Monrovia – The Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) has announced the start of the second component of the social cash transfer scheme to extremely poor and food-insecure households.
The objective of social cash is to provide income support to about 10,000 extremely poor and food insecure Liberian households through regular cash transfers.
Addressing journalists at the Ministry of Gender at the weekend, Gender Minister Williametta E. Saydee-Tarr said the cash transfer is a major achievement under pillar one of the Pro-Poor Agenda for Development Prosperity which states that “power to the people” and the subchapter, investing in social protection.
According to the Gender Minister, the total cash involved in the second component of the scheme is US$300,000. She added that individuals in both Grand Kru and Maryland Counties will receive US$10 per person.
Saydee-Tarr said the first component of the project was intended to improve efficiency, enhance capacity and strengthen the national social safety nets system.
The PADP speaks to the importance of direct cash outside centralized national poverty reduction programs, she said.
“The milestone also captures the very essence of the sustainable Development Goals, under pillars one and two: No Poverty, and Zero Hunger,” the MGCSP boss said.
“Today, I sit here with excitement, pleasure and delight, to announce to the nation, our partners and the world that the Ministry of Gender has started the disbursement of social cash – I mean, ‘raw cash’ to our extremely poor and food insecure citizens in Grand Kru and Maryland Counties.”
This quarter of payment will cover about 3,000 households which are just fewer than 15,000 people in both Grand Kru and Maryland counties, she announced.
She added that the program is targeting 7,000 households which she estimated will target over 30,000 people by the middle of 2020.
“The third component is the project management and capacity building. This component is to finance project management and capacity building for the implementation of the project by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. This component will also strengthen coordination among safety net programs at the national and sub national level,” she concluded.