𝐍𝐚𝐂𝐒𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬

The National Council for Social Action (NaCSA), which for years has provided financial support to extremely poor families across the country, will continue to provide quarterly cash transfers to 15,000 extremely poor families in five regions from July 10, 2024.

The first tranche of the Social Safety Net (SSN) Cash Transfer and Economic Inclusion Support will provide regular cash transfers to 15,000 extremely poor households over a three-year period. The project, funded by the World Bank, is expected to benefit 400 communities in Faraba, Karen, Pujehun, Kenema and Western Rural Districts.

Idris Turay, senior director of social protection, told journalists at the NaCSA house in Freetown that their team is ready to go to the field from July 10 to August 4, 2024. He said NaCSA is a community development-oriented agency that will provide direct cash transfers to the extremely poor and grants to promote business development.

“Our flagship project under the Social Safety Net (SSN) is to provide support to the extreme poor so that they can meet their basic needs…56% of the country’s population is still poor…We are fully committed to helping the 13% of the extreme poor so that they can live at least above the poverty line,” Idris noted, adding that the project aims to improve access to the Social Safety Net (SSN) and income-generating opportunities for the target beneficiaries.

In his speech, the Commissioner of the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), Ambassador Chief Ernest Mbaimaba Ndomahina, said the activities carried out by his agency today were a continuation of the work carried out over the years on economic inclusion (EI), social safety net (SSN) and payment for the elderly. “It is clear that our initiatives are aligned with the government’s five transformational plans,” he said.

The project components are as follows: Social Security Cash Transfers and Support for Economic Inclusion Subcomponent 1A: Continue to provide social security cash transfers to extremely poor households.

The objective of this subproject is to provide quarterly cash transfers to extremely poor households in all 16 districts of Sierra Leone as a continuation of cash transfers under the Social Safety Net Program. The project continues to prioritize extremely poor households with persons with disabilities in the beneficiary selection process and aims to involve at least 30% of extremely poor households.

Subcomponent 1B: Providing support for economic inclusion

This subcomponent provides a comprehensive economic inclusion programme for extremely poor households. The programme includes (i) start-up capital grants, (ii) training and mentoring, (iii) behaviour change support and (iv) linkages with existing government and non-government agricultural programmes