Disabled Children Reap from Social Protection Scheme

By George Mwika Kayange

Published in The Malawi News

One morning, a group of school children arrived at Tereza Chatsililizika’s home in Mchinji, having run all the way from school.

“Come quick!” they screamed, pulling her by the arm.

When the mother arrived at the school, her daughter Aida, 14, was lying on the floor. She had fallen outside her classroom when her legs had become suddenly and unexpectedly too weak to stand. Her hands were also affected. No one knows what is wrong with her body even today. Aida might never stand again.

A year later, Tereza’s younger daughter Eneless was struck by the same mysterious condition as her sister. The family noticed that she was walking as if she were drunk. She kept falling, again and again. When taken to hospital in the same district, she was shivering. She is now in a wheelchair. Health professionals from the hospital have still not been able to determine what disease the two young sisters are suffering from.

Chatsilizika and her daughter Aida - i am proud of my two girls: picture by UNICEF

But thanks to the Social Cash Transfer Scheme, both children are now going to school again. Even though the disability in their hands forces them to write slowly and makes it difficult to complete assignments on time, but the girls are determined to continue.

Social transfers are regular payments of monies provided by a government to extremely poor individuals or households in some of the developing countries. These transfers not only tackle income poverty, but also address broader developmental objectives such as social development, human rights, economic growth, education, shelter and asset accumulation. It aims at enabling the poor move out of poverty and vulnerability by providing welfare support to those that are unable to construct a viable livelihood

Before the scheme entered the lives of Chatsilizika family, there was very little food on their plates each day. The disabled girls were not going to school anymore because no one could help them get there. But with the 1,400 Kwacha the family receives every month, both children have now re-entered school as a direct result of the scheme. The Government donated two wheelchairs, and the single mother is now able to pay a labourer to push her children’s wheelchairs all the way to school. Both girls want to do office work in the future and eventually hope to become top officials.

“I am proud of my two girls and I plan to keep them both in school. I hope that someday I will find assistance to take them abroad to heal their legs,” says the appreciative Chatsililizika

This is just one of the many hidden success stories recorded by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the impact of the cash transfers on the lives of the most vulnerable groups in Malawi, including disabled children.

“I think this a good initiative. I want to see more children with disabilities benefiting from the programme,” says Mussa Chiwaula, Executive Director for the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi (FEDOMA).

Chiwaula - There is positive transformation and empowerment: picture by george kayange

Until the fruits of the programme began to manifest, civil society organizations working in the field of disability had been sceptical and discontent with the levels of involvement of the international development-oriented organisations in Malawi, including UNICEF, in issues pertaining disabilities. They were perceived not to pay as much attention to such issues, particularly disabled children, as they have done with other vulnerable groups like orphans, street children, among others.

“There are a lot of specific programmes focusing on women or orphans as vulnerable groups. But tell me how many projects out there have ever focused on disabled children in the country?” Queries Andrew Machisa, Chairperson for the Association of Physical Disabilities (APDM) in Kasungu.

However, UNICEF and its partners believe in taking a holistic approach to dealing with issues that affect disabled children. The Social Cash Transfer Scheme is just one of such all-inclusive programmes whose impact on children with disability might even surpass those that are directly targeted at them in some circumstances.

The FEDOMA head observes that the scheme is a more practical programme that strategically addresses myriad challenges that children with disabilities face, even though the initiative is not exclusively targeted at them.

“You can actually see positive transformation and empowerment in the lives of these two [disabled] sisters. The parent is able to send them back to school, the children are now on wheelchairs, and the mother can now be free to do other things while the children are in school,” says Chiwaula.

The scheme, currently being piloted in seven districts, is implemented by the Government at the District Assembly level with technical assistance from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, and UNICEF, while the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria finances the programme. An evaluation conducted by the Boston University in collaboration with the Malawi Centre for Social Research endorsed the scheme as a major tool for poverty reduction in Malawi for the poorest households that have no members fit to work or to provide income.

Since the start of the scheme in Mchinji District in September 2006, the lessons from the pilot have been instrumental in informing the formulation of the social protection policy. In addition, Governments and international communities are increasingly recognising the value of social cash transfers in promoting human rights and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

According to UNICEF Social Policy Specialist, Mayke Huijbregts, the second pillar under Malawi Growth Development Strategy (MGDS) is social protection from which the draft Social Protection Policy, now under the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC), derived.

Huijbregts - Disabled children are among the the vulnerable: picture by george kayange

“The policy looks at how best to address the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society. Children with disabilities are among them and that’s what the cash transfer scheme also seeks to address,” she explains.

Minister of Women and Child Development, Anna Kachikho, told donors and delegates at the 63rd UN General Assembly on September 17 this year that the programme has yielded positive results in the lives of children as the main focus of the Ministry.

“[We have learnt that] social protection can efficiently reach the most marginalised children in a short period of time. Family support works for children,” she said.

However, Executive Director for the Eye of the Child, Maxwell Matewere, recommends that UNICEF and other partners should do more in implementing specific projects focused on addressing challenges that disabled children face than taking a holistic approach.

“The assistance to children with disability should be more than cash transfer. Children with disabilities need further support due to their disability that requires more professional support to help cope with the demands and challenges of their situation,” he says.

The Social Cash Transfer scheme currently covers pilot districts of Chitipa and Likoma in the North; Mchinji and Salima in the Centre; and Machinga, Mangochi and Phalombe in the South. Government plans to roll out the programme by 2012 to reach 820,000 children in all the 28 districts from the current 29,000.

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