SOCIAL CASH TRANSFER KEEPING LEARNERS IN SCHOOL

Florence Chinang’ombe amother of four has struggled to raise her children because her husband travelled to South Africa in 2002 and left the woman without any help.

“My husband left us without any help. I and the children lived in a small round hut whereby we had to work like donkeys for us to get basic needs, We used to ridge crop fields for our neighbors in Kaziputa Village in Ntcheu for only K5 000 per Acre. This work was done for almost a month, so the children skipped their classes to come to her aid,” said Chinang’ombe.

Chinang’ombe got worried when her first born child, Dumisani dropped out of school in form Two and the second born quitted in form one because she had no money to pay for her children for school fees.

In 2018, Chinang’ombe started receving monthly cash transfers for her to find her basic needs, she was relieved.

Four years on, she is all smiles as Frank, her third-born, sat the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations at Kampanje Community Day Secondary School in the shadow of Kirk Range.  The 24-year-old was in Form One when the household started getting social cash transfers.

Her family now lives in a new three-bedroom brick house with iron sheets and solar power for lighting and charging phones.

“The social cash transfers brought a huge relief to my family. They helped me learn in peace.

“The social cash transfers her brought a smile on our faces, it has helped me to learn in peace. Since we had skip classes to work, we had to go to school bare footed and with empty stomachs but as of now we have shoes, note books and even uniforms to wear when going to school,” said Frank.

His youngest brother, Aubrey, is on the cusp of going to secondary school. The 17-year-old sat Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education examinations in July.

Their mother is delighted to be among eight social cash transfer recipients in her village.

Government rolled out the Social Cash Transfer Programme in Ntcheu and Balaka Districts with support from the Government of Ireland in partnership with Unicef.

Unicef Malawi social protection specialist George Juwawo says,”The social protection programmers are investments that supports households to meet their basic need. When Florence received her cash for three months she immediately paid Franks school fees for term two and the remaining money she went on buying soap and food for the learners no to go to school dirty and hungry.

A big boost came in January when each social cash transfer beneficiary in Ntcheu received a top-up of K20 000 per month to overcome hunger which bites hard from October to March.

“In January, we received K60 000 at once. I used the lean season top-up for three months to buy iron sheets for the new house and invested the remainder in shares in our village savings and loans group,” she says.

In February 2022, she bought four piglets at K10 000 each. As the animals grow and multiply, the determined breadwinner envisages selling piglets at K15000 to K20 000 each.

Besides, the pigs produce manure for her rain-fed crop field that produced about two tonnes of maize amid prolonged dry spells in the 2021/22 growing season.  She also uses manure for winter cropping in Kaziputa Irrigation Scheme, where she grows maize and beans mostly for sale.

“After harvesting, I sold three pigs to buy more iron sheets for my house. The largest fetched K65 000, the smaller one went at K45 000 and the smallest was sold at K35 000,” she said.

Looking forward, the woman plans to use the proceeds of piggery to buy window glasses for her new home.

Rodwell Chunga, Ntcheu district social welfare officer, says the programme is really helping our villagers where by more people are benefiting from the money they are receiving every month, people are keeping livestocks, building decent houses and furniture

Chunga said,“To break the cycle of poverty, they are able to send children to school and support their education needs using the social cash transfers.

“Electronic payments are deepening a culture of saving as the recipients now save and spend according to their needs.”