Social cash transfer proves positive in Luwingu

–The social cash transfer scheme which was launched last year by Minister of Community Development, Mother and Child Health, Joseph Katema, has benefited people living with disabilities in Luwingu district in the Northern Province.

This came to light during a two day workshop organised by Zambia Federation of Disability Organisation and Power International UK with the support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to evaluate the impact of social cash transfer programme on persons with disabilities in luwingu district.

It was learnt that about 2,204 people living with disabilities who are benefiting from the social cash transfer have started using the money received from the programme to renovate their houses while others have started small businesses such as selling umunkoyo, sweats, biscuits and other items.

Others were using the money to take their children and dependants to school and sustain their lives, adding that the main objective of the programme was to reduce poverty and hunger and promote human development through improved nutrition and health.

Speaking during the function Power International facilitator, Bruce Chooma, said it was important for the country to evaluate the social cash transfer in order to see whether the project was beneficial to the people at the grass root level.

He said social cash transfer promoted inclusive growth and reduced income inequalities and   builds social cohesion, increased self-respect and built dignity.

Appreciating the programme, John Mwiche, 70, a person living with disability, said out the KR240.00 he received from the social cash transfer programme he managed to renovate his grass thatched house after two months and he has now bought iron sheets.

And Josephine Chomba, 64, another person living with disability and caring for three grandchildren, said the money received from the programme has really helped her in raising the children who were not attending school and had no clothes and blankets.

The three grand children are now playing freely with other well to do children in the community without being looked down upon.

She commended the PF government for its effort to look at the vulnerable people in society who had been looked down upon by the community in the past.

Mrs Chomba urged the government to channel the money raised from fuel and maize subsidies to such programmes that aimed at uplifting the standards of living of the vulnerable people in society.

“We are happy that the current government has embarked on the social cash transfer that was helping the needy in society in uplifting the standard of living,” she said.

She said the people living with disability have welcome the removal of fuel and maize subsidies because the government wants to extend the social cash transfer to other districts which the programme has not yet started.

Mrs Chomba said the vulnerable people in the districts without social cash transfer are desperate to receive such help from the government in order to improve their living standards.

She said the past governments failed to carry out such a good initiative which was aimed at helping the vulnerable people who were also in majority.

Mrs Chomba wondered why government was failing to build schools for people living with disabilities in every district but only concentrated on Chileshe Chepela School for the Physically Handicapped in Kasama and Mporokoso School for the blind.

She said because of the distances involved many parents with children living with disabilities have failed to send their children to these schools and the children have been denied access to education.

And Mr Chooma said the current impact evaluation reveals that the programme does not specifically address issues of disability but also addressed social vulnerability in the district where social cash transfers are being carried out.

Luwingu District Social Welfare Officer, Mwila Chinda, said government has so far disbursed KR 1,681,000 on social cash transfer since the programme started a year ago.

Mr Chinda said the programme was benefiting all the people in the district, but he regretted that at the beginning of the programme many people refused to register their names because they thought that it was a campaign ploy for the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in 2011.

He said upon seeing that applicants who registered on the programme were receiving KR120 and KR240 the office has been approached by  many vulnerable people wanting to be included on the register.

Mr Chinda said about 2,204 people living with disability are benefiting from the social cash transfer in the area, adding that the total number of recipients was 52,422 households countrywide of which the majority were females.

He said his ministry has plans to extend the programme to other districts in the Northern Province.