Citizen Damage Compensation Programme

The 2010 floods affected 20 million people across 78 districts in Pakistan, with 1,980 reported deaths and 2,946 injured.127 _{Approximately 1.6 million homes were} destroyed and 2.4 million hectares of crops damaged. In pursuance of the CCI decision, the Cabinet Division initiated a cash grant programme for the flood affect- ees named the CDCP. Under Phase-I of the CDCP, the government extended cash grants of Rs32 billion to 1.6 million families. One-half of the funds were provided by the provinces.

According to NADRA record, 4.8 million registered families resided in the flood-hit areas. These cash grants were provided to the notified flood-affected districts through the designated partner commercial banks after verification by NADRA. The project was executed under the Watan Card Project to support the flood-affected families. The beneficiaries were targeted by geographical location with the exception of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which used housing damage as a proxy for eligibility in Phase-I of the CDCP.

Phase-II of the CDCP has been launched to continue to support the recovery of flood-affected households and is the focus of our analysis. The beneficiaries are ex- pected to use cash grants to cover basic consumption, recapitalise assets, repay loans, recover livelihoods and repair housing. Operations are built around what the CDCP achieved in Phase-I. For Phase-II, a household is considered eligible if: (i) the beneficiary is the head of the household of the damaged house identified through a survey (such surveys were conducted in the flood- affected areas by the respective provinces. The criteria for housing damage are determined by the provincial governments); and (ii) the CNIC of the potential benefi- ciary head of household (as provided by the provinces) is verified through the NADRA registration database.� Phase-II of the CDCP is being managed by the Cabinet Division and NADRA, in coordination with the prov- inces. The CCI decides on key policies related to federal and interprovincial coordination; and helps evolves consensus among the provinces on a standardised design. The Cabinet Division acts as the apex body responsible for overall coordination, monitoring and reporting of the programme. National Database and

Registration Authority plans and executes the techni- cal assistance component of the programme.

3.2.4.1 Analysis

a) Targeting efficiency: Verification of the lists of

beneficiary households provided by the prov- inces has been carried out by an independent third party. The autonomous verification has used a sample-based spot check mechanism to determine the validity of the data provided by the provincial household damage survey. Well off households are excluded based on the infor- mation available on the head of the household in NADRA’s registration database.128 _More- over, all legitimate vulnerable beneficiaries, defined as female headed families or families where the household head is disabled, will automatically become Phase-II beneficiaries. This also applies to those vulnerable house- holds that were included in NADRA’s CNIC database in Phase-I, but were not registered as head of households. Watan Card Facilita- tion Centres are being opened in each district and the beneficiary lists are being satisfactorily validated. Eligible beneficiaries are informed about their status through public information campaign. High.

b) Extent of programme coverage: In Phase-II,

the programme is expected to cover at least 1.1 million flood-affected households. Based on the information communicated by the provin- cial governments, the number is expected to be 350,000 each in Punjab and Sindh; 265,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; 105,000 in Balochistan; and 10,000 each in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. As of 14 February 2013, cases of 964,601 ben- eficiaries have been processed and Rs37.83 bil- lion cash grants disbursed.129 _High.

c) Degree of ease of access: The payment of ben-

efits depends on beneficiaries having a valid CNIC. Experience from Phase-I shows that the CNICs of the proposed beneficiaries are often missing, because of the beneficiary not pos- sessing a CNIC, the CNIC not being recorded or the CNIC number being wrongly recorded. The lack of a CNIC makes identification of ben- eficiaries problematic, with details difficult to trace when they come to enrol at Watan Card Facilitation Centres. Apart from various mea- sures adopted to correct incomplete and inac- curate records, NADRA mobile vans visit stra-

tegic locations for issuance of the CNICs and a local public information campaign is being undertaken. The campaign shares information on the schedule of opening of the Watan Cen- tres, ‘Pending Beneficiary’ and ‘Receiver’ lists along with the benefit amount, payment period dates, payment points and documents to be brought to the facilitation centre. At the Centre, the beneficiary is validated by biometric verifi- cation to activate the Watan Card. The Centre also hosts the counter for the partner commer- cial banks for issuance of Watan Cards (part- ner commercial banks’ debit card) to all new beneficiaries and assists those from Phase-I who have misplaced their Watan Cards or PIN numbers. Subsequently, the cash is disbursed through virtual accounts. The Watan Card can be used at a point of sale, cash withdrawal ma- chine at the Centre or any other ATM. An op- erational audit of Phase-II was conducted by Deloitte. High.

d) Percentage of programme expenditure dedi- cated to benefits: The budget for technical as-

sistance, inclusive of operational audit and im- pact evaluation by third party, of the CDCP’s Phase-II was $10 million. It has been recently revised upwards to $15 million after extension in programme implementation timelines. The actual administrative costs of Phase-II are not known. Medium.

e) Adequacy of support: Under Phase-I, an

amount of Rs20,000 was given to each benefi- ciary family. The beneficiaries interviewed in the field indicated that the amount was insuf- ficient for their needs.130 _{A rapid evaluation by} the OPM found that 40% of cash transfers were spent on meeting food and health needs; while the remaining balance tended to be spent on investment, especially on housing, construc- tion and livestock. Debt prepayments consti- tuted 6% of total spending.131 _{During Phase-II,} the government aims at providing additional cash grants of Rs40,000 in two instalments, with the second instalment to be made three months after the first one. Low.

f) Grievance redressal: The grievance and case

management system aims at addressing ap- peals and complaints. Appeals are primar- ily linked with exclusion in targeting. Poten- tial beneficiaries can register an appeal at the

Watan Card Facilitation Centre and they will be provided a reference number. Subsequent- ly, the district administration will review the appeal and indicate why it is being endorsed or otherwise. The District Review Committees, comprising five non-politically active members, review all appeals on a monthly basis and state their recommendations. The respective PDMA set up a Provincial Appeals Secretariat to review the cases and give final approval. An Appeals MIS records all stages of the process, allowing any concerned to check the status during pro- cessing. A monthly audit of the Appeals MIS is conducted. A total of 1,103,722 appeals have to date been lodged, of which 188,096 have been accepted, 544,182 rejected and 371,444 are still being processed. More than 163,000 ben- eficiaries who become a part of the programme through the grievance process have so far been released the benefit. The grievance process has been designed to provide an equal opportunity to every person who has a valid CNIC and who is a resident of a flood-affected district. The In- ternational Rescue Committee is also planning to help the beneficiaries by setting up Citizen Advice Bureaux in its three focus districts. Ini- tiating updates will mainly be the responsibility of the beneficiaries themselves. High.

g) Extent of self/progressive financing and sus- tainability: The total project cost of Phase-II is

$580 million, of which $100 million is funded by the federal government. The international donor agencies have provided the remaining funds, of which the USAID has contributed $190 million (grant), the Word Bank $125 mil- lion (loan), DFID $100 million (grant) and the Government of Italy $65 million(loan). High.

h) Exit mechanisms: Exit will be automatic once

the beneficiary household receives two pay- ments or decides not to participate in the pro- gramme. High.

i) Degree of impact on the MDGs: The pro-he pro- gramme contributes to MDG 1; however, as an emergency programme, it is unlikely to have a sustainable, long-term impact.

j) Programme potential to be extended to the RAHA target group: The programme design

does not allow beneficiaries other than those af- fected by floods. The residents of the RAHA tar- get districts who were affected by the floods can

benefit from the programme; however, there is no potential for expansion of the programme to the RAHA target districts.

3.3 SUBSIDIES