Evaluating SDG 2 Zero Hunger Progress: Assessing the Ehsaas Rashan Programme's Impact on Food Insecurity in Balochistan's Districts

Abstract

The paper measure the extent to which the Ehsaas Rashan Programme in Pakistan has succeeded in reducing food insecurity in the Balochistan districts, as well as the distance travelled towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger). Despite the national achievements that Pakistan has been registering in its quest to reduce the undernourishment rates (20.2% in 2015 to 16% in 2019) (Shair et al., 2024), Baluchistan is the poorest-province in food security (in the country), and 40.8% of households are under moderate and severe levels of food insecurity (Mahmood et al., 2023). The research will discuss how the targeted food subsidy programme affects the dietary diversity, caloric intake, and food stability among beneficiary households by applying the mixed-methods approach, which will involve the use of the qualitative assessment of the programme implementation and quantitative analysis of the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) data on the 2019-2020. The findings show that the Ehsaas Rashan Riayat Programme has led to the enhancement of the instantaneous access to food which is being received by the registered beneficiaries, however structural barriers on the form of the insufficient uptake of digital accessibility, inability of the programme to service the beneficiaries to the adequacy, and climate-based vulnerability to food vulnerability are limiting the sustainability of the food security attainment. It is proposed in the paper that the interventions in climate-smarts agriculture can be integrated with the programs of social protection, that the digital payment system should be spread in remote districts, and that the multidimensional food security indicators should be introduced to measure the effectiveness of the program. The findings, along with the previous research on the topic of social protection and food security in developing countries, will contribute to the growing body of research on the topic and will give evidence-based policy recommendations to ensure the achievement of SDG 2 in the least developed province of Pakistan.

Keywords: Ehsaas Rashan Programme, SDG 2 Zero Hunger, food insecurity, Balochistan, social protection, cash transfers, Pakistan.