Ehsaas Communications Committee discussed communications strategic plans

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10 (APP):The first meeting of Ehsaas Communications Committee of PM’s Ehsaas Programme held other day at the Prime Minister Secretariat discussed the communications strategic planning process of Ehsaas Programme and identified its communications needs and priorities.
It also defined key respective areas of execution for different organizations involved in the implementation of Ehsaas Program under the umbrella of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) a press release issued here Saturday said.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting.

“The core objective of the strategy is to apprise potential beneficiaries about ways of accessing benefits”, Dr Nishtar emphasized.

The meeting was attended by Shaista Sohail, Secretary PASSD,Capt. (R) Asadullah Khan, Additional Secretary, Dr. Arsalan Khalid, Focal Person to the PM on Digital Media, representatives of the ministry of Information and Broadcasting, provincial representatives and communication focal persons from agencies that are involved in implementing Ehsaas.

Dr. Nishtar urged the committee to manage the publicity, communications and media activities of the Ehsaas on print, electronic and social media as a way to share information among opinion makers, influencers and masses

Dr. Nishtar urged that “the most cost-effective means of communication should be adopted, and that digital means should be the mainstay of the communication strategy”. She further added “there are many government agencies that can offer communication services free of cost which should be leveraged to the maximum”.

PM’s focal person on digital media, Arslan Khalid briefed the committee about ways of leveraging social media better and a plan was charted to pool technical capabilities to make better use of existing platforms. Dr. Khalid said that “Ehsaas is the most comprehensive poverty alleviation program produced by the present government of Pakistan and it is important that its communication strategy exhibits that. Further, he emphasized that digital media is the most cost-effective media tool to reach out the target audience and for this purpose, Ehsaas should have full support from all concerned government departments”.