Community Development through Social Safety Nets: A Case Study of Benazir Income Support Programme in District Dir Upper, Pakistan

Abstract

The current study focuses on assessing the effectiveness of the Benazir Income Support Programme as a social safety net in the context of the socio-economic uplift of the ultra-poor and gender-equitable community development in the study region of Dir Upper, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. That’s why this study utilized a Mix Methods Research strategy to evaluate the effectiveness of BISP-SSN in terms of its objective from beneficiaries’ perspectives. Wherein, three hundred and eighty-four (384) respondents were selected as a sample size out of a total of 70289 populations being BISP beneficiaries (BBs) based on the Krejiace and Morgan formula for the quantitative portion. Besides that, thirty (30) interviewees from Mother Leaders (MLs) were selected for the qualitative portion being respondents based on purpose sampling. In addition, Three Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were carried out to further strengthen the findings and results of the current study. It was found that BISP-SSNP contributed towards the socio-economic safety of the ultra-poor in the context of poverty reduction and community development through its conditional and unconditional financial assistance in the area. The obtained results revealed a significant association (R= .000) between dependents and independent variables i.e., (R. 4.2.2= .000). The study suggests constitutional and institutional reforms for devolution of a centralized authoritative approach need to evolve into provincial and local administrative approaches to strengthen Social Safety Net Systems aimed to yield the best results and boost the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2030. This study will add more knowledge to the field of sociology of social safety nets. Moreover, it will open the window for new researchers and be helpful for policy-makers of social safety and community development.