UNICEF cash transfers help build community resilience
Additional income allows families to eat more nutritious food, send children to school and obtain any healthcare required
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The nexus approach in the DRC is geared around obtaining four key outcomes: reduced food insecurity and malnutrition, reduced displacement, reduced gender-based violence and increased access to health and education services.
As one of the multiple interventions being implemented as part of the overall approach, UNICEF introduced humanitarian cash transfers, building on the previous support provided by WFP and FAO with the aim of additionally reinforcing community resilience. The underlying premise is that families with a little extra cash would be able to eat more nutritious food, send their children to school, and pay for any healthcare required. It is also expected that families with a bit more money might be able to avoid harmful coping mechanisms such as child labour and early marriage. With people buying and selling more goods, the local economy would benefit.
Stringent regulations are in place to determine who should receive the disbursement and to prevent the system from being abused.
Helena Kazadi Kisangule, 43, lives in Mukwaka village 24km outside of Nyunzu. She is a shining example of how cash disbursements can dramatically change the circumstances of vulnerable households for the better.
Helena is a single parent to eight children and, returning to her village after being displaced, she met much of the strict criteria required to receive cash.
At the end of 2023 officials from UNICEF’s partner organization, AIDES, arranged for her to received $31 on her mobile telephone to enable her to buy ingredients including flour, sugar and vanilla. The money was enough to enable her to begin a fried snack business.
Her endeavour is thriving, with people in the village regularly coming to her home to buy her produce.
“Fried snacks are very popular in Mukwaka and I have benefitted because no-one else makes them,” she says. “I sell each snack for about 100 Congolese francs (3 US cents). Now I have money to pay off all my debts and am looking towards employing people to work for me.”
