMEs in KP and Newly Merged Areas for job creation. The project has provided 2500 SMEs with, 88 of these cases were disbursed to women-owned SMEs. Furthermore, 13,500 direct jobs are to be created, including 315 for women. Of these, 11,600 have been created, of which 200 are for women. have been created. The improvement of businesses had a positive impact on the living standards of the SME owners and their families, with most grantees stating that they were able to provide their family members with better education and health facilities.
  • Recognizing the criticality of technology for stimulating economic growth, the KP Digital Jobs project established the first fully equipped and functional business process outsourcing (BPO) facility with 350 workstations in its Peshawar office and signed contracts with two BPO operators to utilize 210 workstations. 3 gender inclusive co-working centers or durshals have been set up. Notably, 14 women led startups in five major cities of KP are being incubated. The project has developed 5 digital skills courses and trained 8,570 youth. This has led to the creation of digital income generating opportunities for 1,045 (including 104 women) participants.

Pillar III: Service Delivery

Improving service delivery has also been a key focus of MDTF for building citizen-state trust. There has been an emphasis on community driven development initiatives in order to improve access to basic services, enhance community buy-in and increase confidence in the state. For example:

  • the KP Southern Area Development Project and Newly Merged Areas Rural Livelihood and Community Infrastructure Project have benefitted around 11,8232 individuals and constructed around 595 Community Physical Infrastructure (CPI) schemes.
  • The SADP alone, developed 1,390 Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and Economic Interest Group (EIGs), exceeding the targeted by 7%, with 34,338 CBO/EIG members, including 13,024 women. In addition, 1,166 Community Action Plans (CAPs) have been developed and 366 CPI schemes constructed.
  • the Citizen Centric Service Delivery Program is playing an important role in improving service delivery in the newly Merged Areas. The Citizen Facilitation Centers (CFCs) established under the project provide a mechanism to fill the gap left by the conflict and weak public service delivery infrastructure; 27 CFCs are expected with six of these already operational in providing services such as: issuance of birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates; financial services like atm machines, mobile top-ups, and utility bill Payments; and health services like immunization. Key results include the following: Over 500,000 mothers provided child wellness grant and 92% of beneficiary family children vaccinated. In addition, over 385,000 livelihood support grants have been processed.

Cross-Cutting Themes

Gender Mainstreaming

The current MDTF portfolio includes outcome-level results that are designed to measure progress on gender gaps each project is able to address. Implementing agencies are required to collect and report gender-disaggregated data, with indicators for both male and female beneficiaries of beneficiaries for every activity. Specific gender disaggregated targets are provided for each the indicators, which already outcomes demonstrate promising results for women. For example:

  • Under the results area of “enhanced productivity and job creation”, 756 jobs have been created by the MDTF-supported enterprises for women across KP, which is 70% of the total target.
  • Similarly, 21 Vocational Training Centers (VTCs) have so far trained 315 young girls in income generating activities.
  • KP digital project has a distinct target of reaching 1,000 females which resulted in 500 women so far being trained in digital skills, as well the establishment of Pakistan’s first digital jobs platform dedicated to women.

Youth Empowerment

Youth engagement is a major focus of MDTF projects with the goal to empower youth by providing them income-generating opportunities. Training development and vocational skills are key elements to strengthen youth economic empowerment. For example:

  • The SADP set up 28 Youth Internship Programs and 21 Vocational Training Programs, allowing the rural youth to learn vital livelihood skills; findings show that, despite the small-scale, the livelihood programs have been the most impactful for youth in the targeted communities.
  • The KP Digital Jobs Project was designed primarily around the concept of empowering youth by providing them income generation opportunities so far developed five (5) digital skills courses and trained 8,570 youth which has resulted in the creation of digital income generation opportunities for 1,045 (including 104 female) participants. The project is conducting regular follow-up surveys to assess participation across these opportunities.

Perspectives from Beneficiaries

“When they (social mobilizers) cam to our town, we have certain reservations. But they have worked hard and convinced us that this is for the betterment of the community.

Ghulam Ishaq - Tank

“These kinds of initiatives not only help business owners get back on their feet but also contribute towards, overcoming rising unemployment which in the long run would help promote peace and security in the area.”

Jehan Iqbal - Swat

“This was a great moment for my life as it was the first assistance of any kind that we had received since the operation began, we could not have afforded the beehives and other accessories on our own”

Ahmed Khan - Newly Merged Areas

“Had this school not been built I would be out of school, my father did not want me to sit outdoors and study. I am happy now, we have a beautiful school”

Zarghonay - Balochistan

“When we received the free wheat seed. It was an answer to our prayers. It was GOD sent”

Ameer Khan - Newly Merged Areas