Friday, November 22, 2024
The drought during the 2023/2024 farming season ravaged most households, with many of these barely managing to meet basic needs. As a result, the government created the Cash For Work program to supplement other already existing social assistance programs such as food for work and Social Cash Transfer.
In this vein, Masaiti Town Council received *K 988,668.34* for the inception month of August 2024. A total number of 1,147 households, both in Masaiti and Kafulafuta Constituencies, were engaged and have since benefitted. An additional *K 7, 828, 817.41* has been received bringing the total amount to *K 8, 817,485.95*.
The project, which has been well received and appreciated by Masaiti District residents, has seen the execution of works such as cleaning of public places, mounding of bricks for communal use, road patching, widening and clearing of roads and drainage, excavation of soak aways, tree stamping and many other works.
However, the Local Authority experienced a few hitches when it was time for payments as personal data collected from those engaged could not tally with the demands of the system implored to execute the Cash For Work program.
Having observed that this challenge was synonymous to all Councils running the Cash For Work program, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development guided that all Council involved in the Cash For Work program should engage and train Data Entry Clerks that will ensure a smooth running of the project by collecting timely and precise data.
It is against this background that Masaiti Town Council has employed thirty-eight (38) Data Entry Clerks, most of them youths, to help achieve the sole purpose of the Cash For Work program.
This followed an advert that received applicants who were subjected to interviews, both oral and practical.
The Cash For Work program is a 12 months project that offers immediate financial relief at a rate of K60 per day for each eligible individual for 10 days in a month. These are viable but vulnerable individuals that are provided with short-term employment in exchange for their labor on public works projects.
Hamson Chisenga
*Public Relations Office*
*Masaiti Town Council*