114
World Bank-funded Climate Smart-Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) beneficiaries have expressed excitement over the introduction of E-payment mode, saying it will ease walking long distances to get their money.
Speaking at Kavunde catchment in the area of Traditional Authority M’bang’ombe in Lilongwe during the distribution of phones by Airtel Malawi, one of the beneficiaries, Florida Joshua, thanked government for introducing the E-payment mode.
She said: “Previously, almost everyone in the village knew that beneficiaries were going to receive their money, which increased the chances of being robbed.
“But now no one will know that we have received money from government.”
Lilongwe Land Resources Conservation Officer Setrida Mlamba said government has introduced E-payment on CS-EPWP in order to reduce some of the challenges the project was facing, such as delayed payment and fraud.
“Since the programme was introduced, payments have been done manually thereby increasing the risk of theft and human resource from the councils. We want to deal with these challenges,” she said.
Currently, Lilongwe has 22,338 beneficiaries on CS-EPWP and 13,878 of them have already been registered on E-payment.
CS-EPWP is a component of Social Support for Resilience Livelihood Project, which is being facilitated by the National Local Government Finance Committee with financial support from the Multi-Donor Trust, including the World Bank
