DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS IMPRESSED WITH PROJECT IMPACT ON MALAWIANS
Development partners bankrolling Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works (CS-EPW) Project have expressed satisfaction with the impact the intervention has made on its beneficiaries in Malawi.
CS-EPWP is a five-year sub-component project of the Social Support for REsilient LIvelihoods Project (SSRLP) and is being funded by the World Bank and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF).
It aims to improve climate resilience and household incomes, increase household resilience to shocks, improve household incomes and food security and reduce exposure to climate change and other disaster risks.
On Tuesday, the Malawi Social Protection MDTF partners visited beneficiaries of the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) under Mlinde Catchment Area in Traditional Authority Malili in Lilongwe to appreciate the impact of the intervention.
Speaking to journalists on behalf of the partners, Programme Manager for Social Protection at the European Union (EU), Arnold Chikavanga, said the development partners were impressed with the improvements the programme has made on its beneficiaries.
“I really thank the government for the good work that they are doing. This is based on the interactions that we’ve had with the district officials, the extension workers, but more importantly, the beneficiaries. But just talking to the beneficiaries, you can actually see that the program is having a positive impact on the on the households, because we’ve seen with the family that we’ve just spoken to before the program, he told us that he wasn’t able to have food three times a day, but as a result of the program, they’re now able to sufficiently feed their family as well as send their children to school,” said Chikavanga.
He said they were also excited to learn that the programme is helping beneficiaries to build assets while others have ventured into various businesses to emancipate themselves from poverty.
Chikavanga cited one beneficiary, Samalani Chimsoko, who is raising pigs from proceeds of Mtukula Pakhomo cash transfer.
Currently, Chimsoko has 16 pigs in his kraal. Chikavanga said this gives them hope that all the beneficiaries will eventually graduate themselves from poverty.
“It really spells out a positive story of what the program is doing. And the good thing also that we’ve seen is that we appreciate that cash alone is not enough, and we’ve seen that in this village, in this community, the program has also come in with complimentary programs that support the cash that is being given to the beneficiaries. And we’ve seen that through the cash plus assistance that is going to the beneficiaries, still more, the beneficiaries are actually benefiting from, from the program, because they’re receiving capacity enhancing initiatives whereby, they’re enhancing their knowledge on financial management, on business management, and then they’re also getting a seed capital, a seed capital that is able to spare them to make decisions for their household and to enter into different business ventures,” he said.
In a separate interview, Chimsoko said he is now able to feed his family three times a day, a thing he could not manage before being enrolled into the SCTP initiative.
“I have four children whom I am comfortably and happily educating using the proceeds from our village savings and loan group. Where things get worse, I do sell one of the pigs to buy whatever is needed in my family,” he said.
The Government of Malawi, with financial support from the World Bank, introduced the project to empower communities to restore their degraded environment, build assets and provide income for ultra-poor households.
Through the project, which rolled out to all 28 districts of Malawi following the 2021/22 pilot in 10 districts, councils are recruiting individuals from poor communities, particularly those prone to effects of climate change such as droughts and floods.
The participants are invited to join community efforts to strengthen climate resilience for which they are offered MK28,800 (now revised to MK48, 000 per cycle). Each cycle is 30 days.
Among others, participants plant trees along riverbanks, build check dams to reduce soil erosion, and dig channels and ditches to reduce flood risks.
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