The government through the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services have started the disbursement of the Drought Emergency Cash Transfers to mitigate the impacts of the drought situation which has posed food insecurities to an estimated 8.9 million people across the country.

With the Ministry projecting to spend a total of K8,606,271,202.38 for the 12 months’ intervention, the payments are being made bi-monthly to both the existing Social Cash Transfer programme beneficiary households which stand at 1.3 million households and 726, 361 households identified through the recently conducted rapid assessment and enumeration.

With an estimated 6.6 million people in 84 of the 116 districts across seven out of the 10 provinces facing severe food insecurity, the Ministry has so far disbursed funds to facilitate payments for the first cycle whose cash transfer value is K400 per month for households not in the Social Cash Transfer programme and a top up of K200 for the regular Social Cash Transfer Programme beneficiaries for the 12 months.

The government has through a supplementary budget also allocated a total of K5.4 million while the World Bank and other cooperating partners have allocated US$207.6 million towards the payment of Emergency Cash Transfers.

Through a Drought Shock Response intervention update, Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, Permanent Secretary, Ms. Angela Kawandami has assured that the response to the drought situation is multi-sectoral and is leveraging on the Cash-Plus approach to delivering support.

Ms. Kawandami has since appreciated the support from the World Bank, UNICEF and other cooperating partners for supporting the government in uplifting the welfare of the poor and vulnerable.