Benguela — The programmme of support to vulnerable families (Kwenda) has disbursed an overall 2.1 billion kwanzas to assist needy people in Benguela Province, ANGOP learnt Monday.
According to the provincial director of the Local Development Institute (FAS), Jasmim Ndatimana, the amount has benefited 48,403 vulnerable families in municipalities of Cubal, Chongoroi and Caimbambo.
Jasmim Ndatimana said that during the second phase of the implementation of Kwenda, which has already started with the process of registration of households in the Municipality of Chongoroi, it is intended to reach 54 districts and benefit 10,722 families.
Ndatimana said the implementation of Kwenda follows several stages, starting with the registration process through community agents and later the institutional validation process.
The director explained that the institutional validation process consists in the identification and exclusion of registered families that do not meet the eligibility criteria.
"These are people who already have a fixed income and cannot receive the social cash transfers", she said.
The official said that the institutional validation process has made it possible to detect ineligible people who are civil servants, such as teachers and pensioners, since the programme must be carried out with great rigour and transparency in the management of the allocated resources.
Jasmim Ndatimana assured that the Kwenda amounts are really reaching the needy families and that some beneficiaries have used them very responsibly.
The director stressed that since the beginning of the programme in 2020, the work has been challenging due to the poor state of roads to reach certain locations, however with the help of community agents, it has been possible to change the lives of families living in vulnerable situations in the most remote areas of Benguela.
Kwenda is a programme of the Angolan government that implements policies to support the poorest families in vulnerable situations. Each family receives 25,500 kwanzas every quarter.
Valued at 420 million US dollars, the project is 320 million US dollars financed by the World Bank, while the remaining 100 million US dollars comes from the National Treasury. The Programme is operated by the Social Support Fund - Local Development Institute.
