Dr. M Hussain Khattak<\/p>\n
Every Ramazan, Pakistan\u2019s governments pour billions alleviating immediate hardship, but very little into targeting the real poverty that keeps millions of people trapped therein.
\nThis year is no different. The federal government has launched a Rs38 billion Ramazan Relief Package for 2026, offering Rs13,000 to eligible families through digital payments. Punjab has rolled out a Rs47 billion Ramzan Nigehban Package for around 4.2 million households, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has announced cash support of Rs12,500 per family for one million households. The delivery systems may be more modern than the ration politics of the past, but the policy logic remains the same: spend public money on short-term consumption, present it as poverty relief, and move on.
\nThis is not a development strategy; it has become a recurring political ritual.
\nThere is no denying that poor households often need assistance during Ramazan. Food costs rise, wages become uncertain, and debt pressures intensify. Temporary relief can therefore ease immediate hardship. But a single transfer does not lift a family out of poverty. Once the cash is spent, the household returns to the same conditions of insecurity \u2014 asset-poor, income-insecure, and vulnerable to the next shock. A family that owns no livestock, tools, or productive capital does not become less poor because it received one month of assistance.
\nPakistan is not short of welfare announcements; it is short of a serious anti-poverty strategy. The central policy mistake lies in how poverty is conceptualized. Governments often treat poverty as a shortage of monthly consumption. In reality, chronic poverty is fundamentally a shortage of earning capability. Poor households remain trapped because they lack the productive base required to generate stable income \u2014 assets, skills, working capital, access to markets, and protection against shocks. If that is the diagnosis, the response cannot rely mainly on consumption-based transfers; rather, it requires investment in sustainable livelihoods.
\nGlobal evidence strongly supports this approach. The Graduation approach, pioneered by BRAC in Bangladesh and evaluated by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), is based on a simple but revolutionary idea: ultra-poor households need more than momentary relief. They require a productive asset, practical training, short-term consumption assistance during the transition, savings mechanisms, and sustained guidance to build a steady source of income. J-PAL\u2019s synthesis reveals that this strategy has raised living standards for almost three million households in fifteen countries. In Bangladesh alone, women\u2019s income increased by an average of 38 percent four years after asset transfer, with data indicating sustained improvements in income and asset ownership many years later.
\nThat is what serious policy looks like \u2014 not a press conference or a Ramadan slogan, but an organized intervention that strengthens a household\u2019s productive capability over time.
\nThe government does not even need to import this concept from abroad. The National Poverty Graduation Programme (NPGP), implemented with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), aims to transition ultra-poor households into sustainable livelihoods through productive assets, vocational support, and financial inclusion. By December 2025, the program had reached more than 370,000 households, transferred over 165,000 assets, and provided interest-free loans to more than 200,000 families across 21 districts. Government figures report that the programme generated around 179,000 jobs and achieved encouraging graduation outcomes among beneficiaries.
\nSo the excuse that livelihood programming is too theoretical or too difficult to operationalize is no longer convincing. Pakistan already has proof of concept; however, the real obstacle is political preference. Seasonal relief packages generate quick public visibility, while livelihood programs require careful design and institutional discipline. One produces headlines; the other builds long-term earning potential.
\nThis is why the evolving model in Kohat Division deserves greater attention than it is getting. The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, through the Social Welfare Department and with the funding of the Kohat Division Development Program (KDDP), is targeting 5,000 ultra-poor households in oil- and gas-producing districts of Kohat Division using royalty funds. Instead of seasonal cash assistance, the programme provides productive assets and small enterprise start-up kits worth around Rs150,000 per household.
\nWhat sets this initiative apart is its design. The packages are not being distributed through a one-size-fits-all template; rather, they are aligned with the preferences of beneficiaries and then assessed against profitability and marketability at the grassroots level. Instead of randomly distributing assets, the programme asks a harder question: what can this household realistically manage, and what enterprise is likely to generate income in its local market? Even more crucial is the targeting mechanism. Beneficiaries are selected through an online application supported by a software-based scoring system using predefined indicators. This generates a real-time eligibility score and reduces opportunities for political interference and bureaucratic manipulation.
\nIn many welfare programs, credibility erodes when political influence determines who receives assistance. If the KDDP model can protect beneficiary selection from such interference, it is demonstrating how a poverty programme can be made credible.
\nOf course, no programme should be considered perfect before independent evaluation. Even well-designed initiatives may face challenges. Assets may not always match household capabilities, markets may become saturated, and follow-up support may weaken over time. Families that initially escape poverty can also fall back when confronted with economic or health shocks.
\nEven so, in terms of its design, it is already miles ahead of the conventional Ramazan package. It creates a productive base, aims at recurring income rather than one-time consumption, links support to local profitability, and employs transparent selection criteria instead of favoritism.
\nThe scale of current relief spending also raises an important question. Federal and provincial Ramazan packages together involve tens of billions of rupees each year. Redirecting even a portion of these funds toward livelihood programs could help tens of thousands of ultra-poor households establish small enterprises instead of financing another cycle of short-lived consumption.
\nThis does not mean abolishing seasonal relief altogether. Temporary support remains necessary during periods of acute distress, including Ramazan, natural disasters, or sudden inflation. But relief should serve as a cushion, not the central strategy.
\nThe larger goal should be economic graduation. Governments can use existing databases to identify the poorest households, provide temporary assistance when needed, and then transition them into structured livelihood programs that combine training, productive assets, and follow-up support. The success should not be measured only by the number of people who receive payments, but by how many households increase their income, retain assets, and no longer require repeated assistance.
\nPakistan does not need bigger Ramazan packages every year. It needs more families who no longer need them at all.<\/p>\n
The author is serving as District Officer Social Welfare in Karak<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. M Hussain Khattak Every Ramazan, Pakistan\u2019s governments pour billions alleviating immediate hardship, but very little into targeting the real poverty that keeps millions of people trapped therein. This year is no different. The federal government has launched a Rs38 billion Ramazan Relief Package for 2026, offering Rs13,000 to eligible families through digital payments. Punjab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[13837],"class_list":{"0":"post-536475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-dr-m-hussain-khattak"},"yoast_head":"\n