Social protection response during COVID-19 helps 86-year-old regain her livelihood

In light of the celebration of Women's Month and Mozambican Women’s Day, UNICEF Mozambique wishes to highlight the testimonies from female recipients of the social protection response to COVID-19 (PASD-PE COVID-19) in Milange, jointly supported by UNICEF and WFP and financed by the Government of Canada, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and KfW Development Bank. The goal of the programme is to increase the resilience of the most vulnerable population in Mozambique, with a focus on children, women, and people with disabilities, through unconditional mobile cash transfers and behaviour change communication. Targeting women as the main recipients of cash transfers can empower them by means of influencing power dynamics in the household and in the communities, improving’s women self-worth, bargaining power, and increasing their independence for decision-making.

Milange, Zambezia - “When COVID-19 started I went through many difficulties. I had nothing to eat, and I depended on the charity of some neighbors and people of goodwill to have something to feed myself and my family", remembers 86 years-old Arefa Jemusse, a resident in the Bairro Eduardo Mondlane, in the district of Milange, province of Zambezia.

Before COVID-19, Arefa made a living by preparing and selling traditional homemade beverages with the help of her daughter, which was impacted due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, affecting their source of livelihood.

When she learned that she was eligible for enrollment in the Social Protection Response for COVID-19 (PASD-PE COVID-19), she was very hopeful that she could get her business back on track. With the money she received from the program she was able to buy food such as rice, corn, oil, as well as clothes and soap, and plant beans and corn on her farm.

With the corn, she bought she was able to start making homemade beverages again and was able to restart her business.

The social protection response to the COVID-19 programme in Mozambique is implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action (MGCAS), through its operational arm, the National Institute of Social Action (INAS), and financed by the Government of Canada, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and KfW Development Bank. The programme targets vulnerable households in urban and peri-urban areas, with the aim of supporting and strengthening the resilience of households in situations of poverty and vulnerabilities exposed to the effects of COVID-19, through mobile cash transfers. As part of the government response, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are providing technical support to the government together with civil society organizations. This intervention is reaching about 77,000 beneficiaries in Zambezia province. In the district of Milange, the programme reached 8,645 beneficiaries with 9,000 meticais in total (paid in two tranches).