The Benazir Income Support Programme has approved free residential skills training for 300 beneficiaries at the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (PAF-IAST) in Haripur. The pilot, approved by the BISP Board, will run under the Benazir Hunarmand Programme, the programme's free technical and vocational training scheme.

The training will be of international standard and matched to the needs of the job market, so trainees can find work or start their own small businesses after completing their courses, according to the announcement shared by BISP. If the pilot succeeds, more beneficiaries are expected to get the same opportunity in later phases.

Who can apply

The programme is open to members of households registered in BISP's Dynamic Registry, with one person per family. Applicants must be aged between 18 and 40 and hold at least a Matric qualification. Courses run for three to six months depending on the trade, and cover fields including information technology, healthcare, hospitality, construction, beauty services and textiles. Training is free, and trainees receive a monthly stipend, a certificate and a graduation bonus; BISP has not yet published the stipend amount or the value of the bonus.

Registration is through the official Hunarmand portal or at the nearest BISP tehsil office, with an original CNIC and an active mobile number. Registration is only the first step: applications are verified before anyone is selected, and registering does not guarantee a place. BISP has warned that it never asks for any fee by phone or SMS, and that official messages come only from 8171.