By Harold Mtepatepa
Lilongwe, Mana: Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati says Social Protection Programmes are crucial in the development of the country as they act as a cross-cutting tool to address and improve poverty gaps.
The minister said this on Wednesday during the commemoration of Social Protection Week at Phereni Primary School in Traditional Authority Njewa in Lilongwe.
“We are economically empowering women and men as well as reducing hunger and poverty in line with MW2063 which indicates that no one should be left behind.
“These programmes have positively contributed to the development of this country because we are now experiencing high passing rates in rural areas owing to higher enrollment rate in schools,” said Kaliati.
kaliati (Centre) inspecting the pavilions from one of the beneficiaries for social protection
She added that government was committed to finding solutions to eliminate multiple problems in food security as well as sustaining the living standards of women and children.
“We are looking forward to having independent women and girls where children will have access to a conducive learning environment by providing health care, food and paying school fees for vulnerable children up to tertiary level,” said Kaliati.
In his remarks, Member of Parliament for Lilongwe-Kumachenga Constituency, Marko Ching’onga said the social protection initiatives have inspired a lot of people to be development conscious in the area.
Ching’onga then urged government to consider increasing funding towards the social protection programme, saying doing so would further boost school enrollment rates.
For his part, one of the beneficiaries, Frank Mataka who is also a facilitator for Tiyanjane cluster, commended the initiatives saying they had improved his household’s livelihood as it is food secure.
According to authorities, the Social Cash Transfer Programme covers 220, 447 households in 28 districts while over 2 million learners have benefited from school feeding programmes.
Hon Ching’onga giving some remarks on the social protection