Child grant programme helps mother of four in Nampula

Nampula, Nacala Velha - 24 years old Gilda Raimundo is one of 4,500 child grant beneficiaries in the community of Mueria, in Nampula province. Gilda is married and a mother of four. Her youngest child is 2 years old and a child grant beneficiary.  

Due to her large family, Gilda faced difficulties in taking care of her children. Gilda and her husband José Rafael have a small farm that they use to provide food for their children, “before we started receiving the money from the child grant, we faced many difficulties,” said Gilda.

“Now, I’m happy because with this money, I increased the area of our small farm and I’m able to buy seeds. We now produce enough for my family and sometimes we sell the remaining products, and we are able to make a difference in the community”. For example, on their last harvesting, Gilda and her husband earned an amount of 20,000 meticais (approx. 300 USD) by selling the products they produced.

“We also bought school material for our other children who are attending school. The program changed our life. With the guidance of our National Institute of Social Action (INAS) permanent [INAS staff involved in implementation] we know what type of food we must give to our children and how to prepare it correctly,” told Gilda recognizing the work of the INAS permanent in sensitization under the nutrition component of the child grant, in which staff was trained on providing nutrition information during the meetings with beneficiaries.

The start-up phase of the child grant (0-2 years) programme in Mozambique is implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action (MGCAS), through its operational arm, the National Institute of Social Assistance (INAS), with technical support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), financed by the governments of Sweden, Netherlands, and United Kingdom. The start-up phase was initiated in September 2018 in four districts in Nampula, one of the poorest provinces in Mozambique. The start-up phase was finalized in December 2021, when all 15,345 children and their caregivers will have received 24 months of payments, and graduate from the programme. Based on the positive outcomes of the pilot phase of the programme, the Government of Mozambique is currently preparing for its expansion to reach more children and families.

Gilda further told us that she always leaves some money for emergency issues, such as taking the children to the hospital when they are sick or for regular monthly check-ups. “I am thankful for being part of this program because it helped us a lot. I knew that when my son turned 2 years old I would stop receiving the money from the program, but now we have a way to support our children, and if it was not for the programme, we might still be facing the same difficulties,” said Gilda with a big smile.