Angola: Minister of State Launches Kwenda 2 in Bié

Andulo — The Minister of State for Social Affairs, Maria do Rosário Bragança, launched the second phase of the Social Protection Strengthening Program (Kwenda) on Monday, in the municipality of Andulo, central Bié Province.

The launch of Kwenda 2, which provides for the payment of up to 66,000 kwanzas per family, took place in the village of Batatela, in the municipality of Chivaulo. Angop has learnt that 425 households began receiving the payments, representing the 194 villages currently registered in the municipality of Andulo, 130 kilometers north of the city of Cuito, the capital of Bié Province.

Each beneficiary will receive 11,000 kwanzas per month.

On the occasion, Maria do Rosário Bragança stated that the program, scheduled to end in 2029, constitutes a public policy instrument for

social protection, focusing on strengthening a greater number of families.

She demanded greater responsibility and rigor in the program's implementation to rapidly reduce poverty and strengthen the protection of vulnerable groups, in accordance with the National Development Plan (NDP 2023-2027). She said that the Executive intends to continue reducing social inequalities through the fight to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty, with a view to promoting gender equality, to increasingly improve the quality of life of Angolan families.

She emphasized that Kwenda is one of the most significant ways to meet the objectives of the fourth axis of the NDP for the current five-year period, designed to assist the country's 21 provinces, compared to the 18 previously covered in the first phase.

The governor stated that the first phase of Kwenda, which ran from 2020 to 2025, provided assistance to a little over one million people living in 94 municipalities across the country.

In turn, the governor of Bié, Celeste Adolfo, emphasized that the results of the first phase of Kwenda radically transformed the lives of the population, totaling 187,325 households.

She said that this action represents an act of love and compassion by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, towards the country's most needy population.

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