The World Bank has approved $600 million in funding for Pakistan’s Crisis-Resilient Social Protection Program (CRISP), which will help the country extend the Ehsaas program to protect vulnerable households and improve resilience to economic shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic.
The grant was endorsed by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors.
“Millions of families across Pakistan are facing economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those working in the informal sector who have no savings or are not protected by established social safety net programs,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.
“This investment will help Ehsaas build a more effective adaptive social security scheme, as well as a new model for crisis response and household resilience to future shocks.”
CRISP will support the incremental expansion of Ehsaas social security services to better reach informal workers by combining social assistance with the promotion of increased savings that informal workers, especially women, can rely on in the event of economic shocks.
