Cash transfers helping Malawi hunger victims survive

As the country continues to be affected by hunger, cash transfers programmes are helping some victims to get by.

Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) is implementing the cash transfer programmes in various rural areas of Nsanje and Phalombe.  The organisation is currently providing financial support to 10,000 Malawians in the two districts.

The beneficiaries receive the money as families and each identified family receives a monthly cash transfer of approximately US$43 (about K30,000), over a period of five months. The cash is enough to meet important needs such as a 50 kilogram bag of maize, 5 kilograms of beans, and 2 litres of cooking oil.

The organisation give its beneficiaries mobile phones and sends the money to them through mobile money services.

“When we receive funding from international donors, the money is transferred to the mobile company, and then directly to each individual mobile phone number which has been given to the families,” said Wakissa Munkhondia who is responsible for the cash distribution programme in Phalombe for MRCS.

One of the beneficiaries, Lovenesss Mussa who is HIV positive said the initiative has helped her to survive during the drought that has affected her home.

“When I don’t get food, I start to vomit, and the effect of my medication is reduced. This is why I need to have some access to food, but this drought makes it impossible to get food without external help. “I really don’t know what to do if I don’t get help. I rely on others to get by,” she said.

Close to 8.4 million people are in need of food aid this year since they got low yields or completely lost their crops in the last growing season due to effects of El Nino.