COMSIP credits 4, 216 Social Cash Transfer Programme with business capital in Phalombe and Mulanje

COMSIP Cooperative Union Limited has disbursed business capital to 4, 216 beneficiaries of the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) in Phalombe and Mulanje.

With support from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) through the Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprise (FARMSE), COMSIP Cooperative United Limited is implementing Building Sustainable Livelihoods for Ultra-Poor (BSLUP) Project in selected district across the country.

COMSIP Chief Excutive Officer, Tenson Gondwe

BSLUP Project aims graduating beneficiaries of SCTP in the selected districts and engage them in economic activities meant to get them out of extreme poverty to a level where they are able to sustain their livelihoods.

To achieve this, COMSIP will provide a business seed capital of K242, 859.52 to each of the 4, 216 beneficiaries in Mulanje and Phalombe so that they are able to venture into businesses that will enable them to be self-sufficient.

The Union has since handed over half the amount and will be eligible for the other half if they manage their businesses well.

Speaking during a visit to some of the beneficiaries, COMSIP Chief Executive Officer, Tenneson Gondwe, said the seed capital is meant to empower the communities so that they do away with the dependency culture and be self-reliant.

“The beneficiaries in this project are recipients in the Social Cash Transfer Program. They have been dependent on the cash outs over the years, and so the seed capital is to give them chance to change their lives and be self-reliant,” he said.

Gondwe said, apart from the seed capital, the project also focused on mindset change, and trainings in business management and other livelihood components like nutrition, actionable climate smart agriculture and water and sanitation hygiene.

The trainings were championed by COMSIP extension workers through groups that were formed at the onset of the project in June 2019, with the aim of preparing beneficiaries for the graduation.

Some of the businesses that beneficiaries have ventured into are grocery stores, dry fish selling, irrigation farming, tailoring and the selling of second hand clothes.

The seed capital graduation for the two districts is costed at K1.032 billion.

BSLUP is a government of Malawi project being funded by Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprise (FARMSE) with support from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

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