Only the bottle is new

These days, if you talk to anyone in government about any new program or initiative, really anything that will cost money, the response is often the same: there is no money.

Understandably, a lot of funds have been redirected to flood rescue, relief and recovery efforts. The situation is further aggravated by high energy prices, high inflation and a slowdown of every engine that powers the global economy – the US, European, Chinese, Japanese economies. All the while there are intermittent rumors swirling of Pakistan teetering on the edge of sovereign default. All these circumstances add up to zero fiscal space for the Pakistani government; there is no penny to spare anywhere.

Elected representatives have to keep delivering jobs and goodies for their constituents to secure their next term. But if there is nothing left to spend, what is a politician to do? Rebrand what is already there and sell it to voters as a new accomplishment.

One example that comes to mind is the National Internship Program (NIP) that began in 2006-2007 during the Musharraf years under the Management Services Wing of the Establishment Division. In subsequent years it morphed, was tailored, and tossed from one department to another multiple times. In 2009, it was transferred to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and then back again to the Establishment Division in the following year.

A year later, in 2011, it was transferred again, this time to the Ministry of Education. Then, in 2014, the government of the time moved it yet again, this time to the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination. A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Planning announced the Youth Development Initiative under which fresh graduates would be given internships in various PSDP programmes.

A similar internship /apprenticeship programme for vocational trainees existed as the Prime Minister’s Youth Training Scheme in 2014 which became the Kamyab Jawan’s Skills for All programme in 2019 and went back again to being the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme in 2022.

Another component of the Kamyab Jawan programme covered the construction of 13 sports academies at different public universities. A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Planning under the current government announced the construction of 250 mini-sports complexes.

I was surprised by the lack of even the most basic planning and foresight that goes into such programmes. For example, some universities have been requesting financial support to add sports facilities for their campuses but have been turned down repeatedly. Even after the announcement of construction of 250 mini-sports complexes, there is a disconnect where universities that are willing and able to support and maintain such infrastructure are unaware of this programme.

As of yet, it is unclear what a “mini-sports complex” will include, which sport it will facilitate, whether they will all be cut from the same cookie cutter or adapted to local demands. Since sports is a devolved subject, where is a federal programme going to put up these facilities without provincial support in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?

From one reincarnation to the next, the size of the programmes may wax or wane a bit, they may get a refreshed website and a new name and logo, but it still remains old wine being sold in new bottles, repeatedly.

I am happy to see governments spend money on programmes that directly benefit the general population, certainly happier than seeing it go the way of poorly thought through subsidies that benefit the rich. Many programmes, like the internship programme running for sixteen years, have collectively seen thousands of beneficiaries pass through.

At this point it is fair enough to ask: how successful are these one-year internships at helping new graduates secure permanent employment? That figure should be easy enough to track and could provide a clear measure of how well the program is working. And yet, there is no such tracking, certainly none that is easily accessible to the public. The existing website of the PM’s Youth Programme (https://pmyp.gov.pk/pmyphome/DashboardSFA), which includes an apprenticeship programme, has a dashboard of some statistics (mostly centering on programme inputs), but none that allows us to gauge to what extent it met its objective.

In the absence of evidence of the success of government programmes like these, the only way I can explain their continued existence is two ways: a) they are goodies, handouts to voters on taxpayer expenses, something particularly handy as campaign season approaches; and b) solving real problems is hard – papering over them is easier. For example, underperforming public schools are feeding underprepared students to colleges and universities, which in turn feed the economy graduates that the global workplace considers lacking in skills. If they work, these are stop-gap measures at best and if they do not, a waste of public funds for cheap publicity costing us other opportunities at worst.

Absent evidence of efficacy, all these programmes add up to is ‘narrative building’, that nauseating term adopted into our political vocabulary in recent years. Politicians have lost the public’s trust in part because of these games they play – repackaging existing programme, slapping new logos and labels on them to take credit, knowing full well that there is no money (or time) to complete them. All it takes is to make the PM inaugurate the (re)launch.

With so few funds to go around for genuinely new development projects, especially at this moment in our history, there should be no surprise that a lot of development programmes like this are just repackaged goods. Major PSDP projects can take a long time to ramp up. With elections around the summer, we can expect a caretaker government by June or July. Voters should pay attention, ask a lot of questions and be wary of inaugurations of grand projects because they are unlikely to see the light of day.

The writer (she/her) has a PhD in Education.