Child benefit, a significant support for vulnerable families
In southern Madagascar, UNICEF’s ZARA MIRA programme supports vulnerable families and children with disabilities
Kazy, 50 years old and widow, lives in the fokontany of Ankilimasy, more than fifty kilometers from Amboasary in southern Madagascar. At the head of a large family, she is a single parent with eight children including her granddaughter.
She is a beneficiary of the ZARA MIRA cash allowance programme and receives about US$36 every two months to feed her eight children. This allows her to maintain her activities in the fields. Her children, the oldest, help her in the cultivation and harvesting of leafy vegetables, corn and sweet potatoes.
The sweet potatoes will serve as a meal for the whole family while the rest will be sold at the village market. This small business allows her to cover the monthly cost of her middle-school age children: USD 0.44 per child, per month.
Kazy pays special attention to her 7-year-old boy with Down syndrome. She really wants her son to one day become independent and undertake an income-generating activity on his own.
For him, Kazy also receives a monthly top-up of USD 6.63 with the equal opportunity allowance from the ZARA MIRA programme. In the long term, this sum will allow her to improve her daily life and to foresee a better future for him.
The ZARA MIRA programme has been implemented in Ifotaka, in southern Madagascar since July 2022 and is currently funded by KFW. It covers 6,700 households, including pregnant women and 17,500 children. An additional cash transfer is also allocated to children living with a disability.
