The Government of Malawi with support from the German Government disbursed MK1,391,304,000.00 (Euro1,656,314) to 23,988 households that were affected by the March, 2019 flood disaster caused by cyclone Idai in Machinga, Phalombe and Mangochi districts.
This was made possible through the Vertical Expansion (VE) of the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) which aimed at bailing out SCTP beneficiary households affected by the cyclone in the three districts.
Each household received MK58,000.00 once off amount to carter for their flood response needs.
The German Government made the funds available through KFW to enable district councils implement VE with technical support of the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare.
Beneficiaries of VE are all SCTP households in Village Clusters (VCs) classified as flood affected by the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) through the District Disaster Management Offices.
Speaking at Nsanama Trading Centre when he witnessed VE payment after visiting Nsanama 1 and Nsanama 2 VCs in Traditional Authority (T/A) Nsanama in Machinga, the German Ambassador to Malawi, Jürgen T. Borsch, noted that these poor families needed to be supported to participate in the community life.
“Some of these people literally lost everything. We wanted to give them an opportunity to start again their regular lives. We wanted to make them stand up and keep walking,” said Borsch.
He continued, “Some of these very poor families have no any other opportunities. We carefully identified the households that required special help so we would give them money to spend it on whatever they need to help their families and relatives.
“We truly believe that we have to support these families with as much money as possible so that they can buy either a new roof or meals or construct a new home.
“We also aim at breaking the cycle of the ever recurring of the current situation, making sure that the new houses are resilient, steady and better prepared to avoid what happened”.
Borsch added that Germany with partners such as Irish Aid and KFW will continue working with the Malawi Government to ensure that people’s lives in the country are improving through SCTP.
The German ambassador also revealed that about 6 million Euros has been put aside waiting to be channelled towards disaster recovery programmes in Malawi.
Cyclone Idai had swept across 15 districts in Malawi especially in the Southern Region, killing people and livestock and destroying large hacters of crop fields.
In Machinga alone, 103 VCs were hit by the floods affecting a total of 13,310 households.
During the VE payment, it was noted that Nsanama 1 VC has 99 household beneficiaries of which 79 are female headed and Nsanama 2 VC has 128 household beneficiaries of which 112 are female headed.
Sangulane Jackson, one of the beneficiaries from Group Village Head Gomba in T/A Nsanama, did not hide her excitement upon receiving her MK58,000 saying the money came at the right time.
“The floods left me homeless. I also lost property, crops and livestock. I will use the money to buy food and school materials for my children,” she said with a smile on her face.
In her remarks, Principal Secretary for Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Erica Maganga, advised the beneficiaries to use the money for the intended purpose.
She said she was happy to note that the majority of the beneficiaries are women, arguing that women actually take a leading role in providing for their households.