Deputy Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Halima Daudi has appealed to Social Cash Transfer Program(SCTP) beneficiaries in Phalombe to invest and multiply the cash from the social protection program for sustainable and meaningful livelihood.
Daudi made the appeal Wednesday during 2024/25 lean season food distribution at Masangano Community Based Organisation (CBO) at Paramount Chief Kaduyas area, adding that the money under the SCTP might look small, but it wound yield more benefits once invested into business.
She added that the money was meant to improve households livelihood by buying livestock, while other part could be used to support children education through provision of basic needs.
The Deputy Minister also advised the beneficiaries not to sell the relief maize, describing hunger situation in Phalombe as bad due unfavorable weather condition for three consecutive years.
Plan Malawi International Programs Area Coordinator, Jane Mweziwina, said her organization had reached out to more than 44,000 households in the district with three bags of 50kg maize each in the current lean season.
She described the relief maize distribution program as a success, as the food goes to deserving households and that there are no incidences of beneficiaries selling the maize food.
One of the beneficiaries, Caroline Phaleya, from Mampinga Village, who receive maize on behalf of her 86-year-old grandmother, said the relief food kept the grandmother and six children going.
“My grandmother is among Social Cash Transfer Program beneficiaries and the money she receives helps a lot in our family, otherwise, we would not have made it this far,” she said.
Phalombe District Council, Chairperson, Agason Sompho, asked the SCTP beneficiaries to work hard in their fields to produce food other than, solely, depending on relief items, adding that the people needed to find other means to improve their livelihoods.
Phalombe District has 44,696 households benefiting from the lean season food distribution program, with 10,248 households under SCTP and, apart from the World Food Program relief maize, the beneficiaries also received K70,000 cash.
