Balaka shines in SCTP and CSEPW E-Payment strategy

Balaka, March 21, Mana: Balaka District Council has been applauded for successfully rolling out Electronic Payment (E-Payment) system on Social Cash Transfer (SCTP) and Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works (CSEPW) programmes.

This was made on Thursday at the end of a three-day learning visit by Mulanje, Chikwawa and Nsanje District Council officials at Phalula Extension Planning Area (EPA) in Traditional Authority (TA) Phalula in Balaka.

One of the members from Department of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare from Mulanje District Council, Dave Nyasulu said their journey has been fruitful because they have learnt various techniques that Balaka District Council use for the successfulness of SCTP and CSEPW E-Payment strategy.

Among others, he noted that there is strong coordination among various stakeholders such as donors, payment services providers (TNM and Standard Bank), council officers, community leaders and the beneficiaries themselves and this makes the whole process easier.

"We have witnessed that E-Payment is ideal when disbursing funds to beneficiaries of SCTP and CSEPW because people from TA Phalula have testified that the system is time convenient, cost effective and secured from fraudulence.

"Through this system, we have also noted that there is a vibrant Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) whereby challenges among the beneficiaries are sorted out timely either during the cycle or when the funds are disbursed," he said.

Nyasulu therefore said he was ready to utilize the knowledge learnt during the tour in order to successfully implement a similar approach in Mulanje District which he said is still using the old way of distributing hard cash to over 17,000 SCTP beneficiaries in nine Traditional Authorities.

One of the beneficiaries of CSEPW, Liness Chimbuto from Phombeya Village in TA Phalula testified that she has not encountered any challenge since she started receiving the payment through her mobile phone.

She lauded the approach, highlighting that the K48, 000 she gets per cycle of 30 days helps her family to afford food and school materials for her children.

Balaka District Social Welfare Officer responsible for SCTP, Mphatso Chisepa has described the initiative as a life saver especially for marginalized groups such as women, elderly and people living with disabilities.

"Since the implementation of E-Payment system for SCTP in 2013, over 10,000 beneficiaries from 80 village clusters have welcomed the initiative,” she said.

Apart from district council members, the visit was also accompanied by officials from Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) and donors from European Union and UNICEF.

Government in partnership with several donors introduced SCTP and CSEPW as part of social economic programs that would help to economically empower marginalized communities while also conserving the environment by planting trees and adopting modern farming techniques in order to address issues of climate change.