81271449_Research Hub for Pakistan

The ‘Support to Social Protection — Social Health Protection’ (SP-SHP) Project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It focuses on improving conditions for more effective implementation of social protection programmes in Pakistan, of which social health protection is one important component. In its current project phase, it will address the latest developments in the sectors — expansion of social protection (SP) and social health protection (SHP), above all — and aims to ensure that the government's focus on achieving quantitative targets is accompanied by qualitative development of the system processes. The project adopts a capacity development approach in four main areas: 1) Coordination processes across implementing organisations (data sharing, generation of evidence); 2) Programme processes; 3) General organisational and personnel capacities and (4) vertical dialogue processes between national, provincial, and local levels. The project is active in two provinces in Pakistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Punjab is Pakistan's most populous and most industrialised province. Punjab is known in for its relative prosperity, having the lowest rate of poverty amongst all Pakistani provinces. A clear divide exists however between the northern and southern parts of the province, with the northern areas of Punjab showing the lowest poverty rates in Pakistan, while some southern areas are amongst the most impoverished. Punjab is also one of South Asia's most urbanised regions with approximately 40 % of people living in urban areas. Its human development index is ranking high relative to the rest of Pakistan.