Islamabad, 31 March 2026 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Kashf Foundation, Pakistan’s leading women-focused microfinance institution, have announced a partnership to introduce Khushal Mustaqbil Takaful (KMT) – a Shariah-compliant micro pension product for low-income women entrepreneurs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan’s informal workforce remains largely unprotected. Only 10 to 12 percent of the labor force has pension coverage, leaving most low-income women with no access to financial protection. KMT is designed to address this gap, offering women flexible contribution tiers, emergency access to funds, and incidental insurance coverage for their families, all tailored to the realities of informal livelihoods.
The initiative is supported through UNDP’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF), which is supporting innovation challenges across 23 countries. This marks the first time UNDP has convened an innovation challenge in disaster risk finance and insurance in Pakistan.
Dr. Samuel Rizk, Resident Representative, UNDP Pakistan, noted, “This partnership marks an important step in advancing inclusive insurance in Pakistan. By bringing KMT to low income, women led businesses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, we are strengthening their ability to withstand economic and climate shocks. Through IRFF, we are also showing how private sector innovation can be scaled to reach those who have long remained outside formal financial protection.”
Woman in headscarf serves fried food on a plate at a street market stall.
Photo: Kashf Foundation
Delivered in partnership with Jubilee Life Insurance, KMT addresses a longstanding gap in Pakistan’s social protection landscape. The programme will be rolled out across ten districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the goal of reaching 39,000 women through financial awareness sessions and enrolling 15,000 women with the insurance policy in 2026.
Noting the initiative’s significance, Ms. Roshaneh Zafar, Founder and Managing Director, Kashf Foundation, said, “When a woman earns, she sustains her family, and when she plans for the future, she transforms it. KMT responds to this need by enabling women to systematically save for the future, offering them dignity, security, and a pathway to financial independence.”
Through this partnership, UNDP and Kashf Foundation aim to demonstrate that meaningful financial protection for underserved women is both achievable and scalable. The lessons from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will inform the expansion of KMT in other regions and contribute to a growing evidence base on how gender-responsive, inclusive insurance can be effectively delivered
