Vulnerabilities Marvi Memon & Layla Hameedi

Ensuring the financial inclusion of the most vulnerable through systematic registries is crucial. Financial inclusion continues to make its way to the forefront of global policy agendas, especially as we live through the COVID-19 pandemic, as its far reaching implications on the vulnerable become clearer; it affects poverty alleviation, gender equality, female empowerment, income equality, financial stability, and inclusive economic growth. Layla Hameedi chats with Marvi Memon, who led Pakistan’s largest social safety net, the BISP, as Social Safety Minister. The BISP facilitated the financial inclusion of 6 million chronically poor women through microcredit and e-commerce technologies and has been at the forefront of financial inclusion showcasing both domestically and internationally, including at the United Nations.

Over 2 billion people in the world today do not have access to safe and nutritious food. As we grapple with COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people facing acute hunger is expected to have doubled as we start 2021; and so are famines in conflict zones.  Alleviating food insecurity and its countless effects - for instance, malnutrition, stunting,  reduced GDP growth rates, increased displacement and exacerbated gender inequity - must be seen as a global policy priority. Layla Hameedi chats with Marvi Memon, who led Pakistan’s largest social safety net, the BISP with a budget size of $1.25 billion yearly being spent mainly on food supplements, which ensured food security to over 6 million chronic poor women.  The podcasts discusses some of the solutions to this crisis ranging from a combination of policy options for the most vulnerable: from nutrition conditional cash transfers, to food banks, to school meals, to micro credit, to climate smart agriculture. 

Climate Change is increasingly being considered an urgent policy priority. Its effects are far reaching and manifest themselves in all spheres of life. Environmental changes and catastrophes are inextricably linked to both poverty and conflict, thereby exacerbating the vulnerability of populations already facing multiple risks. Given this, increasing our resilience through climate adaptation is crucial. Layla Hameedi chats with Marvi Memon, who is a policy advisor to the ICIMOD, champion of climate protection in Pakistan including mangrove forestation and GLOF induced vulnerabilities, and expert on low cost climate smart technologies for poverty alleviation.

In 2000, the United Nations institutionalised the recognition that women are disproportionately impacted by conflict through their Women, Peace and Security agenda. The widespread prevalence of gender-based violence and sexual abuse and exploitation highlights how women are impacted by conflicts differently and often more intensely than men. Layla Hameedi chats with Marvi Memon, whose 2020 publication, Gender, Pakistan and UN Peacekeeping explores the link between gender and conflict, and proposes a gender-responsive agenda to overcome the discrepancy between policy and practice in protecting women in fragile environments.

Child marriage (also called forced and early marriage) refers to a practice where children are married off at an earlier age than the internationally recognised legal age of 18. Early marriage affects both young girls and boys, although it does affect girls disproportionately; it hinders access to education and professional development, dashes aspirations, and results in violence against these young children. It is therefore a fundamental violation of human rights.  Layla Hameedi chats with Marvi Memon, who has championed the cause both within Pakistan and Internationally, after her 2014 bill on child marriage opened up a national debate on this widespread vulnerability. 

Acid violence is a form of violent assault which involves the act of throwing acid or other corrosive substances onto the body of another ‘with the intention to disfigure, maim, torture, or kill’. On the whole, it is a form of violence which disproportionately affects women, and can therefore be considered an act of gender-based violence. Layla Hameedi chats with Marvi Memon, former Social Protection Minister who spearheaded Pakistan's first legislation against Acid Violence.