Profile
Madame Farzana Raja, Member National Assembly of Pakistan is the Federal Minister and Chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), Vice President of the Young Parliamentarians Forum and an active member of the Women Parliamentary Caucus of the National Assembly of Pakistan. She was the Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA), Punjab from 2002 to 2007. She has been actively participating and held various positions to formulate the policies and procedures for the Pakistan Peoples Party since 1994, especially in the areas of welfare, women empowerment, foreign and media relations. She is an eloquent speaker and has spoken at various conferences/seminars organized by national and international institutions. She is also a prolific writer who keeps her interest in writing articles / columns on diverse topics and has contributed for the last 10 years in leading English and Urdu newspapers of Pakistan.
In view of her long-lasting commitment to the poor and vulnerable, Madame Farzana Raja was appointed as the Chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Program in 2008. Within a span of just three (3) years, she has transformed BISP into the largest and the most credible ever social protection initiative of the country. It is her true devotion to the cause and due to her leadership abilities, she has assembled a team of dedicated staff and senior management who under her guidance made a dream come true, a dream of touching the hearts and minds of the common people. With her zeal, BISP has managed to reach out to more than 5 million families in less than three years; a feat, which was achieved by other countries like Brazil & Mexico in almost a decade. Through her devout allegiance to the cause, relentless pursuit of perfection and strong work ethics, Madame Raja has instilled a culture of transparency in the disbursement of cash grants and has made colossal efforts to reach out to the marginalized and underprivileged sections of Pakistani Society. The Program’s main objective is to provide immediate financial cushion to extremely poor families with a particular focus on empowering poor women. Besides monthly cash grants, BISP is providing micro financing, life & health insurance and vocational and technical training to its beneficiaries. Moreover, BISP is also conducting South Asia’s first ever and the largest poverty scorecard survey throughout the country. This success and recognition earned by the BISP in such a short time was not possible without the dynamic and persistent efforts of the Federal Minister and Chairperson BISP, Madame Farzana Raja. This commitment, dedication and resolve of Madame Raja have won accolades for BISP world wide. BISP is, in the words of, UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon “a model for the other countries’’. It is her untiring work and wisdom which has earned acknowledgement for BISP from among others, the World Bank President, US Government, U.K. Government, Asian Development Bank, UNDP and other international development partners for its transparency, objectivity and technology based operations. Under her able leadership BISP marches on in service of the poor and the underprivileged.
In recognition of her services for the poor and underprivileged of Pakistan she was awarded Hilal e Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) the 2nd highest civilian award by the Government of Pakistan at the 64th independence day of Pakistan.
Madame Raja is married to Dr. Ammar Turabi, who is the founder and the President of Think-Tank International. With a Ph.D. degree in Government Administration, Dr. Turabi is a Certified Foreign and Domestic Diplomatic Policy Consultant. His expertise are USA-Pakistan relations, Transnational Threats, Afghan Crisis, West-Asia diplomacy, Global harmony, Good governance and Democratic/ Constitutional Trends in South Asia. He is long affiliated with the United Press International and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC.
