Vice Chairperson PSPA Jahan Ara Manzoor Wattoo met with WFP Country Director Coco Ushiyama in Islamabad to advance collaboration on Punjab’s social protection agenda and to finalise arrangements for a landmark memorandum of understanding.
During the discussion the two leaders reviewed key joint initiatives and explored concrete steps to align programmes across the province. Jahan Ara Manzoor Wattoo emphasised that PSPA was created to unify Punjab’s social protection efforts, reduce duplication, and close gaps so that flagship initiatives can more effectively improve the lives of vulnerable and marginalised communities.
The meeting recalled a longstanding PSPA WFP partnership, including work on insurance-based social protection that has been recently reinforced under a global climate risk initiative. Both sides agreed to deepen cooperation by linking social protection with disaster risk financing and by exploring pre-arranged solutions to respond to floods and droughts so Punjab can build a more resilient and adaptive system.
Vice Chairperson Jahan Ara Manzoor Wattoo said the PSPA WFP partnership would be a significant milestone in strengthening the province’s social protection framework and would enable timely, dignified, and effective assistance during natural disasters, climate shocks and other emergency situations.
PSPA plans to use the partnership to strengthen research, programme design, data systems, grievance redress mechanisms and monitoring frameworks to ensure service delivery is transparent, equitable and accountable. Both organisations underlined the need for operational linkages that allow rapid scaling of assistance when climate and disaster risks materialise.
At the close of the meeting PSPA and WFP reiterated their shared commitment to advance sustainable, inclusive and impactful social protection interventions under the proposed MoU, with the ultimate aim of improving quality of life for the province’s most vulnerable populations.
